April 8
Bible Reading: John 15:1-5
John 15:5, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
We’ve a KitchenAid mixer in the kitchen. Though I’ve never used it, I know it can do lots of things like mixing, kneading, shredding, whipping, etc. I also know that it will do none of those things unless it’s plugged into an electrical outlet. Likewise, it is impossible to bear fruit without being well connected to Jesus.
Some wrongly imagine the Christian life to be some kind of religious endeavor in which we try hard in our own strength to “do our best for God,” but that’s not the way it works. With fruit-bearing, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. He is the life source. Apart from him, we can’t do a thing. Noteworthy is the term “nothing.” Jesus did not say that we could do some things or easy things, but that we can’t do anything. Apart from Jesus, we can’t move an inch in a heavenward direction.
As a Christian, you are a branch plugged into the vine. The very life of Christ is in you, as the Apostle Paul put it: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). It is His life and energy and strength that flows through you. He produces fruit through you as you keep in close, intimate fellowship with Him. As delightful as it is to find a tree bearing some kind of yummy fruit, so there is joy in the realization that Jesus has worked through you to bear fruit of the spiritual kind. And, though we can’t do a thing apart from Jesus, how good it is to know that we “can do all things through him who strengthens (us)” (Philippians 4:13).
“We talk about great men of God down through the centuries. You will find that the men who were usable by the Spirit of God were men who were abiding. The closer you walk with Him and stay near Him, the more evident will be the fruit.”
John G. Mitchell
If there’s no power, check the connection.
CHANNELS ONLY
How I praise Thee, precious Savior,
That Thy love laid hold of me;
Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me
That I might Thy channel be.
Refrain:
Channels only, blessed Master,
But with all Thy wondrous pow’r
Flowing through us, Thou canst use us
Every day and every hour.
Just a channel full of blessing,
To the thirsty hearts around;
To tell out Thy full salvation,
All Thy loving message sound. [Refrain]
Emptied that Thou shouldest fill me,
A clean vessel in Thy hand;
With no pow’r but as Thou givest
Graciously with each command. [Refrain]
Witnessing Thy pow’r to save me,
Setting free from self and sin;
Thou who boughtest to possess me,
In Thy fullness, Lord, come in. [Refrain]
Jesus, fill now with Thy Spirit
Hearts that full surrender know;
That the streams of living water
From our inner self may flow. [Refrain]
LookingtoJesus 