I Am The Vine, You Are The Branches

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (1)

We are all connected with our Maker. However, not everyone understands that connection or even wants that connection with God. Many do not believe that He exists. Many can only think of God with a swearing connection. They have not known Him, and yet He is but a thought away.

As a prison chaplain, prisoners have told me stories of being in life threatening circumstances when they were actively doing things that were far from being Christian, and yet they called on God in their trouble and He saved them from what appeared to them to be certain death. In my own experience I can recall a life threatening situation and in my mind I cried, "God help me!" Instantly that threat was resolved in a miraculous moment. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." (2)

Jesus, by His Spirit is "the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." (3) Not everyone follows the "Light" of the leading of the Holy Spirit that is in them. However, God is more interested in us learning from our mistakes than He is in punishing us. We are punished by the consequence of our own deeds and by the bad behavior of ourselves and others. God's purpose is to save us. He so loves you and me that He gave the life of His Son to bury our sins with His death. When we begin to realize that He is there for us, to benefit us and not to hurt us, then we begin to be drawn to Him and start learning how to abide with Him. He teaches us how to turn defeat into victory.

Communication with God through prayer and the study of His Word is abiding in Him. And "If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." (4)

When we abide in Him and He in us, we are connected to the Power source of the universe. Jesus claimed "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." (5) "Father,-- Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him." (6)

God loves you very much. May your heart be open to His wonderful blessings.

1. John 15:5.
2. Psalm 50:15.
3. John 1:9.
4. 1 John 4:12, 13.
5. Matthew 28:18.
6. John 17:1, 2.