The Secret of the Vine.

For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Colossians 1:27 NLT

In my last blog I was speaking about living in the vine, and thought I would share some of my thoughts and reflections that the Lord has laid on my heart. What does this look like? 

As per John 15, we have to remain in the vine, which is Jesus, but how? Well one clue is to abide in the word, and we know that Jesus is the living Word that became flesh and apart from HIM we can do nothing. 

You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.

Luke 6:43‭-‬45 MSG

If we are not in a place of relationship with Jesus (him abiding in me and me in him) then all I have to offer others if they come to me is myself.  

That is potentially dangerous to both parties, as we will either feed others on ourselves, or become overly dependant on others. This becomes exhausting, and looks like seduction, or building towards myself and not Christ. Without Christ I am dead wood, unfruitful. 

Since I am a Man, I will speak from that perspective.  Adam was a Man and one of the words in Hebrew for man is Zakar. 

If you recall God created man in his own image, male and female he created them. As a male I first have to learn to be and receive (This is primarily a feminine trait, but since we are created in his image, we in order to reflect him in perfection, have to have both traits to be balanced. But what do we have to receive first? 

Receiving what God says about who you are, opening up to hear the truth that will set you free. 

1) My identity is received NOT achieved. 

2) We have to receive HIM (Jesus) and his love, in order to become a child of God. 

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

John 1:12 NIV

3) I receive his Love.  You have to be a grateful receiver of love to be able to give love.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:16 NIV

4) I receive with meekness the engrafted word of God that is able to save my soul.

5) Gods voice and will for my life.

Zakar to recall and receive  truth and move boldly towards God and others in relationship, to make an impact

As a Man (male/ zakar) I am to recall or remember what is important and move boldly and confidently towards relationship in order to make an impact. 

So the question I felt The Lord prompt me to answer is WHAT is Important to remember?

This is what I have discovered in the scriptures. 

1) Christ is in me, I am in Christ.  I am in the true vine and he is in me. He chose me, I did not choose him, in order that I bear much fruit. 

In HIM was life, and light.

This Light shows me my utter dependence and need for him. It shows me that I am incapable of saving myself in anyway

His life is eternal and I am born again. His life is the light of men.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1‭-‬5 NIV

2) My identity as a Son, defined by God and not by what I do. 

I remember my Life Purpose Statement that I shared on this blog page previously for ease of reference. 

I remember I am called of God to be an ambassador for Christ and do the good works HE purposed for me before I was even born. 

I choose to remember my calling, giftings and talents, that God has appointed me as a steward and will expect me to give an account of how I have used them on his behalf.

3) I am not my own, I have been purchased with great price, my life is hid in Christ and I live in him.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:15‭, ‬19‭-‬20 NIV

4) I am a New Creation, God is in me, I am no longer a slave to the law, sin or unrighteousness. His blood has redeemed me in full.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20 NIV

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:6‭-‬11 NIV

5) I love God because he first loved me, I choose to obey him because I love HIM, and my brothers in Christ.  

It is important to remember we are being healed for something (purpose) and not simply healed from our brokenness.(Gods grace and mercy does that for us anyway).

How will people know we are Christians? 

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34‭-‬35 NIV

Love God with all your heart, soul and strength, love your niegbour. 

Love is the most important factor even above faith, as a quality that identities us as followers of Christ. 

 Love never fails, as per Romans, and then these three remain, faith hope and love, the greatest is Love. 

God loved then sent Jesus, in the order of appearance in scripture, the command to love was given before the great commission.

It's a case of  being before going, doing etc.

6) I have renounced my past, fears, sins, idols and false beliefs.  God has set me free from them that I may impact others in a healthy way. 

This is basically discipleship and can only be effective in relationship and community. Therefore this relates back to the Vine, in Jesus and in Community (his body, temple, family, army, church).

6) Remember God is your full portion, of healing and health, it is he Jesus whom has born your pain, wounds and stripes to redeem you.

6) There are many other important things to remember, as husbands, father's, servants and ambassadors of Christ.

The point is to be a Man and remember what God has done for you. And then apply some of the above suggestions of what is important so that you may live a life that honours and pleases God and help us be specifically directed and guided by him to live according to His plans and purposes for his Kingdom.

Acknowledgments

Whilst I have not intentionally directly used Journey material, I convey the thoughts, ideas and phrases of the teachings that had a deep impact on my thought process in writing this blog.