Youtube: I Am The Vine
“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. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
Using this simple metaphor, Jesus beautifully illustrates the relationship each individual has with his or her spiritual source. God, our creator/sustainer, is like the vine from which we grow. To abide in God is to live with the awareness of God as the source of our being.
Because we often draw our identity from external sources—job, family, social level, etc.—we may feel overwhelmed when challenges sweep through our lives. These words from John remind us to pause, and to reconnect to our source. In the seventh verse, Jesus makes this promise: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.”
How do we abide in God? Through prayer. In Unity we teach that prayer is a two-fold process. First we are to release the negative energy that appearances stir in us. This is called, denial. Let go your emotional attachments, your fears, your anger, to that which you do not want. Speak words like this: I now release all emotions of fear and doubt. Next, move into the second half of the prayer process by affirming, God is my source, God is my strength. My life is now unfolding in divine order.
Allow yourself to experience the lightness of letting go, and the infilling of assurance that your life is unfolding perfectly, according to the divine blueprint that is being imparted from within your being.
In the same way the fruit of the vine manifests from within the branch, so a spiritually ordered life will manifest through your inner being and through every facet of your life. Abide often in the awareness of God as your source, then ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.