“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. … If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
--John 15:5, 7
Prayer is not the cause of abiding in Christ, it’s the result or effect of abiding in Christ. Or to put it another way, if we’re truly abiding in Christ, we won’t have to force prayer.
In today’s verse, Jesus tells us what the secret to growing and maturing as a Christian is. It’s pretty simple! Be a branch. That’s it! Be a branch. And because branches are connected to the vine, there’s a constant interchange between the two.
Now, I don’t know what kind of background you come from or what your impression of praying is, but if it helps, I would encourage you to just think about prayer as a conversation. A conversation of a friend with a friend.
And when your relationship with a friend is growing, you talk! You talk and you listen. And in healthy relationships, that conversation and interaction flows naturally.
As a pastor, I talk to a lot of people who openly share with me that praying is boring. But here’s the deal. When you and I are truly abiding in Christ, when we’re truly connected to him, when we’re sitting at his feet every day and soaking up the truth of his Word, spontaneous, interactive conversation with God will become a natural outflow!
So today, I want to just say, quit worrying about your prayer life and just start talking to God! Talk to him about everything. Your fears, your worries, your friends, your family, your kids, your job, your finances, your purchases.
Talk to him about everything! And don’t worry about using a lot of “thee’s” and “thou’s.” Talk to God from your heart. Tell him how you feel.
And then, once you’ve done some talking, stop and listen like you’d do in a conversation with your spouse or friend. Take the time to see what God is saying back to you in your heart. So often our conversations with God are so one-sided!
So take the time when you pray to really listen for the still, small voice of God speaking to your heart.
WHEN YOU AND I ARE TRULY ABIDING IN CHRIST, INTERACTIVE CONVERSATION WITH GOD WILL BECOME A NATURAL OUTFLOW.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.”
Luke 8:35–37
Sometimes we read of the great revivals of history and wish we could have been part of them. Imagine being in church and listening to Jonathan Edwards preach “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Picture standing in a crowd of more than twenty thousand people listening to George Whitfield preach with passion at the start of the Great Awakening. Yet while we remember these great moves of God with nostalgia, if we were honest we would have to acknowledge that we don’t know how we would have responded. For there are many times in Scripture, in history, and in our own lives when we regard God’s working as an interruption to our plans.
Before Jesus came, the demon-possessed man terrorized the people of Gadera. The demons gave him so much power that no one could control him. Others lived in fear of him attacking and perhaps injuring or even killing someone. You would think that they would have been delighted when they rushed out of town seeing him wearing clothes and in control of himself for the first time in years. Instead these people told Jesus to go away. His work had become an interruption to their lives.
God is Sovereign, and He has the right to arrange our lives and work in our hearts in any way that He sees fit and we should yield to His plans.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Do not quench or hinder the work that God is trying to do in and through your life.
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