John 15:4-5,7-8
4 Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing. 7 “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. 8 In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”
We have many pots of all types of flowers peppered around our garden, kindly given to us by my best mate, who grew them from seed.
Throughout the spring and summer it is a mass of multi-colour.
Of course, the plants must "abide" in the soil, being fed and watered, and, the flowers must stay connected to the stem in order to thrive.
When the flowers of the trailing begonias fall to the ground, they soon wither and are only fit for the garden rubbish bin!
John 15:6 AMPC
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and is dried up. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.
Here, in John 15, Jesus uses the garden analogy to demonstrate how we achieve nothing unless we remain united with Him.
"Without Me you can do nothing" is a phrase we need to have indelibly engraved and branded deep in our hearts.
It is a fact echoed in the Old Testament, which talks about dwelling in the "secret place" of the Most High.
Psalm 91:1-3
Anyone who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
We intrinsically feel when we are disconnected from the Lord, as our spiritual lives start to wither and go dry.
The life of the believer is about abiding day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment in Jesus.
The deeper our roots grow into Him, the more we will blossom and grow.
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