Apart From Him Is Nothing

This past weekend I had prepared to knock out the editing of Martha’s new CD series from a recent conference in New Mexico.  I have recorded and edited hundreds and hundreds of messages of Martha’s, either with podcasts, Messages of the Month, or CD series. I say this to show how very qualified I am to edit audio files. I am a bit of an audiophile and really strive for excellence.  And I tell you this with a purpose in mind: ALL MY EXPERIENCE IS WORTH ZERO!

I’ve been coming at the message that it is no longer I but Christ that lives in me for weeks now in the blog.  It is so much a part of my conscious thought.  I may not always live it, but I do have the revelation of it.

So here I come early Saturday morning, and I jump into the task of editing one of the messages.  I made it through the task pretty well.  So, all I needed to do was merge the two files I was working on and then save the project.   The merge proceeded to the very end and then hung up.  Guess what happened next?  Come on, give it a wild stab. Yeah, you guessed it, the program crashed and the hours of work were GONE!  All I did vanished with one little computer hiccup.

Now I would love to say I immediately thanked the Lord and sang a hymn, but nope, I screamed.  And you know that still small Voice that is oh so convincing and convicting?  Well, I heard it over the din of my own voice.  “You didn’t give it to Me to do.”  No, I wasn’t playing Simon-says, I was supposed to be living out my revelation in my responsibility.

The word of God very, very specifically says, “but apart from Him you can do nothing.” John 15:5 was the very first scripture I ever memorized. Hmm, you think that was a coincidence? So let’s give a paraphrase of that scripture weaving through this event. “I am the Vine, John, you are just the branch. When you abide in Me and I in you, then your editing will bear much fruit, but apart from Me, your computer is going to crash and eat your work—because on your own, you can do nothing of any value.” Actually it’s even direr than that.  I have seen that works of the flesh just whirls up hell.  It’s not benign; it is very malignant.

So let’s play this scenario out further.  If it was me that was doing the task, then that stain would mark the recordings going out to people waiting to hear the wonderful message. So in this light, yes, I can thank God for destroying my hours of self-supported rebellion.

It doesn’t matter if I know how to do something; the Life of the Son must be the life behind it.  I must be just the observer of His Life flow. What He does is eternal.  Yes, Christ’s performance in my life makes my life eternal rather than temporal.

I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,
for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 ESV