So Simple

Here is all I know this week:  God is God and I’m not.  He can do anything.  Apart from Him, I can do NOTHING! 

The Amplified Bible says it this way, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.”  John 15:5 

I find it very easy to forget I am only a branch.  It happens so easily.  I begin to think I am the Vine and if I don’t make fruit happen, then it just won’t.  Sometimes, I get really crazy and start thinking I am the Gardener and it is my job to take care of all the other branches.  For a branch, this is not only exhausting, but downright impossible. 

So…deep breath…I say to myself, “Hey, you are a branch.  All that frantic activity – mental, emotional or physical – that is not your job.”  Then I hear the Holy Spirit’s sweet still voice saying, “Just live in Me.  It really is that simple.  Lay down your plans, your worries, your cares, and rest in the fact that I am good and I know what I am doing.” 

He said it this way to Jeremiah, “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”  (Jer. 29:11 NLT)

All I really need to concern myself with is living in Him.  For me this means waking up and making the choice to believe I am in Him.  He has brought me through the night and He will see me through the day.  He will lead and I will follow.  That is how simple it really is. 

Abba Father, I’m so tempted to make it more complicated, to make a to-do list of how to be in You.  Please, teach me to simply, humbly live in You, for Your good pleasure and glory.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.