Do you ever feel like you’re ineffective for God, and/or unsuccessful in life?
John 15:4-8 says:
4) Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me.
5) I am the Vine; You are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.
6) If a person does not dwell in Me, He is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.
7) If you abide in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
8) When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.
So my question is – what does it mean to abide in, or as the Amplified Bible says, “to be in vital union” with Jesus? I believe this is a key that the body of Christ is missing. It has bothered me for some time that only a small percentage of God’s kids are consistently successful in praying for the sick , are financially successful , and are generally displaying the covenant we have with God. I believe the Holy Spirit would like to accomplish a great deal more in this earth, but He can’t get us to live by His abilities and ways of doing things. In mind, heart, and actions, the vast percentage of us live by this world’s system. It’s ingrained in our thought patterns. We talk about living by faith, but when any kind of crisis hits (small or large) we react according to the natural way of doing things.
We substantially limit ourselves even though we have a blood covenant with the God of the universe! That means that not only everything that you are and have belongs to God, everything God has and is belongs to you! Doesn’t this world need us to deliver God’s power and ability to it? Is not satan successfully stealing, destroying, killing people in mass? Who has God got but us? {Matt. 28:18-19; All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go then….; and in Mark 16:17-20; And these signs will follow them that believe…}.
Now let’s break down some words in this verse.
Vital: 1) Necessary to life. 2) Very important, essential. 3) Constituting or forming part of the essence of something.
Related words: essential, fundamental, integral, indispensable, needed, required.
Abide: To live in a place; reside.
Related words: adhere, cleave, cling, stick, dwell, live, reside
Union: from Latin union-, unio oneness; Latin unus, one
An act or instance of uniting or joining two or more things into one.
So, wouldn’t it be safe to say that to abide in and have a vital union with Jesus is to have an all encompassing, intensely intimate, indispensable, and completely required relationship with Him? Wouldn’t we cleave to Him as if our very life, our every cell of existence required it? Where is our intense, fanatical need for Jesus in everything we do and say in life? Too many of us have become too casual in our relationship with God. Oh, sure we sing praise songs in church with a fair amount of passion, but is that really an indicator of our complete relationship with Jesus? Also, don’t we tend to compartmentalize our relationship with God? We are closer to Him in some areas of our life (consulting Him and His word first and only), while in other areas of our life we are more distant (always reaching for natural solutions instead of God’s solutions).
Think, for a moment, about your very best friend. Someone you completely trust. It may be a spouse, sibling, child, or unrelated person. Imagine some crisis hits, and you don’t know what to do. What is you first action? What impulse do you have- before you can even think? You call your best friend for comfort and advice. That friend is someone you are in vital union with! How many of us could honestly say (I mean honestly) that they would have said a prayer and run to the Bible as an automatic reflex? We may say a quick, whiny prayer as a religious reflex, but deep down we are already racing toward some other action to take. We are not really expecting a result with this action of prayer.
What if you had cancer, and there were no doctors or medicines in the earth? What would your reaction be then? Suddenly, you would find your vital union with God!!!! We need to depend on Jesus and what He paid for us as if He is all there is. If we, as the body of Christ, made a quality, unchanging decision "that it’s God and His word or die", then we would cover the earth with God’s delivering power! The devil wouldn’t know what hit him!
So the next question is, how do we begin to restore that “vital union” with Jesus?
First, in your heart, you settle it once and for all that it’s Jesus and His word or die. You decide that there are no other options in your life!
Next, you take action! What action?
1) Start spending every spare moment listening to the word. You can go online and get ministers to preach to you 24/7! Pick ministers that major in encouraging you to have faith, resist fear, teaching the blood covenant, etc. This will retrain those “ingrained thought patterns” and ingrain God’s word and His ways into your mind instead. If you don’t completely retrain your mind to God’s word, you will never, ever get rid of the reflex reaction to this natural system! There is also CD’s, DVD’s, videos, and cassettes. You may also have to give up most, if not all TV. It tends to program your mind toward the natural world system. (I know many of you just had a anxiety attack over this last statement, but hang in there with me – you’ll see the benefits in a little bit.)
2) Daily read the word. If you read 1 chapter in the Old Testament, one in the New Testament, one in Psalms, and one in Proverbs, you should be able to get through the Bible in a year and have a “well rounded diet” at the same time.
3) Talk to Jesus off and on throughout the day. Include Him in everything. Talk to Him as you would a best friend. Laugh with Him, share with Him, consult with Him.
4) Determine in your heart that as soon as a crisis of some degree hits, you will not panic, you will not begin to figure and maneuver your way through. Instead, you will look to God and His word for a solution. If you’ve been diligently doing 1, 2, and 3, you shouldn’t have to wait very long, if at all, to get your answer. However, patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit and you have it – cause the Bible says you do. In the beginning, there will be pressure to be hasty. It is imperative to exercise your God-given character traits of patience and self control. Also, some bigger problems require more time to discover God’s solution. In the beginning, you may find yourself reacting in the natural before you even realize it. When you do realize it, stop yourself and use your gift of self-control and make yourself look to God.
All of this probably hit you pretty hard. I bet your flesh is SCREAMING right now. Especially about the TV part! But the benefits are beyond fabulous!
Imagine your going to work as usual. But you’ve been in vital union with Jesus for a while. You live and breathe your covenant with God. You’ve reprogrammed your reflex reactions from the natural to the supernatural.
You talk to one of your co-workers as usual. Today, though, you find out that they have been diagnosed with cancer. They don’t know Jesus, and they are frantic – they think they are going to die. Your spiritual reflex action kicks in. You tell them that God promised healing, and when you pray, Jesus is going to completely restore their health. You pray, and God’s power hits them. Your confident, because you know this is not a religious action, or trying to work something up, but because you really do know how to live God’s life in this earth. What happens? Your co-worker brings a doctor’s report that there is no trace of cancer and they want to ask Jesus into their hearts!
Far fetched you say? There are ministers that live practically every day of their lives this way! Do you know why? It’s not because they’re ministers. It’s not because they are more special to God than anyone else. That’s not even scriptural!!!!! Read the book of acts. Miracles were done by ministers and “lay people” alike. It’s because they are in “vital union” with their daddy. They can’t even fathom living a moment without God’s help. They think differently. They react differently. God wants all His kids to live like this. He wants to kick some devil butt. He wants to heal and deliver so many more people than He does. We are his hands. We are his mouth to speak His words. We are his feet to go. Jesus said “these things we will do and greater things because He goes to the Father”. Then why aren't we doing them? Because we think and act too much like the world and not nearly enough like our Father!
Make a commitment today to change. Start living the life you were born to live. In the end, you won’t even miss the TV. And you definitely won’t miss your old, limited, defeated way of living!!!!!!!!!!