“WHAT?! It’s totalllllly dead!” Like a cat stuck in a dryer, came the hysterical, high–pitched, whine of my son.
Shortly thereafter I heard his footsteps behind me and his hot breath on the back of my neck as he shoved his tablet at me with his classic “fix it” look on his face. (Ask your parents. They know it).
I looked at him and calmly asked, “Did you plug it in last night before you went to bed?”
He—unsurprisingly, still not calm—responded, “I thought I did, but when I came to check on it this morning, the plug wasn’t plugged in at all. I thought it was plugged in, but the plug was lying like…a millimeter from the tablet! Now what I am supposed to do?!”
I responded by telling him to plug it in—and this time to ensure that it was plugged in properly.
Ensuring the Power Source
I’m sure you’ve experienced something like this in your life—if not in your life, then at least in your family. So why did I bother to tell you this story? Simply this: just as you can’t run an electronic device without electricity, you can’t effectively live a Christian life without God’s power. And you can’t have God’s power without ensuring that you are effectively plugged into the power and the juice is running!
Right before Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He and His disciples were walking through a garden. He took the opportunity to use a tree as an effective tool to teach a simple but staple
principle of the spiritual life.
He said:
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father” (John 15:1–8, NLT).
Remaining in Relationship
Did you count how many times Jesus directly mentioned the word “remain” or the idea? I counted eight! Eight times Jesus clearly tells His disciples the secret of having access to His Holy Spirit power, and that is simply to remain; in other words, when you get plugged into God, do everything you can to stay plugged into Him! There are no secrets in the Christian life, God clearly promises that we can and will receive power to live our lives effectively, but we have got to do the work of remaining plugged into Him!
The Apostle Peter, the King of sticking his foot in his mouth, put it like this:
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3, NLT).
And, if Peter, being as much of a knuckle-head as he was, could figure this thing out, then I’m certain that you and I can get it done!
The Apostle Paul, unsuprisingly, likened this relationship to walking together:
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Galatians 5:16-25, NLT).
I love the way that The Amplified Bible translates verse 25: “If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]”
Thrive, Don’t Survive
Don’t be like my son who, when he needed power the most, didn’t have any. Take Jesus’ words to heart, and today make sure you plug into (and stay plugged into) Jesus: the true Source of power. I promise you that you’ll have all the power that you need in order to not only survive your day, but you’ll have the power to thrive while you survive!
Additional Resources
Growing in Christ
