When Trying Harder Isn't Enough

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This Week's Devotion Was Inspired By:

John 15:4

^{Abide 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.}

FROM HEAD KNOWLEDGE TO HEART KNOWLEDGE:

1. evaluate wiTh honesty: Are you regularly seeking God in prayer?

2. start right now. Where can you add more prayer into your life? Choose something you are already doing, such as brushing your teeth, or entering your classroom in the morning, and use that as a prompt to begin to pray. Learn to seek God regularly throughout your day.

KEY POINT: Our culture constantly tells us to rely on ourselves, but what we need most is to rely on God in prayer.

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Transcript

You know, in our culture, we are bombarded with messages telling us to rely on ourselves, to do better, to be better. You are strong. You can do it. You are all you need. And that is not at all what God tells us in Scripture.

In John 15:4, God says this. Jesus, in particular, says this: "Abide in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me."

In other words, he's saying just like a tree, when a branch is cut off, doesn't produce fruit anymore, we don't produce good things—good fruit—on our own either. It's only as we abide in him that then he produces good fruit in us.

Once again, this is a totally countercultural message, but it's so important for us to understand that it is not us that can do anything right. It's not us that can muster up the compassion for our students, the love for them. It's not us that's going to have the wisdom on how to handle various situations, or the patience to deal with a difficult parent or co-worker.

We need God to work in us and have him flow out of us into all those situations. And that's the great news: he's there. He is our wisdom, our strength. He wants to change our hearts so that we then change our actions because of what he is doing in us. And how does all this happen?

Well, abiding in him. To abide somewhere means to stay there, to be there. And so, to abide in him means we're relying on him. And it means we're praying. When we pray, we invite God into the situation and say, "God, I need you." It's an acknowledgement of our need for him and an opportunity, opening the door and saying, "God, go ahead and do what only you can do."

So, my encouragement for you right now is to think about how often do you pray to God and bring all of your life circumstances to him? Do you have a regular time that you pray daily, or multiple times a day?

If not, I want to encourage you to think: when could you develop that habit? A recommendation for developing habits is to pair it with something you already do. So, in other words, could you pray on your way to school, as you're entering your classroom, during lunch, while you brush your teeth?

If you pair it with something you're already doing, you're much more likely to remember it and to develop that habit. So, I want to encourage you to think about it. Where can you add prayer more into your life? Because we desperately need him, and he is right there, wanting to develop a closer relationship with us and wanting to help us bear that fruit both in our lives and our classrooms.

FROM HEAD KNOWLEDGE TO HEART KNOWLEDGE:

1. evaluate wiTh honesty: Are you regularly seeking God in prayer?