Power Of Remaining

Key Scripture:  “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”  John 15:4 RSV

Power Point:

     In learning to trust the Lord, there are times of intimacy when every word you hear is amazing.  However, the time will come when you don't hear anything new.  I used to blame myself, thinking that I had done something wrong, but as I've gotten used to the Kingdom Growth process I have realised that God still hears us.  He still protects us. He remains all that He ever was.  He does all that He has ever done.  God always remains. These are the testing times when we nourish what He has already sown in us. This is Kingdom Life; Planting and growing, sowing and reaping, ploughing and  pruning, and then of course, the harvest. 

In my early years of knowing God, I thought that the times of intimacy were when i had finally arrived and I knew it all. Then He would gently lead me to the seasons of growth where I realized I didn't know anything!  Recently,  I've learned that those seasons of growth are equal in importance to the seasons of intimacy.  When our children are growing up, we teach them to walk by holding their hands but ultimately the goal is that they will walk without our physical help but they are established in the Truth we have taught them. 

     God will take our hands any time we stumble, but He has given us everything we need to walk firmly on our own.  Those are the " remain" times.  To remain in Him means to stay in the same place today that you were yesterday with Him, even though it feels different. To remain means that no matter what is going on around you, His fruit is growing in you.  To remain means that when you are being pruned, you don’t move out of reach and you trust Him to know exactly what needs to come off.

Remaining is holding HIS words so close that you don't hear anything else.  Remaining is reminding yourself of what you heard Him tell you before He began the pruning process. Remaining is grabbing on to His promises and plans for your future and not letting go.  It's repeating those promises and plans every minute of every day with the faith that has grown through your times of intimate conversation with Him. Your Father will be releasing your hands, one finger at a time.

This is the time where you choose to remain or retreat. 

     Learning to remain is the most important thing you can do.  You see, Beloved, He is only taking off the things in your life that are not like Him; that are not bearing His fruit.  If you retreat from the pruning, you will never become a fruitful plant but if you remain and offer yourself up for the pruning, you will discover, at the end, that you are a perfectly shaped, fruitful, and flourishing plant.  

     He's happy because you have chosen to remain.  You're happy because you have chosen Life and you have chosen to yield to the pruning so that only GOOD fruit remains. You have been given an open invitation to the place where you can ask what you will and it will be done for you.

The Father is glorified and you remain in His love. 

It really will be worth it all won't it Beloved?

Power Thought:

Copyright © 2014, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work