Plugs are those that always come through for you. Your plug might be a member of  your family or a friend, it can even be someone you least expected. By now I’m sure you get that I’m not talking about an appliance plug. A plug usually has something that you need and they give it to you without being asked.

A friend giving you their Netflix password. An aunt connecting you on her Spotify Premium for Family. A friend that offers to pick you up in the dead of the night. A friend sending food to your house. Mum hooking you up with that good good food.

Amazing right? If you don’t have a plug you are definitely missing out.

Where are you going with this you may ask?

In life, God is our ultimate plug.  Your go-to-guy, your number one. As the book of Matthew says: He knows the things we need before we even ask Him (6:8). Now let me share an analogy with you, so you have a better understanding of what I’m explaining. Have you ever been in that situation where your phone battery is running low and you quickly run to get your plug to save it from dying? Now, iPhone users can relate to this, your phone has been on 1% for the past 5 minutes and it’s still going strong until you click on snapchat and the next thing you know you are staring at your own disappointed reflection as your phone has now completely died.

When would have been the most appropriate time to get your phone connected to the plug? obviously, wayyyyy before it showed signs of extremely low battery. That is exactly how we should be with God. We need to remain connected to Him 24/7 (Disclaimer: I’m not advising this should be done with your phones), it shouldn’t be when we’ve exhausted all our power that we turn to God.

I’ve just moved into a new house for third year, whilst setting up my wifi an error occurred and the next available date for an engineer to visit was over a week away.  Fear and panic rushed through my body when I realised I had to wait sooo long before I was reconnected to wifi 😕 How was I supposed to survive without it? Hmmm, would I have panicked that much if my connection to God was disrupted for over a week? <foodforthought>

I’m reminded of the passage in John 15:4-5:

⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

The Word abide in the bible means: to stay (in a given place/state/relation), dwell, endure, not to depart, to continue to be present, to remain as one, not to another or different. The fruits listed in Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are the fruits that we bear when we abide in Christ. You may not be able to see the roots of a tree but you can tell what tree it is by its fruits, likewise if we are rooted in Christ those around us will know by the fruits we display.

How do we Abide in Christ?

1. Abide in His Word
   • We need to constantly spend time reading & meditating on God’s Words. The Word has 3 main functions:
     • Word keeps us from sinning ( I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11)
       • Jesus used it whilst being tempted by the devil in the wilderness
     • Word gives us continual guidance (Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105)
       • Principles to help govern our life
     • Word gives us life, a world view, philosophy 
   • The Word of God is like living water, however society is constantly dehydrating us spiritually. As a result Jesus is evaporating from our lives. Unless we actively do something to rehydrate ourselves we will be left dry.
   • Personal devotions, listening to sermons and spiritually feeding our soul is essential
2. Abide in the Church 
   • The church is the body of Christ, so it is not a surprise that christian fellowship is a way in which we can abide in Christ
   • Being in the environment of christian fellowship is useful as it gives us accountability
3. Love – Abiding and Obeying
   • It’s impossible to abide in Christ & live rebelliously
   • Jesus explicitly says if you love me you’ll keep my commandments, therefore we need to obey Him and walk as Jesus walked
   • 1 John 2:17 – whoever does the will of God lives forever

If we were as concerned about being plugged in to God in the same degree as plugging our devices wouldn’t we be living great lives?

Without any juice, what good is a phone? It’s a useless piece of aluminium, glass incapable of functioning in the purpose in which it was created.

In the same way, what good are we? If we aren’t plugged into our power source daily we are nothing and as the book of John says we can’t do anything worthwhile / of eternal value. The rest of John 15 explains what happens when we abide in Christ and the conclusion I got was When we abide in Christ, circumstances can’t dictate our happiness. Abiding in Christ is a means by which our joy may be full (John 15:11).

Key Undilutedword points:

1. Stay Connected to the Ultimate Plug – God, without him we can do nothing worthwhile
2. Abide in Christ via reading His word, fellowshipping with believers and obeying his commandments
3. Share your plug with others – the more you walk with & abide in Christ the more you want to share him with others
4. Be the plug for others!

Stay Blessed,

Dara xx