![\"DSC04473\"](\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/DSC04473.jpg\")
<\/a>On her way to work, my daughter Candace called and said her engine light came on and that her car wasn\u2019t running well. So we knew when she returned home, we\u2019d have to see what the issue was.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So at 8:30 last night, my husband pulled out his handy gadget that told him the fourth cylinder had misfired. And after looking at the engine, he knew why.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Somehow the spark plug cable had been cut, possibly by the fan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I know there are times in our lives when we aren\u2019t running on all cylinders. Illness may be hindering our function. Young children may be zapping energy from us. A busy schedule may be keeping us from releasing our full potential.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it can be downright dangerous if we allow this to happen in our spiritual lives. Perhaps we\u2019ve \u201ctaken a break\u201d from church attendance or group Bible study. Perhaps there\u2019s no time to add personal devotions to our lives. Or perhaps we\u2019ve grown lazy in our spiritual development.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whatever our \u201cgood\u201d reasoning is, it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is a reason Jesus gave us the command in John 15 to remain in Him. Jesus is our life source. Without Him, there is no life. It\u2019s not just one cylinder misfiring, it is your entire life misfiring.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And according to Jesus, apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). That may seem a little dramatic to some, but I\u2019ve lived on both sides of this command and it is so true.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is nothing outside of Christ.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, Jesus doesn\u2019t want us to just remain in Him. There is something we are to be doing in this state. We find this in the same verse mentioned above (John 15:5 \u2013 NIV).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are to bear much fruit. And you\u2019ve heard of this fruit before from Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the fruit we are to bear.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jesus also mentions in this section what happens to the branch that doesn\u2019t bear fruit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.\u201d<\/em> (John 15:1-2 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Looks like we\u2019ve come full circle doesn\u2019t it? We aren\u2019t the only ones who cut ourselves off from God. If we are non-fruit producing followers of Christ, God will do the cutting for us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remember God\u2019s words about being lukewarm? To the Church at Laodicea He said, \u201cI know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm\u2014neither hot nor cold\u2014I am about to spit you out of my mouth.\u201d <\/em>(Revelation 3:15-16 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We cannot be happy with mediocrity. We must be working diligently to grow spiritually and by remaining in Jesus and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are able to produce an abundance of fruit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mason had a spark plug wire. He replaced it in 5 minutes and Candace\u2019s car now runs smoothly again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We have the source and power to be great followers of Christ. Reach out and grab it. Repair that broken line between you and God. Then, wait to see what God produces in your life and what wonderful things He has in store for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Donna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday was such a good day. A celebration of motherhood is always enjoyable. But the day had possible threat looming over it. On her way to work, my daughter Candace called and said her engine light came on and that her car wasn\u2019t running well. So we knew when she returned home, we\u2019d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3762,4091,296,16,3770,17,3438,14],"tags":[5219,175,3591,5221,5222,5220,2395],"class_list":["post-5328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abide","category-breathe","category-experiencing-god","category-following-god","category-listen","category-obeying-god","category-reflect-god","category-seeking-god","tag-a-cut-wire-sabbatical-post","tag-galatians-220","tag-john-151","tag-john-151-2","tag-revelation-315-16","tag-running-on-all-cylinders","tag-spiritual-lives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5329,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328\/revisions\/5329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}