Daily Prayer: A Weekly Devotional for Prayer-Filled Living. (Photo: Jesus Club kids acting out a Bible story.)

Daily Prayer ©2005
A Devotional Guide to Prayer and Prayerful Living

Published weekly by the Partners of
Lutheran Ministries of SW Oklahoma

Vol. 12, No. 30
Week of 
July 24, 2005
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The Four Pillars
 Part 8 in a series by Ronald Boelte

Are You Connected

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John's Gospel is known for its great "I Am" statements by Jesus. In John 8:58, He simply states "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" If Jesus is telling the truth, than in that one statement Jesus is equating Himself with the Lord, Yahweh, the same God that came to Moses fourteen centuries earlier and said in Exodus 3:14: God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." Jesus is telling us that He is a man, but also the eternal God, who is without beginning and without end.

In addition to that statement Jesus has seven other "I Am" statements about Himself. That would be significant for the number seven has always stood for completeness in the Bible. The statements are:

  • John 6:35 "I am the bread of life."
  • John 8:12 "I am the light of the world."
  • John 10:7 "I am the gate for the sheep."
  • John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd"
  • John 11:25 "I am the resurrection and the life."
  • John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life."
  • John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches."

These statements point all of us to the fact that all of us are connected to some belief. If it is not Jesus, the true vine, than we have to ask ourselves, what vine am I connected too? Is it the human mind, or is it money, or success? Is it other people or other religions? Whatever it may be, Jesus claims that all other vines will fail and will be cut off and thrown into the fire and burned. Jesus is the connection for life, for He alone is the one that has defeated death. He is also our source of life and has promised to keep us alive forever.

No one is an island. We all need to be connected to something bigger than ourselves. When Jesus calls Himself the vine He offers us the connection, and without that connection we can not bear fruit. As the branch is to the vine, I am His and He is mine.


Note to all loyal readers: 
The webmaster is on vacation till August 7. Part 8 of The Four Pillars will run till I return. I will update the web then. I apologize for the inconvenience.

 

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