L.Y.F.E. is………

Blessings and greetings L.Y.F.E. family!

Welcome to another edition of “L.Y.F.E. is…”!

We hope and pray that your hearts are encouraged and that you are blessed by this devotional!

Title: Strengthening Our Connection to God, Each Other, and the World

Scripture: John 15:4-8 (NRSV)

At the beginning of this year, our beloved Pastor, Pastor Jackie ministered to us our church theme ‘Strengthening Our Connection to God, Each Other, and the World.’(John 15:4-8)

If we are going to be successful in this year, we are going to need to manage our connections. This connection includes God but also includes those around us for the next phase of the journey and walk of faith. Our ability to be successful, effective, achieve our goals and objectives; more importantly our ability to produce fruit, will be dependent on the strength of our connections. God is calling us to produce fruit in this year.

This is different than our church theme last year where we were ‘Called to Renewal.’ Last year, we were called to restore, rebuild, repair, and hit the ‘Reset’ button on things in our lives that were going down the wrong path. In ‘Called to Renewal’, we were blessed with the opportunity to draw closer to God as God draws closer to us in order to move forward. But this year we are being summoned to ‘Strengthen Our Connection to God, Each Other, and the World.’

In our sacred text, John 15:4-8, here Jesus is with His disciples on the night before His crucifixion. Jesus is teaching and preaching to His disciples and preparing them for His soon departure. Jesus is following God’s will. Jesus first tells His disciples, “that He(Jesus) is the vine and we are the branches. And if we remain in Christ and Christ in us then we will bear much fruit.” Jesus goes on to further teach that if we do not remain in Him then we are like the branch that is thrown away and withers. In this last night teaching, Jesus is telling His disciples that they need to remain in Him because with Him we can do all things; without Christ we can do nothing. We are called to bear fruit. This spiritual life is not our own nor is the fruit that we bear. It is a direct result of God’s work in us; through us; about us; and around us.

Some ways in which we can strengthen our connection with God is through prayer and fasting, studying God’s Word, and spending time in the presence of God and only focusing on God. We can strengthen our connection with others and the world by showing both random and intentional acts of kindness; showing compassion and mercy to one another; forgiving one another as well as ourselves; and by answering God’s call to serve Him by serving others. We give our time, talent, and treasure for the edification and building of God’s kingdom but we are also simultaneously building our relationship with God and others in the process.

If we can be honest with ourselves, we all have areas of our lives that could use some strengthening. Some of us need to pray more; some of us need to be more patient; some of us need to exercise more restraint and be less judgmental; and some of us need show more compassion, kindness, and mercy-just as God has shown us.

There are several ways in which we can strengthen our connection to God, others, and the world. One of the ways in which we strengthen our connection is through praise and worship God together; through the observance of disciplines such as Lent with one another; through partaking of Communion with God together; through corporate prayer and fasting; and through purposeful and intentional study of God’s Word together. 

Let us pray.

Prayer: Dear God, thank You for Your sustaining grace and Your tender mercy that has afforded us the opportunity to see a New Year and new season where we have been called to ‘Strengthen our connection to You(GOD), to each other, and to the world. We thank You for being the True Vine and may we remain in You so that we bear much fruit for Your glory! In the name of Jesus we pray. Thank God! Amen.

 

GOD bless and love you all!