Live In Christ

John 15
4 Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.
6 If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
8 When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honoured and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.

The message is simple. Abide, dwell, LIVE in Jesus Christ! Whatever your experience; Whatever your circumstance; Whatever your knowledge… Abide in Him! Get to Jesus and stay in Jesus! Let the fruit of your being be HIM! HIS life, HIS love, HIS heart…
The warning is clear. Don’t leave!! Not for anything!! Don’t leave His presence! Don’t let your eyes be taken by distraction. Do not let fear rule in your heart. Root out pride and wash yourself from its fetid smell! Guard your heart with all diligence that it might not be taken from His secret place of intimacy.
We are not commanded to abide in church, denomination or community. We are not called to abide in religious practice or high moral standards. No!! We are called to abide in JESUS ONLY AND ALWAYS! Hallelujah! What an invitation and opportunity! The fruit of such a life will be HIS ALONE! The fruit of such a life will be true fellowship, true unity, true love for the body of Christ, preferring and esteeming others above self!

Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].

Where else would we go? Why would we want to be anywhere else?! Hallelujah! He is LIFE! And life more abundantly! Life overflowing, from streams within! Hallelujah! He has given us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and Godliness! In HIM we have all peace, all victory, pleasures forevermore and rejoicing in all things! As we abide in Him we can ask whatever we will!! Oh Lord stir our faith to partake of your abundance! Hallelujah!
Oh, we are so fickle and prone to wander away! We are so easily distracted at times. Oh, let’s be so careful to simply abide in Jesus. Let His Spirit fill us. Let His heart and His character be seen in our conduct and conversation! May others look at us and perceive that we have been with Jesus!! Let them perceive that we are WITH HIM!
When the enemy comes in like a flood, abide in HIM. When all is burned up, wasted and lost, abide in HIM. When all is well, abide in HIM. When you feel life is all so blessed and easy, ABIDE IN HIM! Recognise how utterly dependent you are upon Him, His Life and His provision. Recognise how dead you are without HIS life and run to Him!

Matthew 12
33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

If I am in Christ, I am not in my flesh. If I am in Christ I will not be focused on my self and my desires. Christ’s body was broken, His time was interrupted, His days filled with serving and He has not changed. Oh Lord, please teach us to abide in You and may YOUR fruit be seen in YOUR people. May my life be known by YOUR good fruit.

Asking For Trouble!

Song of Solomon 4
16 Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits.

Look at this request of the Shulamite bride. Why would she ask for the cold north wind to come with risk of frost, snow and death to plant life? Or why ask for the hot, dry wind from the south bring barrenness and thirst? Why would she ask for these? She is asking for discomfort, she is asking for lack of nutrients and hardship, she is asking to be disturbed, she is asking for the unpleasant…
What she is longing for is opportunity to share the fragrance of her garden for her beloved. It is the harsh and difficult conditions that stir up the fragrances. Just as love is not love until it is proved so the fragrance won’t flow until the winds blow.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life….

Do we consider this when trials come, when our Lord brings us into those ordained hard seasons? Do we consider the testimony of Jesus and take comfort and joy in His fragrance being experienced? Is it our primary focus to consider how the Gospel might be better proclaimed? Is it evident to the world that our chains are in Christ? (Philippians 1:12-13)
Oh how I long to be a sweet fragrance of Jesus to Our Father! Oh Lord may You be seen in Your people! May we be an aroma of Christ! Lord blow upon our lives with your north and south winds and cause your fragrance to flow out. No matter the storm, I WILL YET PRAISE YOU! HALLELUJAH! I will praise The name of The Lord my God and cast myself upon Your goodness and mercy!

1 Peter 4
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.
13 But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that when His glory is revealed, you may rejoice with great joy.
14 If you are insulted and reviled for [bearing] the name of Christ, you are blessed [happy, with life-joy and comfort in God’s salvation regardless of your circumstances], because the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you [and indwelling you].

We really can rejoice in suffering if we are in love with Jesus. He is forming us to be more like Him and causing His fragrance to be produced in us. From all that time spent in the secret place, reading His word, seeking Him in prayer… All that He has poured into these lives will start to flow out. HIS GLORY will be revealed in US!!
May we always be rejoicing in our beloved. No matter our circumstance, no matter the storm. May we seek to be as ravished with His love as He is with us! May we be joyful for opportunities to demonstrate and manifest His love in us to the world around us! May we have hearts that seek for the winds to come in order that His fragrance may flow out of our lives!

Sifted As Wheat

Matthew 3
12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Psalm 1:4
The wicked are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.

Threshing is a separation process. The chaff and the grain are parts of the same plant, they grow alongside each other, but only the grain holds value, only the grain carries within it the life of the plant and the potential to reproduce. The precious grain must be separated from the rest of the plant through a “winnowing” process. This is a turbulent but effective process for sifting out the undesirable waste.
Both the grain and the chaff have to experience the winds of the winnowing fan. The grain, weighty with life, remains but the dry, empty chaff is blown away. Much like the houses of the wise man and the foolish man, both houses are built carefully and they may exist side by side as neighbours for years but it is when the storm comes that the foundations are proved.
The storm MUST come. The storms WILL come. They have been ordained to come! It is a necessary and vital process in the individual and collective lives of believers. It is in the storms and trials that the flesh is shown to be dry, hardened and easily swept away but the life of Christ is revealed as precious hope, grounded and fruitful. We are told plainly to expect the storms and trials, that they WILL come, “When” not ‘if”!

