Abide

Lent 2018: Quenching the Spirit

Lent 2018: Quenching the Spirit

Your Lent experience is your moment at the well. It is your opportunity for God to pour his Living Water into your dry spirit. Your focus should not be, "How do I make it 40 days without this thing that I’m so used to consuming?" Instead it should be, "How can I open myself up to God over the next 40 days to have a life-altering, soul experience with the Father?"  In order to have that experience you must be willing to delve deep into God’s word, and you must be willing to speak to, and take the time to hear from, God through prayer.

Abide in Me, John 15:6: Get Your Roots Back

Abide in Me, John 15:6: Get Your Roots Back

Our spirits wither when we are not connected to the True Vine, our Lord and Savior. You can find evidence of this in your life. It looks like toxic relationships filled with chaos and confusion; affiliations with people who have no business being in your life; bad choices you keep making; wounding yourself by speaking death over your life; not recognizing that you are a child of God. These withered experiences take you right in the fiery furnace of life…but there is hope!

Abide In Me, John 15:2: Pruning for a Purpose

Abide In Me, John 15:2: Pruning for a Purpose

Just as the vinedresser carefully cut shoots off the vine with the pruning hook, God removes the things from our lives that stifle our growth and keeps us from producing for the Kingdom. Our pruning hook may look like a job that pushes us past our limits or relationship that needs to end. It may be God encouraging you to be compassionate with someone who is not deserving, or forgiving someone who hurt you. God’s pruning is not meant to hurt us, it is meant to purge us of the things that are keeping us from operating at full capacity for the Lord.

Abide In Me, John 15:1: The Vinedresser's Touch

Abide In Me, John 15:1: The Vinedresser's Touch

We are offshoots of the true Vine (Christ) that God tenderly and methodically planted in fertile ground. God is the Gardener of our souls. He searched beneath what looked to be the barren land of our lives in order to “break the soil” of past experiences and bad choices we’ve made so He could prepare our hearts to plant seeds of purpose (Isaiah 5:2).