If you have been following along great! If not you may want to check out the other 3 parts that go along with this 4 part series on abiding. Today as we wrap up we will be looking at how abiding in truth makes us new and wrapping it up with a few words again as we end each section with on returning in prayer. The authors of this study will continue to drive this point home.
The study this week begins by saying once we approach, engage and apply truth it its time to set a pace. It is time to make God's word no longer "what we do" but "who we are." Last time we looked at Mary of Bethany and we learn from her interactions with Jesus that there is such a thing as active stillness. That means going to where ever Jesus is and knowing that we need that relationship more than we need anything else. In that hoping and waiting our spirit is refreshed. So how does renewal com from that and what about it makes us new?
Open your bible to John 15:1-4
What happens to branches that do not produce fruit?
What happens to every branch that produces fruit?
Circle the word every above. Does that make you uncomfortable?
What are we talking about here? We are talking about pruning. Don't we prune even the things that are growing well? Even if just a snip here and there. We do because it will make it grow even better. It will be a better producer.
"The vine dresser does not leave any branch untouched, but if we are abiding, He renews us. He lovingly and expertly pares us back so that we will be even more fruitful.
Open your bible to Isaiah 5:1-6
Read through the passage called Song of the Vineyard and think on these questions.
Who is the owner?
Who does the vineyard represent?
When his well kept vineyard doesn't produce what does the owner do?
Abiding in truth transforms us-it makes us new creations. (2 Cor 5:17) Pruning isn't always removing good for better or bad for good. Rather in any case pruning is an act of preservation.
The authors ask you to read the following passages and mediate on them:
John 16:33- What 2 promises does Jesus make?
2 Corinthians 4:7-18 underlining and circling the promises
Finally, we always end with prayer. It is not surprise. It is one of the easiest ways for us to commune with our Father but one that so often just easily gets put off to the side. Abiding in prayer just simply means returning.... returning daily no matter what the circumstances look like in your life. God does not care about what you have or have not done he cares for YOU. He wants YOU. He pursues YOU.
David is described as a man after God's own heart not because he lived a perfect life but because he RETURNED. Even when the chips were down and the circumstances were bleak for him. He returned in prayer. He came daily to abide in prayer. For all the things he did that were not so great he got one of the most important things in this life we live right. Prayer is one of the keys to living out a daily walk in relationship to our Father.
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