Luke 22
31 “Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has demanded permission to sift [all of] you like grain;

John 16
33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you will have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

James 1
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

1 Peter 1
6 In this you should greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations,
7 So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is proven and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to result in your praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So then battles, trials, sickness and suffering are precious and welcome opportunity for God’s children! They endure suffering knowing that the life of Christ is being revealed, the flesh is being dealt with and that Jesus’ testimony is being demonstrated and proven in His people. The Born Again believer rejoices in the Sovereignty of God and seeks occasion, in all things, to submit to The Father’s Will and to glorify Him. Having a spiritual perspective they do not place emphasis on their suffering but on the Name and testimony of Jesus Christ! They rejoice in His presence, His provision and His tender mercies and loving comforts in His Word.
The threshing isn’t a pleasant experience. It is turbulence, inconvenience, discomfort, grief. Etc But the life in the grain will fall upon The Lord, the wise man’s house will be seen to stand strong. The grain will rejoice evermore and pray without ceasing, the life of Jesus in a believer will pray with faith, casting (throwing off) all cares onto The Lord. Through the storm HIS LIFE will be revealed in HIS people!
So what will we be today? Grain, full of Jesus life and His word, abiding in Him, unmoved by the winnowing winds? Or chaff, without substance, easily blown about and blown away by the cares of this life? In EVERY circumstance let us be careful to abide in Jesus and resist the temptation to act/walk in the flesh.

Song of Solomon 4
16 “Awake, O north wind, And come, south wind; Make my garden breathe out fragrance, [for the one in whom my soul delights], Let its spices flow forth. Let my beloved come into his garden And eat its choicest fruits.”

Faithful With Very Little

Luke 16
10 Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
…
13 No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

Faithful is not a title we can claim for ourselves but a characteristic only others can attribute to us. Faithfulness, like love, is proven in action and not bound by fluctuating feelings. Faith without works is dead as love without faithfulness is dead and both are proven in the very little.
The “very little” things are often overlooked or despised. They are thought little of, easily missed and easily forgotten. They are insignificant to most people and beneath others; unglamorous, inconvenient moments of servitude for which no praise or thanks is given. Faithfulness is proved in little minutes and moments of life, in the unseen and unnoticed parts. It is a daily, moment by moment discipline/battle. It would be easy to stop, most people would understand, even encourage you to take it easy and relax!
On the other hand the flesh in me is eager to prove an ability to be faithful in the “much”. The idea of promotion to something greater appeals to my ego, but spiritually, that is to miss the mark entirely. The great vastness of God’s immense love is proven and demonstrated in the very little, consistent daily details of our lives! “His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23. There is great wonder and awe in knowing God spoke all creation into existence in six days but that same voice still faithfully holds all things together and it is in the menial task of caring for each and every sparrow that we get a glimpse of the vastness of His omnipotent love and omniscient care. To have the opportunity to serve our Saviour in the “very little” is far greater testimony of the majesty of God than any notoriety or momentary significance. His tender mercies, loving kindnesses and compassions are seen far more clearly in the very little things that we do for others in His name.
The greatest honour for a man is to be found in faithfulness to God in the least of things. Oh may we be so in love with The Lord that we joy to serve Him faithfully and joyfully in the very little.

1 Corinthians 4
2 Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

Luke 18
8 … However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?”

What Sets Us Apart?

Exodus 33
15 And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here!
16 For by what shall it be known that I and Your people have found favour in Your sight? Is it not in Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth?

Is it The Lord’s presence that distinguishes you from the those around you? Does the world see an individual who lives in the presence of The Creator God, walking in HIS joy, peace, love, power and testimony?
Or are we distinguished merely by moralism or legalism? Are we distinguished by our denomination/church label? Are we distinguished by only our isolation or lifestyle?
What does the world see in God’s people? Do they see a people set apart unto The Lord? Do they see a people who have “I AM” living within them? Do they see a people following after and calling after God? What do my work colleagues, friends and family see in me? Do they see The Lord and HIS testimony? Or do they see mere “Christianity”, religion and pride?

Exodus 34
9 And he said, If now I have found favor and loving-kindness in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray You, go in the midst of us, although it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.

Moses was desperate for The Lord to be in the midst of His people. He longed to see The Lord dwelling amongst them. He doesn’t pray just for personal guidance and fellowship, he beseeches The Lord, “Our Father”, that He would be amongst “us”, His brethren, leading and guiding the congregation, the sheep that He has delivered!
Note “midst of us”, “our iniquity”, “take us”, Moses identifies himself with the people. Moses identifies the same heart within Himself and confesses our iniquity and our sin and our need for The Lord to be among us! He is not better than them or above them or apart from them.
Let us pray together as Moses did to be distinguished in the world by The Lord’s presence! Let us learn to be mindful of Our Father’s constant presence among us. His presence is not experienced by sense but enjoyed by faith!! Let us be careful to pray with the same meekness and humility to be distinguished from the world but not from our brethren.
By faith, may He be in all our momentary thoughts and have all our attention as we walk in His Spirit. By faith may we enjoy Him and all that He is minute by minute…
“O Lord, let the Lord, I pray You, go in the midst of us!”