30/04/2023
FRAGRANCE DEVOTIONAL (LT MINISTRIES)
TOPIC: The Source
TEXT: John 15:5
AMP: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.
When you take a fish out of the water, it won't take much time for it to die. This is because the land is not its natural habitat (environment). Likewise, a man cannot survive in the water, because the water is not his environment. If he must stay in the water, he must possess a gill for gaseous exchange.
So taking a fish out of the water/putting the man into the water is like exposing them to death. This has a lot to do with their wiring.
Our anchor scripture tells us that Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches: the branch has no life of its own, it only lives in relationship to the vine. The purpose of the branch is to serve as a vehicle through which the vine expresses itself. The branch cannot survive without the vine.
In the early chapters of Genesis, we could see the relationship that existed between God and man. God did not only create man to have dominion, multiply, or replenish the earth, He also created man for fellowship. Little wonder He would come to man in the cool of the evening.
When God created man, He left a vacuum in man which only Him can fill. In other words, man has been wired to long for and submit to a higher authority. It was because of this that the children of Israel brought about idol worship. And today, we see the Hindus, Buddhists, traditionalist, and even the atheist. Everyone one of them has something they strongly hold on to.
Some people go as far as making a god out of unspeakable acts... all to fill a void in them. What they do not know is that God does not have a duplicate. It's either Him or Him. We came out of Him (Genesis 2:7), so if we must live, we must remain in Him; otherwise, we are just existing.
Jesus said, “NIV:Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4)
A man who is not rooted in Christ cannot be fruitful. It's a principle that will always exist. Being fruitful has nothing to do with physical prosperity, fame, and affluence. These are only the world's definitions of fruitfulness (prosperity). A fruitful man is a man whose life is built on Jesus. (Acts 17:28— KJV:For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.)
When Jesus says, “without me, ye can do nothing,” He means, even everything you have and possess outside me is nothing. Your charitable deeds and self-righteousness are nothing before me.
No matter where a man goes, no matter the heights he attains, no matter his achievements, no matter the religion he embraces, he will never find true fulfillment if he's not connected to the true source; God. But those in Christ are already fulfilled.
So, a man could wake up one day and say, as the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you Lord. It is because he realized his life would never have meaning without God, his source.
CONFESSION
I am connected to the Father;
And so live a fruitful life.
Everything within and around me prospers.
My relationship with the Father blossoms by the day.
I am forever hidden in Christ Jesus.
Pastor James Emmanuel.
: Giving Life to Our Generation
30/04/2023