Without Him You Can Do Nothing
“The battery is dead.” Try as you may, the car just won’t start. Perhaps, you left the lights on while you shopped, or dined, for hours, and now that you are tired and ready to go home, your battery is totally powerless. It can do nothing!
Ever been in such a situation? Then you should understand what Jesus means when He says: ““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.” (John 15:5 NKJV). Try as you may, and you tend to do a lot of trying, you can do nothing. Your “car” just won’t start. Your “battery” is dead! When will you recognize this?
The law of sin and death has drained all the life out of our spiritual “battery.” It has left us without any innate power to please God and to fulfill His original purpose for us. It has made us spiritually useless to ourselves, to others, and to God. Until we recognize our deadness and absolute powerlessness, we will spend our lives trying to do what we just can not do–please God spiritually.
But all is not lost. You can actually do something about a dead car battery. You can hook it up to a living battery using jump cables and your dead battery will come alive again. And actually start your car! What happens? By becoming connected to a fully charged battery, it receives an infusion of life that is not its own. It is now alive and powerful, but the power it is enjoying is flowing into and through it from another source. The dead battery is now living , not by its own power, but by the power of another. Unable to be a source, it has become a channel able to do everything the battery it is connected to can do!
And this is exactly what God does for everyone who receives Jesus–it is the essence of what salvation is and how it is made real in us. He joins us to Christ so that Christ becomes our Life. Incapable of being a source, we become channels of His Life, branches bearing the fruit of the Vine, containers of the Spirit, and we come alive in Him as He infuses us with Himself and lives His life through us.
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3-4 NKJV)
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)
Child of God, stop trying to find and generate life in yourself. Your battery is dead. You have no life in you, other than Jesus Himself. He is your life now! Instead of trying to produce victory yourself, you have the privilege putting your faith in Him and looking to the Lord every day, saying, “I look to You, Who live in me, to live my life for me and your life through me. Lord, the only power I have is You. You are my life.” By so doing, you take yourself out of His way, allowing Him to work in you and through you for your good and His glory. This is God’s way of giving you victory. Let it become your way of receiving victory!
A Moment of Grace 