Category: Devotionals

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes… Remain in me, as I also remain in you… If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” (John 15:1–8)

Jesus is still teaching his disciples after their last supper together, probably as they pass the temple while walking to the Mount of Olives. Overhanging the entrance was a massive vine made of gold, for vines in the Old Testament refer to God’s people, Israel. Thus for the disciples, Jesus’ teaching would have been filled with meaning. Jesus says that he is now the true vine, the fulfillment of this ancient symbol. He is the one plant, and his people are the branches.

As we think about abiding in Jesus, shall we focus on the painful and inevitable pruning that occurs as we remain in him?

Back in the first century, a new vine would be planted, cultivated, and pruned for three years before it was allowed to bear any fruit. That early in its life, the plant’s branches weren’t strong enough to bear the weight of even one grape. Then even when fully grown, the branches would be cut back after harvest for rest and nourishment to become strong for the next growing season.

We all undergo seasons of pruning. Are you experiencing one? Perhaps it’s health-related – perhaps a feared illness or the slowing down of old age. Maybe it’s relationally based – you’re single and you don’t want to be; your kids are breaking your heart; your parents are aging and infirm. Maybe it’s professional or educational – your job was eliminated or you didn’t do well in your last exam.

Whatever the particular form of cutting back, we can rest on the knowledge that the Master Vinedresser has the best plan for us. For he allows us to be pruned where we most need it so that we will become stronger, healthier, and able to bear more fruit than we ever thought possible. May we receive the strength to bear any pruning with good cheer.

Prayer: Lord, this pruning hurts. But we know that you will only take away what needs to be cut back. Help us to trust in you as you form lasting fruit.

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them… But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:22–31)

When I was at university I received a lower grade on a literature paper than I had expected. The professor told me to read the work again and go for a walk while musing on it. I followed his instructions and rewrote the paper, but evidently I didn’t receive any flashes of inspiration. My mark remained the same.

Those moments of knowing and understanding, which I lacked as I labored over my literature paper, we receive by the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus here promises will come and make his home with us. Not only will he teach us all things but then will remind us of them later. He knows our limitations, and even our forgetfulness.

I often miss the Holy Spirit’s wisdom when I haven’t quieted the competing noises and voices around me. They may be actual voices, like the sound of my sweet daughter playing downstairs. Or they may be the hopes, longings, and fears that we keep bottled inside. Or they may be the anger and bitterness we harbor after being wronged. Or they might simply be the distractions of daily life, like what we will make for dinner or the leaking faucet that needs to be fixed or the phone that continues to ring.

We can stop for a few moments, remember that Christ lives in us, and ask for his Spirit to show us the way. As we rest in his presence he will bring us the word we need, whether an assurance of his love, the knowledge that he is leading us, the healing balm for our hurts or the inspiration and answer to our dilemma. As we quiet ourselves, he will shower down his wisdom, like flakes of gold swirling down from the skies.

Join me in seeking his peace and wisdom.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, help me to enter into the deep quiet and know your wisdom and truth. I seek you in all that I do today. Thank you for your presence in and through me. Amen.

But you will know him [the Spirit], for he lives with you and will be in you… Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:15–21)

Our text comes during what is known as Jesus’ “final discourse” with the disciples. They have shared their last meal together, and now Jesus is preparing them for life after his death. Their fears about the future are clear and he seems to be comforting as much as instructing them.

He says that only with the coming of the Holy Spirit will they truly understand his words, for then their minds will be transformed by his indwelling wisdom. Here he is describing a wonderful mystery; not only the presence of God in his people, but the interconnected nature of his relationship with his Father and with the Spirit. He is in his Father, we are in him, and he is in us.

This might sound abstract, but look again at the context. As the disciples fear what lies ahead, Jesus tells them that he will not leave them as orphans (v. 18). In their anxious doubt, he offers them the ultimate assurance. We too when we are lonely or afraid can know that Jesus will not left us; indeed, he lives inside us.

When my son was five years old, sometimes he would say he was scared, and he’d ask for “a long prayer.” I’d pray that he would know the loving arms of God underneath him, upholding him. I’d tell him that Jesus was with and in him and would never leave him, and I’d pray that the Spirit would bring him comfort and rest.

