“⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5 (ESV)

Notice the verse above, do you see both sides of the coin? In order for us to do great in God’s work, we have to abide in Him and God must abide in us. I will say that I have known and liked this verse since I was a teenager, and have just realized the magnitude of that fact. Both have to be true and we must work with God to accomplish His work.

“⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” – John 15:4 (ESV)

“²Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:2 (ESV)

I have given the two verses above in reverse order to give more punch to them. We need God to complete His work. When we are fruitful, God will refine us even more to make way for even more fruit. When we are not fruitful, God will simply remove us.

We are to abide with God and in Him as He abides with and in us. Together we accomplish His work and provide great fruit.

Are you abiding in God? Is He abiding in you? Are you abiding with God to bear fruit?

“¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ²I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” – Psalm 91:1-2 (ESV)

Stay, dwell, reside, remain, rest; these are some of the other words that could be used for the word abide. I look at these other words and see a clearer understanding of the verses above.

We are in a constant state of battle and need a place that we can find comfort, rest, and residence. What a better place than in the arms of our Savior. Think about your home and how much safety you feel when you walk in the door. When I get home, I remove my work and outside world and relax in the comfort of my family. I am able to simply change into my shorts and work to forget all of the outside adversity and work to focus on the security of being at home.

Notice the statement in verse 2, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” We should be treating God as our home and the place we go for comfort, rest, and residence. We should feel protected from the adversity and focus on being with Him and at home.

Where are you today, at home? Are you finding reset and residence in the Lord? Are you able to abide in God?

 “³Then he Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’” – Genesis 6:3 (ESV)

This verse seems so matter of fact, and so concrete in terms of time. And it is meant to be. We have a finite time here on earth and we should be seeking to have God abide in us for as long as possible.

Whereas the above verse is speaking of the time just before the flood, it is pretty telling as to where we are in the world today. The time of Noah was one of corruption and plenty of immorality, and doesn’t that describe where we are today? We are living in a publicized world that has little regard for what is truly right, striving to be like Jesus and love everyone regardless of what or who they may be. We are “flesh” and in being so are not perfect, but Jesus loves us and we should love others the same way.

God will abide in us when we are true to Him in all that we do. In being true to God, we are to strive to be more like Him each and every day.

Are you striving to be more like Jesus? Are you working His plan? Are you allowing God to abide in you?

“¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” – 1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)

We are to keep doing God’s work in the midst of all, even the non-believers. When we do, they will see the good provided by God and will glorify God themselves.

Will we get to see their glorification, maybe not, but that does not remove the work from our path. We are to keep our eyes on doing God’s work for God only.

When you are doing God’s work, where are your eyes? What does your glorification of God look like? Are you looking at others to see their glorification or focusing on yours?

“⁸For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to how God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, ⁹and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.’ ¹⁰And again it is said, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.’ ¹¹And again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.’ ¹²And again Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.’ ¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” – Romans 15:8-13 (ESV)

Extolling God is not just for those that are in the “right place” or those that are “chosen”. We are all to give high praise to God and glorify Him.

The passage above, where taken from Romans, were cited from other books in the Bible; 2 Samuel, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah. Each of which are from the Old Testament and before Jesus came to die for our sins. Even then, we were to understand that God was for all and all should be praising Him.

Are you prepared to extol God? Will you give high praise to and glorify God? Are you a part of the all that extol God?

“¹I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. ²Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.” – Psalm 145:1-2 (ESV)

It is pretty clear that David had high praise and glorified God at every turn.

Are we? What in our lives is preventing us from extolling God? Will you extol God forever?

“¹I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. ²O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. ³O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down wot the pit.” – Psalm 30:1-3 (ESV)

God is working in our lives and we are to be lifting high praise for that work. He has delivered us with salvation and for that alone, we should be in continuous praise of Him.

When you look back, what has God done that you should extol Him for? Did you recognize then? Will you extol God for what He has done for you?

“²⁴Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.” – Job 36:24 (ESV)

Extol: “to praise highly: GLORIFY” – Merriam-Webster Online

How often do we find ourselves learning new words? I have seen and read the word extol of course in my study of God’s Word, but have not really looked to learn the word. To praise highly is bigger than I thought before.

God does work each day in our lives. He is doing for us all the time. He is greater than we can even imagine.

“²⁶Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” – Job 36:26 (ESV)

I can continue each day working to get to know Him, but will continuously fall short of understanding. But I must continue to learn of my God and press for more and more understanding so that I can truly extol Him.

Where are you in your understanding of God? Are you continuing to work on it? Are you looking each day to extol the work of God?

“¹⁰For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” – Hebrews 6:10 (ESV)

The work we do for God certainly does not go unnoticed. I struggle with this one each day. Here in the world, I feel like I am doing the work of God to the best I know how. I demonstrate love, and have a vision and values that are centered on the work of God.

Do I miss the mark? OH YES, every day! Do I struggle? OH YES, every day!

What Now?

Based on God’s Word, I have to keep on keeping on. God knows the work we do. No one else may notice, but God does and in Him is where we should be concerned. We have to hang our hat on the promises of God and not on those of man. Striving to continue doing His work and not our own.

“¹¹And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹²so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” – Hebrews 6:11-12 (ESV)

Where is your focus? What prize are you looking at? Who is most important for you to make an impression on? Are you aware and leaning on that God knows the work you do?

“¹⁶All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” – 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)

The first seven (7) words are the ones that grabbed me this morning, “All Scripture is breathed out by God”. Not just a few well know passages that are popular, but “All Scripture”.

I believe that too often we spend our time reading and re-reading the passages we know, or have heard, or someone has told us about. Why will we not find out for ourselves and do our own due diligence to study the Word of God?

We should be immersed in the Word of God to get and understand the teachings of God. The send part of the verse above indicates that God’s Word is for “teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness”. Each of those require work and I am sure that most of us have heard the phrase “anything worth having is worth working for”.

When we work for something that something is satisfying and brings more than just knowledge. We have gained experience and understanding that we can now pass on to others.

“¹⁷that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:17 (ESV)

We gain from the Word of God that we may pass that gain on in our work for God. We get to use the knowledge, understanding, and experience we obtained through our study of God’s Word to enhance the lives, knowledge, understanding, and experience of those around us.

What time are you spending with God’s Word? Are you sticking to the familiar, or getting into the parts you have not explored before? Are you allowing “All Scripture” to inspire and drive your work for God?