"God-Confidence"

Grace back as a young man,

Felt different way back when,

The strength of youth’s deceiving,

With confidence back then,

In your skill and energy,

What they ask you to do,

You never feel the weariness,

That you now go through.

I sometimes ask the young folks,

How they’re gettin’ ‘long,

Invariably they say they’re tired,

But I believe they’re wrong.

See, till you get past forty,

You haven’t done enough,

To make you that exhausted,

Though life can get real tough.

But that’s another story,

Let’s get back to grace,

And how in different seasons,

Of life’s daily race,

You realize the limits,

Of what you cannot do,

Unless the Spirit gives His help,

And His power flows right through.

You learn that He can do it,

Even when you can’t,

It’s amazing when it happens,

The Spirit’s seeds to plant.

And then comes back the harvest,

And thankfulness and praise,

You knew it was God’s doing,

And gave your hopes a raise.

God-confidence is changing,

The way you live your days,

And you learn to be dependent,

On His Spirit’s pow’r always.

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NLT)

Jesus taught His disciples about what their lives would be after He returned to the Father. He spoke of the Holy Spirit, and used the analogy of the vine and the branches to illustrate how they would become fruitful in ministry. It all boiled down to one thing: staying intimately connected to Jesus and allowing Him to empower them. With His power they could do everything He sent them to do. Without His power they could do nothing. Most of us lead busy lives. But life’s success is not measured by busy-ness. It is measured by fruitfulness. This means the eternal impact we have in the lives of others, as God uses us. This is our calling, and confirms that we truly are disciples of Jesus.

Lord, make us fruitful, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Jason Rich, jasonrichstudios.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Jason, and God bless you.