How much more assurance does the Lord want to give us. As Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me” (John 14:1). As he lives in us, he will take our burdens as we yield them to him. Come, share in his comfort.

For prayer: “Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word; I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord; thou my great Father, I thy true son; thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one” (ancient Celtic hymn).

Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. (John 7:25–44)

Here Jesus is in the final autumn of his life as he visits Jerusalem for the last time during the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was the third in the agricultural cycle, and celebrated the autumn harvest and wine. It also incorporated prayers for rain, as the land would then be affected by drought.

On the final day of the feast, during the climax of the water ceremony, Jesus makes the stunning pronouncement that he is the source of living water; if people come and drink then streams of living water will flow from within them. Those around were divided in their response. Some thought that he might be the Messiah, but others wanted to seize and kill him. Likely they believed he was being blasphemous as he linked himself to Yahweh, for the prophet Jeremiah had called the Lord the spring of living water (see Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13).

When I think about living water flowing from within, I see a rushing stream with crystal-clear water that brings life to all that it touches. The water is continually moving and shaping, smoothing out the rocks within. And as we saw in the passage from Ezekiel, it flushes out any residue murkiness.

Jesus is the source of living water, and as he lives in us through his Spirit he will provide healing for our hurts and will oil the relational wheels with our loved ones. He will enable us to give a gracious reply even when we are exhausted, and provide a life-giving solution when we are searching for wisdom. His living water in us will leave us cleansed, refreshed and fortified as we engage with those around us. As the rivers flow from within us, we too can take them to this life-giving water.

For prayer: “Let those who are thirsty come; and let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm… The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3)

Although there were traumas related to the birth and early days of both of our children, what I remember most are the sweet moments of tender attachment and rejoicing during the “babymoon.” As I gazed at our son and then our daughter, I felt deep springs of love pouring out. Amazingly, I didn’t even mind the sleeplessness, for it was a joy to provide for these helpless babes. I started to understand more deeply the Lord’s delight in his people; his love and rejoicing with singing.

We don’t have to be a parent to experience these feelings of great delight. Perhaps we find them through a mentoring relationship. Or through the love we lavish on our nieces and nephews, “adopted” or biological. Or through a close friendship, forged over many years. This nurturing is all rooted in God, and can be seen in his promises made through the prophet Zephaniah during the reign of King Josiah around 600 BC.

Twice Zephaniah says that “the Lord is with you,” and the Hebrew word used here radiates a sense of nearness. Though the Israelites have turned from God, he has redeemed them, forgiven their sins and welcomes them to return to him. He longs to be near them.

This big story of redemption continues, of course, through Jesus. God came near to his people through the incarnation, when his son became man, and again through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He continues to be ever near to his children through Christ’s presence living in them.

May we experience God’s nearness as he rejoices over us with singing.

Prayer: Lord God, in your tender mercy you gave Jesus to shine on those living in darkness and to guide our feet into the path of peace. Come near, we pray (after Luke 1:78–79).

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:24–38 (NIV)

A painful broken engagement in my mid-twenties was the catalyst to a long journey of figuring out who I was before God. Realizing that I had nearly joined myself to a man who was completely a wrong fit drove me to delve prayerfully into the deeper issues lurking in my soul. In doing so I came back to God’s foundational truths about how he created us, loves us, and redeems us through the death of his son on the cross.

Each morning I woke up early and pored over the Scriptures; the words came alive and I heard God speaking his love and affirmation to me. They felt like food for my soul, and the early mornings didn’t trouble me.

God was giving me a new heart and a new spirit, even as he promised the Israelites through the prophet Ezekiel. He sprinkled them with water to make them clean on the outside, and then effected an internal transformation by giving them a heart of flesh and putting his Spirit in them. This was all for his glory; their opponents would see them changed, made new and restored to their land. And with his Spirit in them, they would be able to follow his rules for abundant living.

God has created us as his own. He wants to transform us, cleansing us from our anger, hurt, or bitterness, and healing our feelings of being unloved. As new creatures we too can know abundant life through his living water that he pours within, restoring and renewing us.

For prayer and reflection: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:13–14).