We see in the Gospel of John that we are each branches who must abide in the true vine, Jesus—our only real source of life, joy and peace. There are weak branches that must be lifted up and encouraged in order to be fruitful. While there are also fruitful branches that must be pruned in order to produce more fruit. When the blade of Christ is pruning you, it is often a painful process, but it is only for a season and ultimately results in joy and peace.

When God is with us the victories are supernatural. We must move out of the place of common thought religion. We must move out the place where there is only thoughts about God but no power of God. Today you are invited outside the camp and into the power and presence of God. It’s time to pray.

Throughout Scripture we see that God is one who separates—light from dark, wheat from chaff, sheep from goats—yet today there is very little separation between the church and the world. Where is the call from pulpits to come out from among them and be separate? Separation isn't a matter of moral self-effort, but is something that is only possible when we have a revelation of the glory of God.

Most of us are probably familiar with the upper room in Acts, but there is another, first, upper room in the Gospel of John. The second upper room is not possible without the first. It is a place of tension where God brings conviction and correction, but he does not leave us there. Through Jesus' life, death and resurrection we now receive a helper, the Holy Spirit, through whom we can do greater works than Christ himself.

We live in difficult and uncertain times, yet in John 14 Jesus commands us not to let our hearts be troubled. How can we do that, especially when even Jesus' own heart was troubled? Our comfort comes from knowing that he is working on our behalf—both eternally and here in this world. He invites us into relationship with himself and the Father. Jesus not only bears our sins, but also our cares.

In Christ we are holy and blessed people, but that may not always be our experience. Sometimes we can feel defeated or slip into compromise. The reality is that we have an enemy who attacks us, wants to curse us and attempts to rob God’s blessing from us. We must be aware and alert, but not afraid. God has given us everything we need—the Holy Spirit, prayer, the Bible, wise counsel, etc. Jesus, our advocate, faced the same enemy and overcame. Let’s allow Christ to drive a spear through the curse and compromise in our life. Then we will truly live a blessed life that draws people to Jesus.

Deuteronomy 28:1–9; Numbers 22:1–25:3

As the church of Jesus Christ it is important that we stand for the truth. We are not to be entangled with the world or live in mixture. We are called to reach out and help the powerless. It’s an amazing journey when we choose to trust God for the strength to do it.

If the poison of unbelief is in your heart the devil has the ability to take your God given mission from you. At the Cross, Jesus crushed the power of Satan. It’s time for God’s people to rise up and recognize our feet are on the devil’s head because Jesus took the devil captive and got the victory. It’s time to stand up and declare we are more than conquerors in Christ.

Pastor Gary continues our "Jesus Is" series discussing Jesus' desire to guide us through life. Life decisions and plans can be overwhelming. Without the right guide we can end up at the wrong destination. Our Chief Shepard, Jesus, is always at hand desiring to guide us to His desired destination. Instead of going to "hirelings" we can come directly to Him. Daily gleaning from Him all the help and wisdom we need.