We are going to shift into a new direction for the next two days as we learn more about what it means to be a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ. Have you ever watched a man and woman dancing a waltz in perfect unison? The sight is so breathtaking because it is almost impossible to tell where one person ends and the other one begins. They are in step, gracefully moving across the dance floor, in each other’s arm. Their faces reflect total peace and it is evident that they are one, and it is also evident that the woman trusts the man to lead her in the dance. Isn’t it even more amazing that our eyes are always drawn to the woman and how we don’t pay much attention to the man and yet without the man; the dance would be incomplete!
This is the image I want us to have in our minds as we go to the next level of discovering what it means to be a disciple whose life bears much fruit because it is an image of what it looks like when we live our lives in step with God’s will through the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. When Jesus died and rose again He did not leave us on the dance floor of life all alone to try and figure out how to move through life by ourselves. He loved us so much that He made us a promise that He would give us a new dance partner who will lead and guide us so we can always be in step with our Father’s will and desire for our lives.
In John 14:15-18 Jesus said, ““If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
What I want us to realize today is that we cannot operate in love, produce lasting fruit, or know how to pray according to God’s will unless we are being led by the Holy Spirit. But we have to accept the leading of the Holy Spirit and make a daily decision to follow Him. When He takes the lead and we follow, we move across the dance floor of life in perfect unison with our Heavenly Father. The image of a disciple being led by the Holy Spirit is the most breathtaking sight the world will ever see!
We have to remember that when the world looks at the church of Jesus Christ their eyes are drawn to us just like our eyes are drawn to look at the woman who is dancing the waltz. But the difference is that they cannot see our dance partner because their eyes are blinded; so their full attention is on us! This is why it is so important for us to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us because we want the world to see the beauty of the dance, of one who is united with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Another reason it is so important for us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit is the things of God are revealed to us by His Spirit and the fruit of God is given through His Spirit. If we can come to understand these truths we will become empowered to follow His lead. In 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 Paul says, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
If we want to see everlasting fruit manifest on our life branches and we want to see our prayers answered, we have to accept the leading of the Holy Spirit because only the Holy Spirit knows the things of God. In and of ourselves we can never know what God’s will is or the fruit He wants to produce in our lives. Neither can we know what things we ought to pray for because we are limited in our understanding. But the Spirit searches all things, the deep things of God and He reveals them to us when we allow Him to take the lead in our lives. Do you realize that being a fruit bearing disciple is the greatest testimony we will ever have on this earth but we can only become one if we abide IN Christ, operate IN His love, and accept the leading of His Spirit!
Abiding IN Christ, walking as He walked IN love, one for another, and being led by the Holy Spirit is what sets us apart from the world. If we are going to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have to have something different to offer them than what they are already receiving in the world. When they see the church of Jesus Christ abiding IN Him, operating IN His love, and producing fruit they have never seen before; they will begin to want what we have.
Prayer: May we come to understand the importance of being led by Your Spirit in our daily lives and may we come to the place where we no longer desire to dance alone in our own strength. Help us to receive Your invitation to dance in unison with Your will by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into Your truth for our lives. Help us to show the world the difference that Your Spirit abiding IN us makes, and may the image be so beautiful that they want to dance with You too!
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