All You Have to Do is Remain

“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.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

For some reason today, this scripture hit me like a ton of bricks! Like the kind of heart check that makes your stomach drop. In this moment the Lord was reminding me to stop and listen.

Most of the evangelical Christian world just finished the 21 day Daniel Fast. (If you aren’t familiar with this, it is based off of the Book of Daniel in the Bible. It specifically focuses on what Daniel and the others with him did while in captivity. According to Daniel 1:12-16 ““Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said. “At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.” The attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food and wine provided for the others.”)

During this time, the goal is to fast all the pleasantries that’s our bodies are so accustomed to! It is one of the most difficult things, but when you deny your flesh and are spending more time with God you are able to hear Him more clearly. It removes the barriers that we’ve placed in between our heart and what He is always speaking. But once that 21 days are up, do we continue to focus on him or do we go back to life as normal?

I would love to say that I always continue spending as much time with God after the fast, but I would be lying! And when He nudged my heart with John 15:4, I became overwhelmed and apologetic to Him! The fast has been over for 4 days……. and I’ve not spent any time with Him! Wow! I can come up with excuse after excuse as to why I haven’t spent time with Him. The boys have been sick, I’m overwhelmed, we just moved, I need to unpack……. but at the end of the day that’s all they are….. EXCUSES! God doesn’t expect us to stop our lives and spend 20 hours a day praying. He just asks us for time to fellowship, even if that is 5 minutes! Literally to Remain, which simply means to stay put! All we have to do is to stay in His presence.

I’ve really struggled with my Insecurities this week and now I know why. I stopped remaining in him! The fruit of my life is a direct reflection of how much time I’ve spent in His presence! Obviously, I’m changing that today! I am sure you don’t enjoy feeling depressed, sad, lonely, insecure, anxious, frustrated, angry, or unworthy! I know I sure don’t! When you feel those emotions, stop and pray! The only way to fix those things is to be in His presence, listening to His heartbeat for you! Feeling His warmth and Love! At the end of it all, He is the Ultimate Prize!

So let’s continue our journey with Him this year. Not just every once in a while, but everyday! That’s the only way to change our life and better ourselves! Let’s make this year a year that His presence is so evident in our lives that everywhere we go people can tell that we are different! That people are set free and changes forever just by the Words that He gives us to speak! Let’s make 2019 a year that we remain in Him and we carry His presence everywhere!!