Apart from Me You Can Do Nothing
“Apart from me you can do nothing,” (John 15:5) the Lord Jesus once said to His disciples. With this statement, He makes it clear that there is only one way we can bear fruit for God: if we remain in Him, the true Vine. But what does this actually mean in practice? How can this be implemented in daily life? How would you answer this question?
The Meaning of Dependence
Dependence means to be dependent on someone. The word often has a negative connotation for us, because we like to be independent and do not want to be restricted in our freedom. But those who have once seen how specifically one can experience God’s guidance and His work through practiced dependence come to a completely different conviction: Practiced dependence is the key to a blessed, meaningful, and exciting life in fellowship with the living God, who still does wonderful things today!
A Life of Practical Dependence
A born-again Christian who lives in dependence on God will practice the following three points in his life:
- He shows by his prayer life that he lives in dependence.
- He makes himself dependent on the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
- He lives in the expectation that God speaks to him through His living word and thereby gives him strength.
The Perfect Example and Our Calling
But what does such a dependent life look like in specific terms? If you want to know this, then you must study the life of the Lord Jesus. The “founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2) was always in prayer (see Ps. 109:4), was guided by the Holy Spirit (see Luke 4:1) and lived by every word that comes from the mouth of God (see Mt. 4:4). Because He now lives in you in the power of the Holy Spirit, you are able to walk in His footsteps—and to walk “in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:6). But you will only be able to do this if you live daily in conscious dependence on Him!
Subsequent devotions should help you to reflect more on the wonderful life of the Lord Jesus. The more thoroughly you do this in prayer, the more you will become like Him in His attitude and behavior—and thus bear fruit that will last for eternity!
“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
(John 15:8)
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