Dwell with Me

Growing in Your Spiritual Walk with Jesus

De: Whitney Sparks

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Dwell with Me: Growing in Your Spiritual Walk with Jesus invites you to explore the profound relationship between Jesus, the Vine, and you, His beloved branch. Are you seeking a deeper connection with God? This inspirational devotional book reveals how Jesus desires to reside in your heart, soul, and mind.

Introduction

A few months ago, I wandered into our backyard and noticed a vine growing around the trees along our fence line. This vine contained beautiful purple grapes. Since my curiosity had the best of me, I ran next door and grabbed my neighbor so she could tell me more about these wild grapes. She told me these were not the same grapes found in a grocery store produce section and that I should avoid eating them due to their high acidity. They were muscadines. Even though they could not be eaten from the vine, I could boil them in water, add sugar, and produce a mouth-watering jelly.

Excited at the thought of homemade jelly, I yanked on the vine. I tried separating this climbing plant from its friend, the branch. I instantly felt like I was in a game of tug-of-war. Unfortunately, I lost. (You may be laughing right now if you are an experienced vine puller, but I know absolutely nothing about wild grapes or vines.) I bolted inside and grabbed a pair of scissors and a step ladder.

When I stepped on the ladder to analyze the situation further, I realized why I could not yank the vine apart from the branch. The vine had wrapped itself around the branch multiple times (see image below).

John 15:5 immediately entered my mind: “I am the vine; you are the branches.” This verse took on a new meaning after getting up close and personal with an actual vine and its branch.

Looking at how tightly the vine wrapped around the branch caused me to think about Jesus and how He wants this same type of relationship with us. People may say they believe in Jesus, but what if He wants us to take our belief to the next step? What if He yearns for us to believe in Him and put our trust in Him? What if He longs for us to be completely engulfed in His Word and solely wrapped up in Him? What if He desires for us to speak Jesus’s name in everything we say and do? What if He wants us to act like Christians the other six days out of the week and not just portray one on Sunday?

When I began to analyze my relationship with Christ compared to the vine and branch, I concluded that my spiritual walk could improve. Fortunately, we serve a God who knows we fall short but loves us regardless. If we were perfect, we would not need a Savior.

If you are committed to reading this book in its entirety, you are choosing to deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, regardless of your starting point. You desire to stop staring at Him from afar and instead abide or dwell with Him.

Before we dive in, I want to share the meanings of abide and dwell since they are used many times throughout the book.

Abide means to remain, continue, stay, have one’s abode, dwell, reside, remain steadfast or faithful, to keep.¹

Dwell means to live or stay as a permanent resident; reside.²

Once you take this leap of faith to dwell with Him, you are pullin’ up a chair and stayin’ a while (as we say in East Texas). Pour some sweet tea into a Mason jar because Christ is not leaving! He stands ready to reside permanently inside your heart.

I challenge you to read the following words from a classic hymn: Take Time to be Holy. Let the words soak in. I recommend making a copy of the lyrics and printing them out. Hang it on the wall in your office, tape it to the mirror in your bathroom, or stick it to your refrigerator door.

When you internalize these beautiful lyrics, you will see how they relate to dwelling with Christ. Let us all take time to be holy while we watch Him begin to open doors in our lives like never before.