“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NAS95)
I have enjoyed a disciplined life with God. I don’t say spiritual disciplines because God has led me to understand He permeates everything with His presence, so life is spiritual. Another thing He has allowed me to grasp sees spiritual referring to things invisible, meaning Him, my interior, where my interaction with Him occurs.
God avails Himself to me everywhere, which is why I cited John 15:5. Even though I have had a wonderful and disciplined life with God, I have not always seen Him as available. Initially, my conceptualization had God way off outside the universe. Gradually that perception changed, and so did my understanding of abiding in Him.
I now know, just as Paul did in Acts 17, “in Him I live and move and have my being” — another way of stating abiding. Abiding produces fruit, and for a plant to flower, it must blossom. Yet, the plant does it simply by abiding.
God’s interaction with me shifted from head to head-heart as my conversation with Him slowly moved from static to dynamic. In other words, I started to see His initiative in life and what it stirred within me. Abiding moved from a concept into the real. God is with me. Always. God’s Spirit (invisible) leads me (I’m not perfect at this), and the outcomes amaze me.
I’ve seen God touch hearts of individuals, call them into His Kingdom. I’ve seen disciples mature into multipliers of disciples. I’ve experienced anxiety decreasing and courage increasing. I’ve also noticed becoming less reactive to situations that used to trigger me. As these things have happened, my awareness has allowed me to think, maybe this points to fruit, to blossoming in life, to living into God’s design as an image-bearer.
At one level all I have oriented my life to is pursuing/seeking God. Yet now it appears God has pursued me, worked to transform me in such a way that His life permeates mine, and visibly so now. Am I perfect? No. Do I still get triggered at times? Yes. Yet signs of blossoming, signatures of God’s presence with me regularly surprise me when they show up.
The Bible calls it fruit. I call it God’s presence and love cultivating me so I begin to resemble His character rather than mine. Fruitfulness. Abiding, seeing God interacting with me, enables me to blossom as a person. I’m grateful.
For Reflection:
“In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit.” (Isaiah 27:6 NAS95)
- How are you growing in the noticing the abiding presence of God in your life?
- What helps you cultivate and abiding relationship with God that bears fruit?
