Get the appPrayer Initiative: Closer to Jesus Sample
Some call the Gospel of John the Gospel of belief. Have you noticed how often John mentioned Jesus’ admonishments to people to believe? Faith in Him was the only condition for eternal life. Belief and life are always connected in the Gospel of John.
Though we do not find the word “believe” in chapter 15, another strong verb carries the same meaning. This is the verb abide (remain, stay, dwell). For His farewell sermon, Jesus carefully chose one more metaphor to help His disciples understand how they had to live their lives after He had gone to the Father. He told them about the true Vine, the branches, and the Gardener cutting off the branches that do not bear fruit, and pruning the branches that bear fruit to bear even more fruit. The key to their powerful fruit-producing lives was abiding in Him, the true Vine. And abiding meant nothing more and nothing less than continuing to believe in Him and remaining in His love. They didn’t have to perform; they didn’t have to keep certain rituals and rules, but to remember how He laid down His life for them and stay in this love. To help them grasp this spiritual truth, Jesus repeated the verb abide in almost every sentence.
Do not go anywhere from this love, return to it all the time. Abide, abide, abide, because nowhere else will you find such a love as the love of Jesus.
Take a few minutes to meditate on “abiding in the true Vine.” Analyze the fruit in your life. Is there some pruning going on? Remember, it is happening so that you bear even more fruit. Ask Jesus: ”What do You have in Your Word for me today?” Listen and pray.
INTERCESSION:"For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
PRAYER:
- Pray for the salvation of those who don't believe in Jesus.
- Pray for your family: children, brothers, sisters, parents, and relatives.
- Pray for your unsaved friends, colleagues at work, and neighbors.
- Pray for them by name.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to remove the spiritual barriers still hindering them from accepting God’s love.
Scripture
About this Plan
The Gospel of John will be our focus for the next 21 days, one chapter at a time. We will carefully explore his words, discovering all we can about Jesus. We will dig deeper to understand the signs and miracles that could only be performed by the Son of God, the One Who came from above.
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We would like to thank Movimiento Global de Iglesias for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://globalchurchmovements.org/
