Today marks my 7th “Word for the Year” post. If you are new to our site, each year I wait on the Holy Spirit to reveal a “WORD” for me to stand on for the upcoming year. Past Words or phrases have been:
- 2015 – “UNSTOPPABLE DETERMINATION FOR GOD’S HOLINESS”
- 2016 – “LIVING OUT A LASTING LEGACY”
- 2017 – “CHOOSE TO PURSUE”
- 2018 – “ROOTED”
- 2019 – “TRANSFORMED”
- 2020 – “CONSISTENCY”
You can click on each link to read, or if you want to see them all check out…“Word for the New Year” Posts. This year’s Word — “ABIDE IN THE LORD FOR BREAKTHROUGH” is probably not very unique from what others are praying for as we are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, political and social unrest and the recent chaos in Washington D.C. with domestic terrorism. The events of 2020 (and now the first 3 weeks of 2021), have been the most unsettling time I have lived through BUT I have never had as much Shalom (or peace) in all my life! And as I recently discussed in the post ★ Thought for the Day – The Purpose of Resistance ★, that is not because of an absence of problems but by fixing my eyes on my Savior, Jesus Christ to keep the proper perspective through the storms. Now that may seem cliché but I have seen time and time again, when I focus on the negatives or the nightmare “what-if” scenarios my peace ebbs away BUT when I am pushing through, trying to find the silver lining and trust that God will get me through, my disposition changes and fear is driven out.
Yesterday as I was reading the devotional from the ‘The Principles of First Mention’ reading plan, this jumped out at me…
“God wants to tell us who He is, no matter what we’re up against. When we get out of our own heads, we learn He is the “I AM” for every single thing — big or small — that comes our way.” Kyle Fox
There are many “I AM” declarations in both the Old and New Testaments made by God and Jesus to reassure and comfort the people that regardless of circumstances, God is still in control and willing to rescue us if we will trust in Jesus and “abide”, or “remain” in Him! One of most expanded upon “I AM” statements is found in John Chapter 15 which is the muse for this “Thought.” I am going to start in the New Kings James Version (NKJV) since it specifically uses the word “ABIDE,” but we will unpack it with the New Living Translation (NLT) to make it a little more accessible.
John 15:1, 4, 7 (NKJV) is the specific scriptures that the Holy Spirit spoke into my spirit…Jesus said:
““I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.””
This symbology is not unfamiliar as it is in the Old and New Testaments since they were an agrarian society but I love the interconnectedness of God the Father as vinedresser (or Gardner as the NLT has it) and His Son as the vine. As Jesus continues the metaphor we see if we will stay connected to Him, we will produce fruit and have our prayers answered. I wanted to expand our view and look at John 15:1-4 in the New Living Translation…
““I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.”
Go back and reread the red test again, it is so powerful!
APART from Jesus WE CANNOT BE FRUITFUL.
It is only when we
REMAIN A PART of Jesus WILL WE BE FRUITFUL!
The connector verses from 1 to 4 illustrate that there are consequences if we drift from the vine (Jesus). Pruning. Not something to look forward to. This could also be a trial sent to get our attention to get us back on the right path. However, it is necessary so that our branch is not severed completely from the vine. D.L. Moody had this insight that goes perfectly with this…
“The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”
It is amazing how fast that happens. When I am off track, my enthusiasm for reading the Bible wanes BUT when I am staying close to Jesus, I am invigorated to study. It comes down to discipline and how committed we are to the faith we profess. We all have 24 hours in a day; the question is how do we spend them? It’s funny every Sunday morning I get an alert on my iPhone of the “Screen Time” that was spent in the previous week, it is almost like God is tapping me on the shoulder…“what is your priority?” Mark Batterson had this point…
“We want success without sacrifice, but life doesn’t work that way. Success will not be shortchanged. You have to pay the price, and it never goes on sale. The best decision you can make for yourself is making decisions against yourself. You have to discipline yourself to do the right things day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out. And if you do, the payoff is far greater than the price you paid.” From the ‘Play The Man’ reading plan.
For me, success is the legacy I leave. How will I be remembered by my wife and daughters, family and friends or co-workers? Will I be remembered as a Man of God who ”ran the race well” as Paul testifies in 2 Timothy 4:7-8? Did I make other people’s lives better while I was here on earth? If the answer is yes, then I would consider my life a success but that does not come without effort and abiding/remaining in a right relationship with Jesus. That means consistently pursuing what matters most to Him until we are called home, or He returns to Rapture His people! However, we must remember that there will be opposition from the enemy! In 1 John 2:18-27 we see warnings about various antichrists who will lead us astray if we do not abide or “remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father.” (1 John 2:24b). Fun Fact: Did you know that the name Antichrist is found only in the book of 1 John? And if you are thinking “wait, it says it in Revelation,” look again the name for the Antichrist in Revelation 13:1 is “Beast.” But I digress…Just like in John 15, the Apostle John brings a similar instruction in 1 John 2:28 (NLT)
“And now, dear children, remain [NKJV translates “abide”] in fellowship with Christ so that when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.”
David Guzik had this commentary on 1 John 2:28 which has some good questions for self-evaluation of the sincerity of our faith:
“Do you abide in Him? Or do you just visit Jesus every once in a while? Abiding in Jesus gives us confidence because we know we wouldn’t change our lives substantially if we somehow knew Jesus would come back next week. We would already be abiding in Him.”
I will close with the second half of my anchor passage for 2021 from John 15:5-8 (NLT) which Jesus continues the instruction to His followers:
““Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
Meditate on that red text for just a moment. As we go through this unprecedented time of uncertainty, let’s stand on the truth of John 15:1-8 that if we remain or abide in Jesus, we will see a breakthrough!
★ ★ ★ DIG DEEPER ★ ★ ★
Check out this sermon from Pricilla Shirer called “Remaining in a Leaving Culture.”
★ Thought for the Day – Fair-Weather Faith ★
★ Thought for the Day – True Shalom ★
Or if you want to check out past “Word for the Year” posts <<<CLICK HERE>>>
The seemingly futile ministry of Jeremiah and Ezekiel to the people of Judah to bring His people back into right relationship with Him. In the sermon called 
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
As I looked at the list of scriptures I found it interesting that in the Old Testament Book Jeremiah, the phrase “They will be my people, and I will be their God” is mentioned (7) times, the most than of any other book!! I think since Jeremiah was left behind in Jerusalem after King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Holy City and exiled the people to Babylon, he had a unique perspective of the events. I recently discovered this one from Jeremiah 32:37-41 (NLT) that beautifully displays the amazing grace of God who promises to restore the people once again to the land even after all the hurt they have inflicted on God!!
“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
Daily Dependence 