Fallen Branches and Downed Power Lines
Staying in the Storms
My family took a walk around our neighborhood yesterday evening. It was perfect weather for a coat and a stroll. Two of my boys decided dragon costumes would serve as suitable coats. Off we went terrorizing the neighborhood with our pair of fluffy green, blue and blonde dragons.
As we walked, we came upon several downed tree limbs and large piles of sticks. This was no surprise with all the power outages recently.
The power has been out 5 of the last 7 days at our home because ice or tree limbs have downed power lines. (Praise God for how He provided through my parents.)
I picked up one of the limbs and pretended it was an over the shoulder bazooka. It was perfectly hollow with handles in just the right place for us to destroy imaginary zombies.
That fallen limb illustrates more than a zombie slaying weapon of mass destruction…
The fallen limb, hollow of life, is exactly what the Lord Jesus calls the prayerless life of someone who appears to be Christian.
Before you rush headlong into guilt about your prayer life… I know so many people deal with prayer in terms of a singular time in the day and a spiritual discipline that sounds more like a weight around their neck…Before any of that…
Do you remember what the Lord told us about the fruitful life of a disciple in John 15:5,
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Jesus is the source of our life and strength. Jesus is the One our life must be anchored to and drawing from. The fruitful Christian life is one that “remains” in Jesus Christ. The fruitful Christian life is one where Christ remains.
How do we “remain” in Christ?
Before and after these verses the Lord references His words. We are clean because of His Words. We remain when His Words remain in us. Hearing and obeying Jesus Words is remaining.
The fruitful Christian life is one that remains in Christ by remaining in the Words of Christ. The fruitful Christian life is continually in the Word.
Wait, I thought we were talking about prayer, not Bible reading? We’re talking about both.
There is a deadly mistake that many people can make by picking up the Bible without dependence on the Spirit of God. They can set out to obey in their own strength without remembering that hearing in faith and obeying in faith come from the strength Jesus supplies by the Spirit.
Prayer is responding to the Word God has given with in the World He rules by the Spirit. You and I remain in Christ by remaining in faithful hearing (a hearing that produces dependence and obedience). Hearing in this way comes through the Spirit’s help in prayer.
The life of prayer wrestles with the Words of God and embraces them against all other voices. The life of prayer actively embraces our need for the Spirit of God in all things.
This is obedience as an expression of dependence. This is why prayer is vital to true obedience. Jesus says clearly,
“Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Many Christians understand that remaining in Christ is needed. They know they remain in Christ through the Word. They want to obey the Word. These are wonderful things.
In an independent culture and given the self-dependent nature of fallen mankind–it comes naturally to muster our own strength for obeying. We can embrace the Word and obedience in a way that entirely forgets to depend… to remain in the strength of another.
Apart from Christ, you can do nothing.
It may take time or tragedy but eventually the weight of obeying in our human strength will break off hollow limbs.
Dependence is vital for enduring obedience. Humans hate depending. We love idolatry. If we do a few right things and meet a few obedient demands–we will get what we want!
In a land as prosperous as ours, the ice-covered pains of life don’t accumulate often. The weight that tests true limbs is less common. The power goes out less, not because the limbs are strong and healthy but because they are tested rarely.
Christian, root with me in dependence on Christ that can withstand all storms. Not a strength of our own but a strength in dependence… a life of prayer that joyfully takes up obedience and perseverance saying, “Apart from Him, I can do nothing!”
A praying life! A dependently obedient life in the strength the Spirit of Christ supplies.
We’ve gone long enough for now that I can’t enjoy the warnings and promises in the following verses until later… but you should read them!
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.