It is a grace and mercy that people who return to Christ Jesus as the vine (John 15:5) and the source of living water remain with Him. God through His word is an unending source of nourishment as His people are trees planted by streams of living water. Renewal by Christ Jesus through His Word produces fruits of the Spirit as believers are again drinking from streams of life to attain spiritual health and peace. More specifically, the cultivation of joy that renders deep faith and practice is necessary for continued nourishment, spiritual peace, and mental well-being. As necessary for challenges in life, that joy as a fruit of the trees comes from the inhabited Spirit who is a conduit for others blessed and comforted through their sanctification and sufferings. There are various fruits of the Spirit as articulated in Galatians 5:22.
Living from the well of life apart from God is to forsake Him (Jer 2:13). Instead of drawing from the spring of living water from God, believers who live by their own will and interests do so from broken cisterns that can not hold water. Accordingly, to set out on one’s own isn’t sustainable or long-term viable to draw from outside of fellowship with God. The fruits of the Spirit spoken as truth are united with His life-giving power from a daily encounter with God. Life-giving nourishment of the Spirit comes from time alone with God through His Word. As Christ Jesus modeled for us, while people were among Him in desperation for teaching, truth, and healing, He withdrew from them to draw close to Father God in prayer (Luke 5:15-16). His time with God was a crucial source of intimacy even with the pressures of ministry among people who wanted to hear Him and be healed of their infirmities.
The two threats that have the potential to separate believers from the intimate connection with God are distraction and self-dependence. In alignment with Matthew 13, Jesus spoke of the parable of the sower to make clear what chokes out, inhibits, or removes the Word from a person’s life. Valuing the wrong things over Christ Jesus and His Word takes our focus, priority, and intentionality elsewhere. As given by the example in Luke 10:38-42 with Mary and Martha, Jesus spoke of the necessity of choosing the good portion of fellowship with Him and intimacy with God over the busyness of daily necessities. Mary chose not to forfeit the most essential thing with Jesus as compared to Martha attending their gathering with the well-intentioned nobility of hospitality. A believer’s proper perspective about personal identity in Christ is best understood as the branch and vine analogy that He spoke about (John 15:5).
The warning signs about a believer disconnected from the vine include one or more of the following:
- Absence of fruit of Spirit
- Lack of margin, patience, humility, and charity
- Presence of pride, self-interest, defensiveness
- Fleshly interests and carnality, or appetites too fleshly
- Emotional fatigue and tense attitude of the heart from the grind of work
While circumstances and incident-driven occurrences give temporary rise to these conditions, they cannot be permitted to remain in place. The overwhelming pattern in the life of a believer must be personal time alone in prayer, in God’s Word (the Holy Bible), and worship. In truth and purity, believers shall abide in Christ to regain and sustain the spiritual nourishment essential to walk in the Spirit. Remaining in despair, discouragement, and distress indicates that a believer is disconnected from the vine or drinking from a broken cistern. A pattern and practice of these categories is the absence of margin and joy in a believer’s life.
While doing work unto the Lord, it is with the engine and furnace of the Spirit of God within. Passion, focus, and joy contribute to attitude as a source of fruitful energy that comes from time with God alone. Sin breaks fellowship. Willfulness can break fellowship. Self-interest (sin) breaks fellowship, so there is a need to be in daily immersion in God’s Word. Without the continuous renewal of the Spirit, burnout and fatigue can begin to take hold. Some evident attitudes that point to the onset of burnout include the following:
- You think you can fix everyone’s problems
- You have to fix everything right now
- You are responsible for everything that goes on in the church
- You can control everything in the church
- You have the answers for everything
- You can never show any weakness and need for growth
These attitudes are contradictory to truth statements of Scripture. To remain in proper perspective, intake of the whole counsel of God grows through time alone with Him. Absorption of God’s Word is an intentional, persistent, and conscious effort that requires reserved time (scheduled time) with God first at the beginning of each day, as He matters most. Priorities drive schedule, and emphatic yeses set priorities with non-negotiable noes. So, if priorities are not on your schedule, they’re not as important. The danger of the best is not the bad, it’s the good.
Preparation to serve God’s people begins with inner joy and spiritual nourishment. This position of spiritual health derives from a consistent daily time in the Word and prayer while remaining in truth and purity. Believers will be held accountable for their spouses and the spiritual well-being of their families. Most immediate relationships among others before God is what matters most over all other endeavors. The source of life to support a family’s spiritual well-being comes from meditation on God’s Word. Ongoing intentional interaction with God’s Word is necessary to experience an inner life of peace and joy from the spring of living water. So, as a matter of process, some suggested methods of Scripture immersion include the following:
- Before bedtime sleep, meditate on a Psalm or passage of interest for five minutes to set God’s Word as the last thing on your conscious mind.
- In the morning, attempt to memorize a corresponding verse while in the restroom and preparing for the day. Have a verse pack on the go in the bathroom at the sink and shower.
- Once ready for the day, meditate on the Word in an expanded way through morning devotion time. To evaluate the meaning and implications of a passage further by contemplation and prayer, highlight, underline, circle, and note what touches your heart, mind, and spirit in the Word.
- Pray the passage of interest at lunch – a cadence of attention to his Word is characterized by a time of personalization throughout the day.
- Draw or visualize compelling imagery about the time of contemplation to work out the truth of the verse or passage.
- Share the experience in the Word with family, friends, and others. Talk it out to learn it.
- Apply it – Not just to know it, but to do it.
Accountability and close personal relationships to encourage believers are necessary to assure personal alone time with God. However, close and careful attention must be paid to who a believer confides in about passages meditated upon as a matter of reflection and application (Prov 20:6, Sirach 6:5-17). Long-term relationships are often betrayed by unfaithful men or women who abandon confidentiality and cause undue harm for intentional or unintentional reasons. If someone reveals to a believer another person’s private life, renewal, and reflection experiences in the Word of God, it can be assured that the person is doing the same with others. Whether in an immediate context or later in time, the believer needs to know who is trustworthy.
