Your heart not your hands

John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

“Well, I am gonna pour this concrete basement for our new house. I can do it all by myself, and I will save a few steps by just using the concrete and skipping the water that goes with it……”. I tried to think of an example of something in so many ways that could not be accomplished alone. Being in construction for over 20 years, a basement prep and pour is just about impossible alone, and concrete without the water, everyone knows just will not work. You will have a gray, dusty, sandbox, but when the mix is combined with water it changes states and becomes concrete. The concrete and water abide together; without each other they cannot accomplish the task, or in relation to the scripture, bear fruit.

In your mind you may think what you are going to do for Jesus. Ask yourself what you think the creator and sustainer of this world and everything in it might really need you to do. Jesus just wants your heart; he wants you to seek him with all your heart and let him show you what he may want you to do. Abiding is being in the presence of Jesus continually; abiding is a “state of being.” Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Luke 10:38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Mary did not seek to see what she could do for Jesus, she just sought Jesus’ presence. She sought him with her heart, not her hands.

A spine of my ministry is always spending daily time with God. If you seek God daily in prayer and his Word, you will abide in him. You will bear much fruit, for you are not doing Christianity alone. Rivers of Living water will flow from you and people will be drawn to what they see in you. God will continue to prepare you for his service through pruning and making you grow more and deeper into the Vine. All of your life for him begins with how much you seek him each, and every day. You need to abide, and that is really all you need to focus on and not what your hands want to do for him. Get your heart to that abiding state, and the Vinedresser will prepare your hands.