Discipleship Devotional Study Guide – Knowing God – John 15:4-5 – Abide In Me – Growing As Disciples
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 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. John 15:4-5 (ESV)
Bear Much Fruit
I am the vine. You are a branch. What does that tell you? I am connected to you. I was designed to live in an intimate relationship with you. You are my source of life. All that I need flows through you. There is not a minute of the day or a moment of my life when I can vibrantly live apart from you.
You have been called to abide in me. You are meant to remain in me. What does that tell you? It is possible to live a life that is disconnected from you. I need to guard against being lured away from you. The world and all that is in it could distract me from living in a vital and intimate relationship with you. Living in a vital and intimate relationship with you will require consistent effort and discipline on my part. Abiding in you will require me to make significant and life altering choices. What kind of choices will you need to make? I will need to choose to make it my practice to abide in you. How will you do that? If I want to abide in you I will need to live a life of prayer. Our life together will be one long and ongoing prayer filled conversation. I will draw near to you and you will draw near to me. I will listen attentively to all that you have to say to me. We will talk together about all of life. Yes, we will. What else? As I abide with you I will meet with you in your word. There is not a day that I will not need to hear what you want to teach me. You will mold and shape my life with your word. You will change my heart and transform my mind with your word. You will guide my life, give me comfort and strengthen me with your word. Your Holy Spirit, living in me, will bring your word to my remembrance and apply it to my life. That’s right. What else? As I abide with you I will want to bow down to worship you. I will give thanks to you for all your goodness to me. I will praise your name for who you are and all that you have done. I will gather together with the body of believers you have placed me in to express my love to you as I worship you with all my heart and mind and soul and strength. That’s very good. What else? As I abide in you I will want to bear fruit for your kingdom and bring glory to your name. I want to bear an abundance of fruit for you that will last for all eternity. I know that apart from you I can do nothing. I want my life to be used by you. I want to do the good works that you have planned for me to do for you. I will go where you guide me. I will do all that you ask of me. Live your life in these ways. Make these choices and you will be abiding in me. Yes Lord, I will.
Lord, thank you that you are the vine and I am your branch. You are my source of vibrant and eternal life now and forever. I will remain vitally connected to you on a daily moment-by-moment basis so I can bear abundant and lasting fruit for your kingdom. Amen
For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide click here:
Knowing God – John 15-4-5 – Abide In Me – 4 Page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide
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