“Abide in Me”

 

Read John 15:4-10

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)

Have you ever watched a vine-growing plant, (tomatoes, grapes come to my mind}? They get their nourishment from the stalk of the plants, not from the individual branches, (their purpose is to help get food to the fruit,) Once the fruit is separated from the stalk or the vine, it begins a process of drying out and eventually dying.

I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and are burned. (John 15:5-6)

In these verses, Jesus contrasts the outcome of His children living for Him or not living for Him. Jesus very plainly states the without Him, we can do nothing.

If you abide in me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples.

(John 15:7-8)

Jesus answers the requests of His children. Sometimes, it may take awhile or maybe not in the way we ask, but His answer will come. There are times that I have been put through the traces in order for me to see Jesus at work on certain circumstances that could affect my life.

As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My father’s commandments, you will abide in My Father’s love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. (John 15:9-10)

Jesus states something here that each of us should remember. His love for us is exactly like His Father’s love for Him. Jesus further tells us that when we keep the Father’s commandments, we live in and honor the Father’s love.

When we live in God’s way and, thereby honor Him, other people see how we behave and react to events in our lives.

“Abide in My Word”

 

The Jesus said to those Jews who believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:31-32 (NKJV)

I know we all know the last part of the above passage. However, do we focus on the first part.

The first part gives us a prerequisite, a step we have to follow in the process of getting to know Jesus.

If you abide in My word,

Abide simply means live. As His children, we are to live what we read. Before we can abide or live out the lessons, we have to believe that the lessons are true.

When we believe those words of Jesus, we learn the truth, we know the Truth, and we are set free from worry, depression, and anxiety.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus: Thank You for the lessons found in Your word. Thank You for the wisdom you impart to us as we spend time with You each day. In your Name, I pray. Amen

The Lord-Our Shepherd

 

The Lord is my shepherd

 

The duties of a shepherd are tough. They are the lowest rung of society. The majority of their days and nights are spent out in the wilderness.

I shall not want

God supplies all the shepherd’s needs. The shepherd, in turn, sees to it that his flock has nourishment and water in order to grow and survive.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

The shepherd chooses places of safety for his flock to rest through the nights.

He leads me beside the still waters.

The shepherd chooses the right spot for the sheep in his care to rest and receive refreshment.

He restores my soul

When a shepherd tenderly cares for his flock, the sheep are more docile and easier to work with.

He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.

A shepherd guides his flock safely through the fields as he leads them in search of food and rest.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

A shepherd guides his flock through dangerous places. The sheep don’t realize that dangerous places exist.

I will fear no evil; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

The sheep are not fearful. They know their shepherd. They follow him because the trust

him.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

The shepherd sees to it that his flock has what they need to survive and to grow. Those predators whose purpose is to devour the sheep watch as the shepherd cares for them.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.

When his sheep get caught in briers, the shepherd rescues each one. He washes each injury. He repeats the process until the wounds are healed.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Sheep are not the smartest creatures placed on God’s earth. They seem to be the most protected. They are led by their shepherd to safe fields where they are allowed to feed and receive rest as well.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The sheep eventually serve a purpose for their owners. Even then, each lamb, each sheep is taken into a special place of protection by the one who has protected them.

Like David, each of us can claim the Lord as our shepherd. God watches over us as we go through each day of our individual lives. He protects us, His children, as we go through our days. He allows His beloved children to rest. He keeps us from danger. He uses items around us to keep us safe. He provides us, His children, with nourishing foods.

I am certain that each one of us here has experienced difficult times in our lives. Some of those times may have been extremely long. It may even seem like we felt alone in our times of stress or hardship.

We may have wished we could talk to someone about the difficulty we were having but, at the same time, didn’t want to burden anyone else with our issues.

We have God; He will listen no matter how big our issue may seem to us.

Thou Shalt Not Murder

 

As a general rule, I do not comment on news events happening in our world. This post is an exception.

Earlier this winter, a man was killed in New York City. He was there for a meeting. His purpose was to speak at the gathering.

Instead, he was shot down from behind, in the back, and immediately died. He was an executive of a health insurance company. He was a son, a husband and a father of two sons.

I heard of people accessing social media who seem to say that the perpetrator did something admirable. Lately, I have not gone on social media for very long.

As I sat one recent evening, watching a late-night news program, the scripture verse came to me, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13 {NKJV})

In all the aftermath, I did not hear anyone even refer to this commandment from God. Have the people of our nation and those who keep us informed forgotten this message?

