12/01 John 15:1-2
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.
WISDOM
Too many times I’ve made decisions without consulting the Lord. The aftermath is that I’ve had to seek the Lord to get out of the mess I’ve made. We need a close relationship with Jesus to guide us on God’s plan for our life. This is a constant need for us to accomplish what the Father has marked out for us to do. I cannot produce without the life of Christ indwelling me.
12/02 John 15:3-4
You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.
JESUS
Jesus is our life. He gives us life and enables us to walk a Godly path. His wisdom, His strength and His peace are necessary for me to maintain a Godly walk and a Godly life.
12/03 John 15:5
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
NOTHING
Jesus doesn’t say we can do some things or little things. He said we can do nothing without Him. I need time with Jesus. I need time for Him to lay out His plans for me. I need to listen to Him. I need Jesus in every aspect of my life.
12/04 John 15:6-7
Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted!
FOLLOW
We are called to follow Jesus. We can be confident that the Lord will listen to us and will respond to our needs. But we have to ask. Spend time with the Lord and talk with Him about your needs. Remember to ask before you act.
12/05 John 15:8-9
My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.
FRUIT
Have you ever wondered what fruit is? Obedience to Jesus produces fruit. We sow, the Lord waters and Jesus gives new life. When we introduce Jesus to others we are working in the garden of life and the Lord is responsible for giving new life. We are responsible for sharing Jesus.
12/06 John 15:10-11
When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
JOY
Joy is not an emotion it is a position. When we are doing what the Lord says and living the way the Lord commands we will experience His joy. This world cannot take away our joy for our joy is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
12/07 John 15:12-13
I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. And here is how to measure it — the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.
OBEY
I have a choice. I can do what Jesus asks me to do or spurn His love and ignore His command. The Christian life isn’t difficult. What is difficult is trying to live like the world and call myself a Christian. It shows when I am not living like Jesus says.
12/08 John 15:14
You are my friends if you obey me.
TEST
This is a test. It is a simple test. It is a test that we will know absolutely without any doubt and beyond any misunderstanding whether we are a child of God. Am I obeying Jesus? If I obey Him I belong to Him. If I don’t obey Him I am not His child.
12/09 John 15:15-16
I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn’t confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.
FRIEND
Jesus calls us His friend. What a friend we have in Jesus. It is more than a slogan. It is a reality. As you go through your quiet time remember that Jesus is your friend.
12/10 John 15:17
I command you to love each other.
OBEY
The charge is to love one another. We will have to be under the control of Jesus Christ to love others. Some are unlovely, some are different, some are impossible and so on but the call to OBEY is love each other. Put that idea in your heart and go do it.
12/11 John 15:18-19
“When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don’t. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you.
WORLD
The world, the flesh and the devil are constantly pulling at us to go their way. Follow Jesus. We are called to be like Him and to do the things that He would do. Follow Jesus.
12/12 John 15:20
Do you remember what I told you? ‘A servant is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you!
LIFE
The Christian Life is a call to surrender to Jesus and to serve Him by serving others. We evaluate our situations in life based on His call of us to be a servant. Surrender and obey are two things that we too often forget as we live a Christian Life.
12/13 John 15:21-22
The people of the world will hate you because you belong to me, for they don’t know God who sent me. They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.
SIN
Sin destroys people. Sin enslaves, accuses, abuses and misuses people. Jesus delivered us from sin. The lost are still in bondage to sin. Remember when you suffer for Jesus sake that the lost always act like the lost for they are dead in their trespasses and sin and do not know the Lord. They are guilty of their sin but without Jesus they cannot do anything about their sin.
12/14 John 15:23-24
Anyone who hates me hates my Father, too. If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be counted guilty. But as it is, they saw all that I did and yet hated both of us — me and my Father.
TRUTH
Jesus tells us the truth. We can know exactly where we stand. Do we love Jesus? We cannot separate the Godhead for Jesus identifies Himself, the Father and Holy Spirit as ONE. Jesus is Lord.
12/15 John 15:25-27
This has fulfilled what the Scriptures said: ‘They hated me without cause.’ “But I will send you the Counselor — the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me. And you must also tell others about me because you have been with me from the beginning.
TELL
When you are filled with the Holy Spirit and focused on Jesus you will tell others what is happening in your life. The activity of Jesus in our life will so overwhelm your mind and heart that witnessing will be as simple as breathing. What is hard is trying to tell others about what Jesus is doing in your life and He isn’t doing anything because you have walked away from Him. It is hard to fake Christ likeness.
