Sharing

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." (James 5:16)



I want to be a righteous man. High standards, huh? It's true. I "hunger and thirst after righteousness." I just want to be a better man of God, it's that simple. But, why? Well, I want to please God, of course. But, honestly, that isn't the whole reason. I want my prayers to accomplish much. I want to go before God with my concerns and desires and know that I am telling Him what He wants to hear. I want my concerns and desires to be His concerns and desires. That is praying in accordance with His will. And that is when we see things happen. Being a more righteous person brings us closer to Him, therefore we will know Him better. But this post is really about something else. It's about bearing burdens. Why don't we do more of that? Do we not care enough about the people we love to come around them and help them with their load? I don't mean "thinking of you" cards and prayer lists. No, I'm talking about asking God to lift some of the strain off of them and placing it on our shoulders. Not so willing to actually bear it, are we? Let's face it, I can pray for you from a distance and see God move. No problem there. But I want to see your eyes light up immediately when you feel your burden lift and come over to me. I want to see the tears of sorrow turn to joy in that moment of prayer. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about!



"Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)

Remain

Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so 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 bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4,5)

That last part is what I want to stress. We can do nothing without Him. We must stay attached to Him to do anything ... to BE anything. We have been talking alot about abiding, remaining, in Him on Sunday nights. Personally, I want to be fruitful - to the church, my friends, family, those I love the most, and the lost. But fruitful FOR Him. Later, in verse 8, John writes that Jesus said, "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit." I want God to be glorified through my life. Why else would I even bother with this? Earlier tonight, I had an unexpected chance to see God glorified. It was nothing I did, I assure you. But I felt like God was giving me the words to say to someone I care about very, very much. I hope I helped, really don't know much about it. But the important thing is that when the opportunity arose, God showed up so that He would be glorified. I have no doubt that He will be. Remaining in Him at all times allows Him to work through us instantly, spur of the moment, even when we aren't looking for it.