Yes, my first thought was the young man may have had personal issues with the company. However. That was not the case. Neither he nor his family had any dealings with that company.

 

God had a reason for telling Moses, “Thou shall not kill”; any time someone is killed, the very act causes anguish for two families, as well as close friends, of both parties involved.

We can only pray that God can reach those who encourage violence to look to Him instead of taking things intot their own hands.

Thoughts on Prayer

 

I have been reading about prayer for some time. I ran across a quote that speaks to my heart, “Sometimes we think prayer is a way to get what we want. Prayer is actually a way to get closer to God.” {Oswald Chambers}

The Best Way to Pray

Several years ago, I was on a prayer chain at the church we were in. We would receive some requests that were quite serious. Sometimes my response was “How can we pray for that need?” The lady on the other end of the phone always said, “The Lord’s will.”

I have thought about her response many times since and have realized two things. First, that’s what God wants us to do. Jesus prayed at Gethsemane that God’s will be done rather than His. {If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, not as I will but as You.  Matthew 26:39 {NKJV}} Secondly, when we pray for God’s will over ours, we allow God to display His power and His might for all to see.

Seeing God at Work

In our church, we have seen God at work. January 29,2024, a call went out from the church office that our pastor was taken to the ER by his wife and was admitted to ICU. We found out later that week that he had suffered a stoke. It has been a year of prayer and trusting the Lord for his family and for our church.

On the third Sunday of January 2025, the pastor’s wife spoke. Pastor Rick has chosen to retire. This did not surprise me or those that I have talked to about it. Due to the weather forecast for our region and a few reasons of our health, I chose to stay home. One thing I heard that Pastor’s wife said was that she had been told that medically speaking, our pastor should not be alive. She decided that He was still with us due to prayer.

At present, Pastor Rick is in a hospital in a neighboring city. He has has one set back after another. Please pray for them and for our church as we begin to search for a new pastor.

A New Year, A New Word

 Due to being ill and not feeling well before Christmas, I did not choose to be on my computer until this week. On December 20,2024, I was diagnosed with COVID. I have never been so sick in my entire life. Husband also has not been well. We saw our son this week for the first time since October. Part of that was because of the weather.

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Can you believe it? We are living in a brand-new year! Along with this being a new year,

it is also a time for me to announce my Word or 2025. My word for this year is FAITH. Again, God chose this word for me.

Again, I have repeatedly seen this word in my reading.

Faith in the New Year

For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘ Move from here to there,’ and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20 (NKJV)

As I sit here at the beginning of a new year, I have to remember that I need to have faith in God in order to get through the next months.

As I sit here and listen to or read the news, I see more and more struggles of God’s children. Governments are in disarray,

misunderstood tragic plane crashes,

the wild fires in California,

things in general are not as we would like them to be.

The plane crash in the Potomac

As I update this;, readying it for publishing, I am reminded of the funeral dinners our church has prepared since New Years. Here it is the end of January and we have prepared three and received a request to prepare another on two days from now.

I know my faith will be tested. I also know that it will grow.

November Reflections

 

A Busy Month

November was a rather busy month. Or Anniversary was in this month. We had to pay property taxes, due right after our anniversary. I had a wellness visit and then a follow-up medical check-up and our church had it’s Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner, Thanksgiving, and our son was planning coming in on the weekend immediately following the holiday.

I had a goal of getting my house cleaned up. I operate under the thought that it will wait for me when I get around to it. I really did want to get things looking better. I hope to do better with this issue of my life.

Thinking about 2025

I have chosen to plan for 2025 somewhat early this fall, but not really. This is December and that means we have a few weeks to get ready for Christmas and then the upcoming year. I hae already chosen my word for the year. ( I will reveal it in early January,)

Thanksgiving Plans

Our Thanksgiving plans got changed and then changed back and changed again. Long story short- the weather was not our friend. On Thanksgiving Day, Hubby and I were by ourselves, as planned. We decided to have spaghetti for our meal. The night before,I had made taco meat. We used the left-over meat in our sauce and it made a very tasty meal.

The weather here was more like the end of January than the end of November. He had purchased a big ham. On Saturday, we had ham, roma green beans, whole kernel corn, and candied sweet potatoes. Roger decided not to venture out on the roads de to the weather forecast. He has said he would be here this next weekend.

Prayers Please

I feel the need to truly search for outlets for my writing. I get discouraged so easily when I search for Christian markets. I believe I am conservative and traditional in my outlook. I want to do what God wants for me.