{"id":155,"date":"2016-10-14T17:25:04","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T21:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/?p=155"},"modified":"2016-10-14T17:25:04","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T21:25:04","slug":"how-to-stay-connected-to-god-part-vi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/2016\/10\/14\/how-to-stay-connected-to-god-part-vi\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Stay Connected to God Part VI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Staying connected to the vine (Jesus) is a constant, daily thing. Disconnecting from Jesus is like our blood vessels deciding not to pass blood one day &#8211; we&#8217;ll dry up and die. When we disconnect, we grow cold and indifferent towards the things of God.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Points:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Divine Connection\n<ul>\n<li>Our connection to the vine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Divine Order\n<ul>\n<li>The Father brings order to the branch by pruning it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Divine Purpose\n<ul>\n<li>Our purpose in life is to bear fruit.<\/li>\n<li>We don&#8217;t\u00a0<em>produce<\/em> the fruit &#8211; that&#8217;s up to God; we just bring it forth.\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s our choice to bring it forth or not; God will not force us.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Divine Glory\n<ul>\n<li>Our fruit will glorify God.<\/li>\n<li>The fruit is not just for us, but to bring forth light to others, bringing glory to God.<\/li>\n<li>Bearing good fruit causes us to have confidence in God; we can go boldly to Him.\n<ul>\n<li>Bad fruit will cause us to put confidence in ourselves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Divine Praise\n<ul>\n<li>Remaining connected to Jesus will cause us to praise God.<\/li>\n<li>Disconnecting will cause us to praise the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Keeping our connection fresh\n<ul>\n<li>Consider our love walks.\n<ul>\n<li>Find ways to bless others rather than trying to get the blessing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Praise Him\u00a0for what He&#8217;s done; worship Him for who He is.<\/li>\n<li>Be thankful in all things.\n<ul>\n<li>When we live thankful lives, we won&#8217;t be complaining and murmuring.<\/li>\n<li>When things aren&#8217;t going the way we want them, it could be the Father pruning our lives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Stay humble.\n<ul>\n<li>Recognize that all good things come from above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Spend time alone with Jesus.<\/li>\n<li>Study the Word of God.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t be conformed to the world.\n<ul>\n<li>Be led by the Spirit and not the flesh.<\/li>\n<li>God operates differently than the world does.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Learn to be a servant.\n<ul>\n<li>Be more concerned about the needs and interests of others than our own interests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The one who is bearing fruit will ask the Lord for things that will help him to bear more fruit, not for selfish wants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Key Verses: <\/strong>John 15, 1 Chronicles 16:23-31, Ephesians 2:1-14, Philippians 2:1-7<\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-155-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/10-9-16.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/10-9-16.mp3\">http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/10-9-16.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Staying connected to the vine (Jesus) is a constant, daily thing. Disconnecting from Jesus is like our blood vessels deciding not to pass blood one day &#8211; we&#8217;ll dry up and die. When we disconnect, we grow cold and indifferent&#8230;<br \/><a class=\"read-more-button\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/2016\/10\/14\/how-to-stay-connected-to-god-part-vi\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}