The world is starting to reopen. In the USA states are entering phases one and two of their reopening plans. People are desperately getting back to work. The world is coming off of the pause.

If you’re anything like me, you declared on March 16th that you are not coming out of the quarantine the same way you went in. Some of us invested in prayer, worship of the Living God, and time in the Word of God like never before. Some of us dealt with some pain, joy, and perspective shifts. Some of us grew and got stronger in our relationship with Almighty God. Some of us are better post pause.

But now, as the time has come for the world to reopen, what are you going to do? Are you and I going to hold to the confessions of our faith and come out better than when we went in? Other misfortunes befell marginalized people groups that proposed an opportunity to revert in spirit from being of love to being of resentment and unbridled anger. What are you going to do?

Remain. Holy Spirit has led me back to John 15 over three times since Sunday. If we are truly Christ-followers, we must remain connected to Him. We must think how He thinks, respond how He responds, and submit to The Father how He submitted to the Father. Beloved, life post pause will be tumultuous in the world around you, but if you remain in Jesus and His Word remain in you, you can ask what you will and it will be granted to you.

I am asking for peace. I am asking for love to flow through me and others to have an experience with God so that they know He is God and they cry out, “What must I do to be saved?” I am asking for the door to be opened to all God told me was available to me for the benefit of His Kingdom and the winning of souls. I am asking for babies for the barren, healing for the sick, maturity for the immature, wisdom for the ones who lack and have desire. I am asking for fathers to return to their children and children to their fathers. I am asking for healed marriages. I am asking for the men of God be filled with His Spirit and GO throughout all the ends of the earth and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and His love. I am asking that repentance hits the land and that Jesus heals the land. I am asking that the Promise of God dwell in the willing and waiting vessels of righteousness. I am asking for Holy Spirit to empower you and me to remain.

Are you remaining in the True Vine? Are you coming out of pause different, better than when you went in? What are you asking for? Are you allowing the Word of God to remain in you despite a global pandemic and racial tensions going on all around you?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-4

Remain beloved of God. Remain.

#refreshher #postpause #remain #John15