Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. He also trims every branch that produces fruit to prepare it to produce even more. You have already been prepared to produce more fruit by the teaching I have given you. Stay joined to me and I will stay joined to you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must stay connected to the vine. It is the same with you. You cannot produce fruit alone. You must stay joined to me. “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I to you, you will produce plenty of fruit. But separated from me you won’t be able to do anything.
John 15:1-5 ERV
At the height of my pridefulness, I was certain the last part of John 15: 1-5 did not apply to me. For "some" reason, "Apart from me, you can do nothing" was involuntarily recalled over and over during the past 5 years. I kept dismissing it.
I remember thinking, "I am capable of making good decisions to get good results." "People use Christianity as a crutch." "There are people who do not believe who are productive and successful." "I'm not going to use Christ to cope with life."
And, like the prodigal son, I set out with my "smart," "resourceful," "not weak," and "capable-of-making-good-decisions" self and decided I would realize my vision for my life without God's help.
I made some of the poorest decisions. I did some things I never thought I would do. I went through some things that left me depleted. Everything, even things that were once natural for me, became a struggle.
I was losing at life, yall. Incredibly frustrated, hurt, broken, angry, ashamed, embarrassed, and still I was too prideful to genuinely ask for forgiveness and for my Father's help.
I was the lord of my life. My will mattered most to me. My vision for myself was most important to me. I did what I wanted to do.
Pride is the first step toward destruction. Proud thoughts will lead you to defeat. (Proverbs 16:18 ERV) I was racing towards destruction and being defeated in many areas along the way. It is ONLY because of my Father's lovingkindness, grace, and mercy that I was halted and humbled before I reached destruction.
Apart from God, I can do nothing;
for in Him I live, and move, and have my being. If that makes me weak, great! His strength is made perfect in my weakness.
Don't be satan-deceived and self-deceived. You need God. I need God. We need God, yall. Our adversary desires to kill us, destroy us, steal from us, deceive us, and separate us from our Father eternally and while we are living on this earth.
But God...
Thank God, we can say " but God!" God wants to love on us, save us, teach us, guide us, restore us, heal us, and give us "life, life, and more life."
Now, that I have learned that apart from Him I can do nothing, I am ready to witness all the things I can do through Christ who gives me strength. I'm so excited!
"I don’t mean that I am exactly what God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal. But I continue trying to reach it and make it mine. That’s what Christ Jesus wants me to do. It is the reason he made me his. Brothers and sisters, I know that I still have a long way to go. But there is one thing I do: I forget what is in the past and try as hard as I can to reach the goal before me. I keep running hard toward the finish line to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven."
Philippians 3:12-14 ERV
#ThereIsAReasonItIsCalledGoodNews
