This post is a part of this series
Jesus said
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5
So how do you remain on the vine – in a way that makes a practical and measurable difference to your life? Here is the best explanation I have heard of what the vine is and how to stay in “it”.
Firstly we know that Jesus is the Vine. And we join Him by faith – that means, believing that what He said and did was true. That’s why I think the many miracles He did were “confidence building measures” because the truly enormous miracle would be the one on the cross where He releases all who believe in Him from death and sickness and disease and emotional trauma and sin.
If you can get hold of the fact that He can walk on water, you might believe He set you free on the cross. If you can believe that He fed the 5000 and 3000, then you have a shot at believing that He set you free from the troubles of this world. If you can believe He did one impossible miracle after another after another… then you have a shot at believing that He conquered sin and death and set His followers free.
Ok Lord I believe You did it, I believe You performed all these miracles (List of Jesus’ miracles) and I WANT to believe Your greatest miracle of all was setting me free BUT I don’t see it. I hear that You did it, but I look at my life and I don’t see it. If I see it, I’ll believe it.
Watchman Nee tells a chinese parable of three people walking along. The one in front is called truth. Then behind him is faith. Then comes experience.
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Experience always follows (and keeps his eyes on) faith at all times.
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If faith keeps his eyes on truth, then experience will follow faith and those truths will become experiences.
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If faith looks over his shoulder or gets distracted and turns away from the truth, then his experience will stop being like the truth but his experience will begin to look like something else.
So to stay on the Vine means deciding if you believe that what the bible says that Jesus did on the cross is truth. Is it truth. That is faith. Then keep your eyes on that – and it will become experience in your life.
NOTE: My promise to you is that I do not write about anything that I have not first experimented with and found to work reliably in my own life. It is not at all an exaggeration to say that THIS blog post (above) summarizes how I got free of addiction, illness and it is now how I live my life now.
If you enjoyed this post you might also like…
- Eve was Adam’s bride. We are Jesus Christ’s bride.
- The revelation of the mystery hidden long ago
- I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes
- Faith speaks in this way (Rom 10:6)
- Key scriptures for interceding for crime or war or trouble
- The gospel promises that Jesus kept (part 1)
- The gospel promises that Jesus kept (part 2)
- Staying on the Vine (John 15:5)
I look forward to reading your comments. Please leave them below. Please share this with your FB and Twitter and G+ friends online. Email it to people who are questioning and you want to give them some answers. Forward it to someone who is hurting and you can see that they do not have to suffer any more. If you are a leader, have the courage of conviction to teach this.
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Faith + Hope + Love 