A good Word...

Don't you just love when you get into a week of a study that smacks you in the face and is just the best thing possible for you right then. I had a week like that. This week in the First Place study (I'm not really doing First Place but I am enjoying the FP study on Life Under Control that I'm doing right now) was all about Luke 9:23.

23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." NIV

So basically He is asking us to do three things--deny self, take up our cross and follow him. Now lately I've been thinking I've been doing a good job of this. I mean HELLOOO, look at where I am. But then I was ever so gently reminded that I may have taken a major life step toward those three things but those three things are important in EVERY aspect of my daily walk. So what, Father isn't impressed by my obedience, pleased maybe, but not impressed. I was just doing what He asked me to do. But this week reminded me that I am asked to deny self, pick up my cross and follow Him through all things. There are many areas where I have not been good at denying self. So if I can't even do that, then I'm pretty sure the two things that follow have been forgotten.

Another verse from this week, John 15:5.

5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." NIV

In the ESV the the word remain is abide. Do I abide in my Lord each moment of everyday? Not so much. Do I want to, definitely. I am the branch of His vine, but I'm not going to bear the fruit I am called to if I'm not abiding in Him. If I'm not abiding in him not only am I not going to bear fruit, but I can do NOTHING! Wow. This has really got me thinking on a lot of things in my life.

Neither of these passages are new to me. I've read them a million times. But this week Father used them to speak to me in a fresh way. I LOVE IT! I absolutely love to get a new meaning from something I feel familiar with. That's what I love best about Father's Word. It never gets stale.