8 – Stay Connected | 21 Days of Prayer 2025

8 – Stay Connected | 21 Days of Prayer 2025

If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
John 15:5

“Sit down and stay a while.”

My mom would say that when I would come in the living room, inviting me to pause my adventure or search or pursuit or imaginative play.

She didn’t want anything from me. She was just inviting me to linger in her presence for a while. Maybe sharing what was on my mind. Maybe sitting in silence together.

Those little respites would serve to remind me that I was connected to her. I was her son. I was part of a family. I wasn’t operating in the world alone.

Jesus gives a similar reminder to us in John 15, though he uses the image of a vineyard. The branches that produce fruit, whether tomatoes or grapes, are all offshoots of a larger vine system. The only way they produce fruit is because they are connected to the vine.

Cut them off, and the branch dies, shriveling up and ceasing to produce fruit.

And Jesus reminds us that apart from him, we can do nothing. But if we remain connected to him, the fruit of our lives is bursting with God-designed Life.

Prayer and practicing the presence of Jesus is how we remain connected to him. And life change happens as you stay close to Jesus, not by trying harder on your own.

Do This: Take 5 minutes right now to pray: “Jesus, help me remain in You,” then sit quietly and listen.

Closing Prayer: Lord, I choose to remain in You today.