Our Lenten Adventure is coming to its conclusion with the culmination of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection. We know the story and we expect the beauty of the Easter morning celebration with the promise of resurrection and the newness of life. Yet, we are invited during Holy Week to consider what we have learned in our 40-days leading up to Easter. How are we different? How have we grown? Where have we been challenged?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The invitation to fast during Lent begins with the Ash Wednesday reminder of our mortality and an invitation for us to enter the wilderness with Jesus in preparation for God\u2019s will to be done in our lives. The emphasis on fasting is to remove those things in our lives that may keep us from a fullness of relationship with Jesus and to focus our lives on Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In John 15:5, Jesus in teaching his disciples about the importance of continued connection says, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our recognition of Jesus being life and the promise of the fullness of life found in Jesus, is a great beginning, but it is not the end. Our beginning relationship with Jesus is not a \u201cone-off\u201d where we receive life and then go on about our business of life in the way we want to live. The life we receive in salvation is the beginning of new life that requires us to abide in Jesus to experience the fullness of life and to grow in our relationship with him. It is through our abiding in Jesus that we can bear fruit, which is part of what it means to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life is defined as: Metabolism, Growth, Response to Stimuli, and Reproduction. If we are not bearing fruit, Jesus says the gardener \u201cremoves every branch in me that bears no fruit<\/em>\u201d (15:2). Our bearing fruit springs forth from our abiding in Jesus. As we abide in him and he abides in us, we are fully alive and producing fruit. When we are not abiding in him, we are unable to produce fruit and Jesus goes so far to say, \u201cyou can do nothing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we celebrate Easter and begin our 50-days leading up to Pentecost, how can we continue to abide in the true vine? How can we continue our Lenten Adventure disciplines to aid us in our continued growth in Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayer: Lord, I want to abide in you and for you to abide in me. I want to continue to grow and bear fruit. Prune me where necessary and give me a heart of deep desire to do your will. In Jesus\u2019 name. Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our Lenten Adventure is coming to its conclusion with the culmination of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection. We know the story and we expect the beauty of the Easter morning celebration with the promise of resurrection and the newness of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t