In Touch Ministries Daily Devotions - Abiding in the Lord

0:00Here's today's In Touch Devotion. Today's Scripture reading is John 15 verses 1 through 5. I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Today's passage tells us that Jesus is the vine.

1:01We cannot impress God or earn as approval. Our calling is to do what branches do, abide. And while that sounds simple, it may be the most courageous act of faith there is. The Holy Spirit lives the life of Christ through each believer. The process is known by a variety of names, the exchange life, the spirit-filled life, the abiding life. All of them describe the joyful existence Paul spoke of in Galatians 2.20. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. From the outside, the branch doesn't appear to be doing much, but the abiding life is far from passive. Jesus was the perfect example of a spirit-filled life, and he certainly didn't sit around. He worked hard out of a reservoir of divine energy. All of God's wisdom, knowledge, and courage were drawn from God through the Holy Spirit.

2:05The fruit of the spirit isn't produced through striving. It grows through surrender. We take root in the heavenly Father by meditating on His Word, praying, and serving. We reserve nothing for ourselves to control, but fully rely upon Him. That's not passive living. It's an abiding life.