Abide To Thrive

If you abide with Me and MY words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you. By this is MY Father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:7-8

Jesus never danced around the edges of any issue. He always hit every issue right on the head. There is so very much in these short words about prayer; how it glorifies God, how it evidences our faith, how it can accomplish unlimited things.

For today lets look at the "prerequisite" of abiding.

A couple of definitions to "abide: are:

VERB: def.

To remain in a place.
To continue to be sure or firm; endure. See Synonym: stay

So Jesus is stating that if we want to see the power of God in our lives we must "continually remain is His word".

This seems prohibitive. How can we "live" in His word.

In another setting Jesus told those listening that the things that come our of our mouths originate in our hearts. It is the things that come out of our mouths that indicate what is in our hearts. We can easily determine, if we are honest with ourselves, whether or not the Word of God is dwelling in us.

The first part of the above scripture is a bit more difficult to get a grip on however. What does He mean about us abiding in Him? How can one continually remain in Him?

Once again if we take a look at another encounter that Jesus had with people we might be able to better understand this opportunity.

Jesus was standing by a vineyard and said to the people. "I am the vine, you are the branches"
The picture is a little more clear. If the branch is broken off from the vine it withers and dies.

How might we know if we are separated from the vine and lacking the spiritual nourishment?

Galatians 5:22-25 discusses the look of a branch that is connected to the vine by saying:

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control....If we live by the Spirit let us also walk by the Spirit.

There is a saying that if something walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, swims like a duck chances are good that it is a duck. Much like determining whether or not the Word of God dwells in us, discovering the level of our connectedness with the vine, or "abiding" with Him is indicated by the fruits that flow out from us.

SO, we can ask whatever we want and see God glorified by the answer to our request IF we have