Psalm 8:1 and 16:1-2; add 31:1-3a

My Shepherd met me in HIs green pastures and laid me down in John 15. This morning, and for the past few days, the Mind of the Spirit has been stirring the spirit of my mind with a statement Jesus made in verse five:

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

This morning, and for the past few days, Jesus has impressed on me the importance of this statement: “Without me, ye can do nothing.” Does this include tying my shoes?

We’ve all seen the kid who gets annoyed when you try to help him, or her, with some task they appear to be struggling with: “I can do it!” They pull back, and even get angry; they seem to take it as some sort of personal insult. I’m that kid!

It’s a part of life for the left-handed. Righties experience anxiety watching a leftie do, well, almost anything that involves the use of our hands. They used to rap our knuckles for refusing to write with our right hand.

Here is where it gets a bit personal, but, as they say, confession is good for the soul. I confess that sometimes I have struggled with the notion that I can’t do anything without Him, like tying my shoes.  Has He not given me power to walk, to do work,  to think? It’s a perversity resident in my flesh to sometimes feel annoyed that I can’t just do the simplest of tasks, in His service, by the way, without Him!

Only a moment’s reflection, and I know in my soul that I don’t want to do anything without Him. Truly, I can testify: just thinking about it, I experience an immediate sense of loneliness that I can’t explicate; it’s just there. But when multiple obstacles interfere with the work I’m trying to do for Him, and I realize that I forgot to expressly invite Him into the activity, I get frustrated and sometimes annoyed. He reminds me, I am more interested in what you do with me than I am in what you do for me. This has been a hard lesson for me.

Along the still waters, I pondered this statement: “Without me ye can do nothing.” You might be thinking, well, I do many things “without Him.” And you are probably thinking about when you sin; do you think that is something you did “without Him”? The Spirit answers: “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid” (1 Corinthians 6:15).

When Paul persecuted Christians, he was persecuting Christ Jesus personally (Acts 9:4-5; see also Matthew 25:40–45). What if a believer is abusing themselves, failing to give proper care to their health, for example?

This principle works both ways; for example, at least some of the suffering we experience is because we serve Christ (Colossians 1:24). His reproach falls on us (Galatians 5:11). Their attacks fall on us (Acts 9:4-5 with Psalm 2).

Jesus’ statement is made in the context of the relationship between a branch and its fruit. Whatever fruit appears does so from the branch, which receives from the vine everything needful to bear fruit. Jesus explicitly calls us the branches. If the branch is separated from the vine, it can bring forth no fruit unto God. Not only can a branch bring forth no fruit when separated from the vine, but some branches bring forth no fruit even though attached to the vine. There are many issues that can cause this; we don’t have time here to explore that. You can read through this list and make the obvious applications:

The branch is dead; the nutrients and water from the vine are obstructed in the branch; energy is diverted to producing leaves instead of fruit; insufficient sunlight; branches lying in dirt spoiling the fruit, or decaying the branch. Selah!

In the valley, shadowed by the Cross, I knelt to confess my sins. I know that without Him I can do nothing; that’s a fact of life for every Christian. I must maintain a consciousness of my need of Him and do nothing that would dishonor Him, and understand that the only good work I can accomplish is not what I do for Him, but only what I do with Him: “For we are labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9a).

At the table, my Shepherd anointed my head with His oil and mixed His grace into my cup overflowing. Goodness and mercy hastened to me, following as we went “together” into His harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v7d49f4-shepherds-pasture.html

[NOTE: I’ve mentioned that I can’t bring everything from my prayer closet into these posts. Sometimes it’s because the conversation is too personal to be of any practical value to you. The insight I want to share this morning is one of those. However, I decided to bring it to you in this post because Jesus has greeted me with this thought four or five mornings in a row, and because through the day I have had occasion to reflect on it, and, finally, because yesterday, while visiting with a dear friend, this came up and it seemed the insight was a blessing.]