Plug In

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." John 15:7

I was sitting in my house with my family and I noticed something, we were all engaged with an electronic device. We all had some form of entertainment in front of us and what's worse is the TV was on with cartoons. I realized at that moment we were the picture of the culture we live in. Statistics today show that a majority of Americans spend up to 12 hours a day in front of some type of screen. As individuals we now consume five times more information than we did fifty years ago. This has been a real wakeup call in my life, and I think that is why the first five words of this verse are so piercing.

"If you abide in Me…"

Abide means to stay in a given state, or place, to remain and not depart. What we have around us is a world that is calling for our attention. We live lives that run from one event to the next, so overwhelmed with media and information. These all demand our time and attention, thus sacrificing what is truly important…our time spent with him. To abide means that we stay connected to the power source, I like to think of it as a plug on a power cord.

We must stay plugged in- With the world doing everything it can to pull our plug from the power source we must fight to stay plugged in. The first thing we must do is schedule time, it is vital that we set aside time to enter into His presence and spend time with the Lord. If we don't prioritize it in our schedule then we our time will keep going to other things. Next we need to quiet our minds. With our habit of seeking so much information to quiet all distraction is a challenging thing, but when we quiet ourselves we can listen to what He is speaking to our spirits. It is those moments where we can hear his still small voice.

His Word must be written on our hearts- When I think of His words abiding in us this is the picture that I get, the Word imprinted on my heart. His Word is not tablets of stone that stand as something that we must try to live up to. They are life and they are in us producing his character and life in us. The Word hidden in our hearts leads into a life of holiness, not a cup that is only clean on the outside. It is the transformational power within us that aligns us with the heart of God.

His Word and His Spirit working together produces power for our life, let's take the time today to plug into His power!