Devotional for Wednesday, October 4, 2017
“If You Abide In Him…”
by Dona Hake
I can remember promising my granddaughters that I would make them homemade pancakes one morning. I began to collect all of my ingredients, and was pleased that I was ready to go! But then I realized that there actually was one ingredient missing. I was so disappointed for I knew that this one particular ingredient could not be left out or those pancakes would have been a flop. Well I thought it would not hurt to check one more time. I kept looking and to my surprise I was able to find that very important ingredient in my spice cabinet. I was pleased for then I could make those special pancakes!
This makes me think about our life, doing God’s perfect will and how our Lord is at work each day we look to Him. He desires to work perfectly within us to perform His will. He lays out His plan and it is vital that we always follow His instructions exactly as He desires. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. Let us not be deceived to think that we can leave out those certain things He is requiring us to do, and expect His hand of blessing to be upon us. May we not think that we can follow God’s will to a point of our comfort, and hold back the obedience He is requiring of us. He has a perfect plan and a perfect way to accomplish that special assignment He has planned for each of us. Many times we can be deceived and think that we can mix our thoughts and ways into His plan, and this should never even be a thought for us. As we keep Jesus in the center of all that we do, He will direct our strengths and abilities but we can never forget that without we can do nothing. Let us look at John 15:5…
John 15:5 The Voice
“I am the vine, and you are the branches.
If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit.
Without Me, you will accomplish nothing.”
My friends this truth is always be the key “ingredient” in doing the will of the Lord. He must be a part of it, and all He asks is that we abide in Him. This is such a wonderful scripture to keep fresh in our hearts. Without Him we can do nothing and yet with Him ALL things are possible! All means all, and that little word ~all~ contains big possibilities. Whether we are trying to do things for Him or the things that involve our daily accomplishments, it would do us good to know that we are pulling ALL of our strength and wisdom from His resources. Praise Him today as you look to Him for all things, for without Him we can accomplish nothing but as we diligently abide in Him we will bear great fruit!