LIVING WORD

LIVING WORD 
TODAY'S WORD 

June 30, 2016 

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. John 15:4

Imagine if you planted a tree in your front yard, but after a while, you decide it would look better in your backyard. Then after a few months, you decide it would be better in the front yard. So you dig it up and plant it again in the front yard. Not only will that tree fail to flourish, but it also will struggle to just survive. Eventually, it will die.
Yet some people are like that with God. They decide to go to church, read their Bible, and pray regularly. They do this for a month, and then they uproot themselves and disappear for a few months. Then they come back again. Then they uproot themselves and go back to the old life again. Eventually they come back and are at it again. Nobody will ever grow spiritually that way.
Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me". That is the secret of spiritual growth: to abide. To abide means to stay in a given place. For believers, it means to maintain unbroken fellowship with the Lord. It is regularity. It is consistency. And it results in producing lasting fruit.
Another way of abiding is walking with God. As 1 John 2:6 says, "He who says he abides in Him ought to himself also to walk just as He walked." Walking speaks of consistent motion. That means making time for the Word of God and for prayer every day. If you are too busy, then get up earlier. Go to bed earlier. You will always find time for what is IMPORTANT to you.

Prayer: Declare by faith, that you will always abide in the Lord and dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of your life.
Scriptural Reading: John 15:1-8