Abiding in Easterਨਮੂਨਾ

ABIDING IN EASTER - LENT DEVOTIONAL by BRYAN CRAIG

DAY 37

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:4-5 ESV

In the Influencers ministry, we reference this verse all the time. We believe this is one of the most important teachings of Jesus, right before He died. In the book of John, this passage occurs right after they departed from the table of The Last Supper. Apparently, they were making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, the place Jesus frequently prayed. Scholars believe He may have taught this lesson next to an actual grapevine. He just finished teaching them that they should “receive Him” in the wine and the bread, representing His body and blood. Now, He is saying “remain in Him”, which is what the word “abide” means. He says if they would remain in Him, they will bear much fruit. We believe this fruit is the “Fruit of the Holy Spirit”….love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In other words, if we stay close to Jesus, we will start to look and act like Him. In this way, He could multiply Himself through all of us abiders to do His work in this world. But if we do not remain in Him, we can do nothing of spiritual value.

APPLICATION:

Are you abiding in Christ? If you are not sure, how is your fruit production? If you seem to be lacking a good crop, it’s not too late to change this. Get on your knees and ask Jesus to send His Spirit into your life to teach you how to abide. He will use His Word as His main teaching instrument, for the Word is from God.