Message
In today’s Bible reading, Jesus told us to abide in Him and allow His words to abide in us. A person cannot I be a ‘Sunday-Sunday Christian’ and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Likewise, you cannot be a ‘part-time Christian’ and abide in the Vine; you have to be a ‘24/7 Christian’ all the days of your life for you to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” The condition for goodness and mercy to follow you all the days of your life is that you must dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You cannot be an ‘off-and-on’ or ‘once-a-week’ Christian and expect goodness and mercy to follow you all the days of your life; you must dwell in the presence of the Lord at all times.
tells us that a person who is planted in the house of the Lord will flourish. It goes further to say that even in old age, the person will continue to flourish. When I talk about flourishing, I am referring to achieving the pinnacle of success in all areas of your life. To make it clear that dwelling is not temporary or occasional, the passage points out the kinds of trees that we will flourish like when we dwell in the house of the Lord – palm trees and cedars in Lebanon. Palm trees take between 5 and 15 years to grow to maturity, while cedars in Lebanon can take between 20 and 50 years to reach maturity. This shows that you cannot be a ‘Sunday-Sunday Christian’ – someone who only opens his or her Bible and prays on Sundays – and expect to enjoy the benefits that staying under the shadow of the Almighty brings. In other words, you cannot be a part-time Christian and flourish.
Child of God, your heavenly Father’s plan is for you to flourish as a branch, as you see in today’s memory verse. He wants you to be so fruitful that your branches will run over walls (). This means that the things that limit others will not be able to limit you. Beloved, to enjoy all the great blessings that God has ordained for you, you must first shun ‘Sunday-Sunday Christianity’ and be committed to serving Him and fulfilling His will every day.