12/16 John 16:1-2
“I have told you these things so that you won’t fall away. For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing God a service.
OFFENSE
The world will take offense at you talking about Jesus. It is lost and a lost world wants no part of spiritual things. Remember when you talk about Jesus some folks will respond negatively.
12/17 John 16:3
This is because they have never known the Father or me.
TRUTH
There is no fence sitting with God. We either accept Him or if we don’t accept Him we have denied Him. Spend time with the Lord and obey Him.
12/18 John 16:4
Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember I warned you. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.
EVENTS
We waste a lot of time trying to discern the future. If we do the best we know and in doing that are obedient to the Lord we will always be right. What we do now determines what we will do in the future. Our actions reveal who we are and what we will do.
12/19 John 16:5
“But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and none of you has asked me where I am going.
FOOLISH
The apostles heard Jesus but didn’t understand Him. We read God’s Word but don’t understand it. The Bible is absolutely personal. It is speaking about and to us. When we read it we need to understand that the Lord is revealing human nature to us and we should beware of the warnings or we may fall prey to the evil in the world or the evil one.
12/20 John 16:6-7
Instead, you are very sad. But it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Counselor won’t come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you.
HOLY SPIRIT
We are filled with the Holy Spirit of God. He will guide us. He will quicken our hearts and protect our minds in Christ Jesus. The Lord is with us and His wisdom, mercy and grace accompany us as we move through life. The Lord is alive and He lives in us.
12/21 Matthew 1:18-25
Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancée, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly. As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All of this happened to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us).” When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, but she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
JESUS
Jesus is Lord. We don’t make Him Lord because He always was, is and will be Lord.
12/22 Matthew 2:1-6
Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him.” Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. “Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?” he asked them. “In Bethlehem,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: ‘O Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ”
JESUS
Jesus is the reason for the season. Spend time with Him and you will spend less time wandering and wondering.
12/23 Matthew 2:7-12
Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
JESUS
Jesus knew what He was doing when He willing stepped down off of His throne in Glory and accepted the Father’s call to come and die for mankind.
12/24 Luke 2:1-7
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.
JESUS
Jesus is always focused. He does the Father’s work and maintains His watchcare over us. Life in Christ is real life.
12/25 Luke 2:8-20
That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior — yes, the Messiah, the Lord — has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others — the armies of heaven — praising God: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors. ” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child, just as the angel had said.
JESUS
Jesus gives life and bestows peace, joy and grace on each of us. If we don’t ask Jesus to give us life then we are dead in our trespasses and sin.
12/26 John 16:8-9
And when he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is unbelief in me.
SIN
Sin is pervasive in the world. It touches every single person, everything in the world. It is diplomatic, automatic, subversive, sensual, and whatever else it needs to be to enslave you. We cannot save our self from sin. Only Jesus can deliver us from sin and He does it willingly and completely.
12/27 John 16:10-11
Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the prince of this world has already been judged.
SIN
Sin is evil. Sin is real. You sin, I sin, everyone sins. We cannot escape it. We can go to Jesus and ask Him to forgive us our sin, cleanse us from unrighteousness and bring us into the family of God. It is His free gift that is priceless and free. You can have forgiveness by asking Jesus to save you and forgive your sin.
12/28 John 16:12-13
“Oh, there is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
JESUS
Jesus saves us from our sin. He gives us life and light for living. He will guide our way. Jesus will equip us to be obedient and we can choose to be obedient. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. In Him we have everything we need from God to lead a Godly life. Trust Jesus with your life.
12/29 John 16:14-15
He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. All that the Father has is mine; this is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me.
JESUS
Jesus lives with us. He indwells us. He enables us. Jesus gives us what we need to lead a Holy Spirit filled life. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one and in Him, Jesus, we are saved from the world and transferred from death to life. Jesus is Lord.
12/30 John 16:16
“In just a little while I will be gone, and you won’t see me anymore. Then, just a little while after that, you will see me again.”
PRESENT
Jesus is here with us. He loves us. He is seeking our best good. Talk with Jesus. Ask Him for the things you need. He will not let you down. He will deliver you. Obey Him, trust in His promises (7,000+) in the Bible. Claim those promises day by day and live your life for Christ.
12/31 John 16:17-18
The disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘You won’t see me, and then you will see me’? And what does he mean when he says, ‘I am going to the Father’? And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”
TRUST
There are times we will not understand what Jesus is calling us to do. Trust Him. Trust Him with your life. Give Him your obedience. Listen to Him and serve Him. Jesus is worthy of all of our life therefore follow Him and do as He says.
