“you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” John 15:7-9 Do you know what your heart desires? Does it line up with God’s desires? In John 15:7, Jesus made an astonishing statement. You may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted. Is this the full access of a life abiding in Jesus means? Well, we have to remember the word “if.” The condition to having full access is tenaciously abiding. We have to remain in Jesus at all times. When we do this, our heart’s desire should be what God the father’s desires are. Look at John 3:22, “and can receive whatever we…
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Six Practices For Believers
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. John 15:4-6 Let’s review somethings from a few days ago. Six practices We think about Jesus We talk to Jesus we talk…
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Those Who Remain In Me
Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15: 5 Do you know what is important to God? Here is a slight hint, it’s what he repeats. This is the time that you really want to pay close attention to these moments. Jesus wants us to understand something significant than an intriguing illustration. So let’s zone in a little deeper to the vine, the gardener, and the branch and see what the outcome is. IT is the fruit produced. The fruit is good for us. It gives us nutrients that our bodies need. And it tastes,…
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Pruned and Purified
You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.” John 15:1-3 Do you think that gardening takes time? Or patience? How about waiting? It sure does. So does our life when God is pruning us. Stop and think about when the seed is first planted when you get to pick the fruit of that plant? You wait months for the plant to produce fruit. This is how it can be in our very own lives. It can take a while for the spiritual fruit to blossom for others to see. There are two things mentioned in John 15:3. Pruning and purification. In pruning by God,…
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The Gardener
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.” John 15:1-3 Do you know God? Do you know who He is? Do you know what He is like? Jesus uses two metaphors in these first three verses. These metaphors reveal important things about who The Father and Himself are. Jesus states that He is the TRUE grapevine. Why do you think it is important that He states that…
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Purity Of The Bride
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason, the world doesn’t know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. WE know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3 Weddings!! Aren’t they just exciting? I love weddings. I had mine planned since I was little,…
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Advent: Day Twenty-Five
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 1 John 5:11 . Christ is Born. Immanuel – God with us. It is time to yell, “Merry Christmas.” To be of good cheer. Have excitement. We are busy with opening presents, getting the dinner prepared. Do you make time for God on this Day? We use the day as a reminder that He did come here to earth to be with us. Yet, have we put him off to the side of all our business? Even though the Jews didn’t have the whole picture of God’s plan in the Bible times,…
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Advent Day: Twenty – Four
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17 This Christmas, what are you expecting? What do you want out of Christmas this year? Of this past year, what is one thing you have learned? One thing I have learned is to love and love with the overflow of God’s love. Matthew 22:35-44 says this, “And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with…
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Advent: Day Twenty – Two
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worship him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. Matthew 2:10-12 Christmas!!! The feels of Christmas can be different for everyone. There is excitement, happiness, stress, sadness, and fear. Gifts can add to these feelings. The discontent of “This isn’t what I wanted.” “How are we/I going to pay for all this?” “Where do I…
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Advent: Day Twenty
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, an all Jerusalem with him. Matthew 2:1-3 Everything about Jesus’ birth was unusual. He is King. He is the Messiah. His humble birth challenged the status quo. We, as humans, make a lot of assumptions. What does God do? He shakes it up. He throws a twist to how we think things should or…