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Good Morning! In John 15:8 we are told that if we live our life properly abiding in Him that He, as the vine would produce fruit through us, the branch. Our role would be to bear that fruit. To bear means to endure or sustain. So, as a fruit bearing branch, my job is to sustain and bear fruit, but it is not to produce fruit. That is the job of the vine.

With that said, we can truly see the role of the Lord in doing the real work of cultivation in our lives and our role as simply being submissive to the responsibilities of being a branch: bearing the burden of the fruit and sustaining that fruit through our connection with and to the Vine.

If we disconnect from the Vine, even for a short period, our branch may remain, but our fruit will surely be damaged and eventually destroyed. That is why it is so important that as fruit bearing Christians we remain "in Christ".

So we learn that if we are "IN Christ", He will produce fruit through us and we will be held accountable to bear that borne fruit. If we remain connected to Him in a deep and abiding relationship then "so shall [we] be [His] disciples".

To be a disciple is to be a "disciplined one". It takes discipline and determination to remain a disciple, that is to say, to remain connected to the Vine, to abide IN Him. Discipline is defined as "consistency in following what you have learned". There are many things we learn in life and choose to follow consistently, as a result. Some of those things are done so consistently that wecould call them "daily disciplines".

Some of the "daily disciplines" of mine are simple afterthoughts. I never even considered overlooking them for I have so disciplined myself to do them that it takes little effort on my part to follow through on my responsibilities to them.

For example, every day I brush my teeth, usually a few times. Every day I wash and comb my hair, every day I bath my body, every day I schedule and engage in feeding. Every day I do things that for some may take discipline, but for me it is second nature. But when I was a kid, it took an arm and a leg from my dear mother to get me to be consistent! But when I grew up and became her disciple, I followed what she had taught me as a child and developed those daily disciplines as consistencies in my life.

There are things God has told us to do every single day in our lives as well. But you know what? There are not very many of them! God wants us to be disciplined and to be so daily that we may remain His disciples, connected to His Vine. But to remain connected we will have to follow the very few daily disciplines He has requested of us.

God has only asked us to do four things every single day! There are many others things He has asked us to do in our lives, but only four things that He TELLS us to do EVERY SINGLE DAY! If we will do them, as the Bible says "daily" then we will be successful.

I will list them over the course of the next four days and I will tell you that these four disciplines, if followed daily will cause you to remain a disciple. Why? Because you will surely bear fruit? Why? Because you will remain "in Christ". Why? Because you are doing what He has required of you, daily!

Tomorrow we will discuss the first of the four. But today, I will give you a hint as to what it is.

It is found in the book of Acts and it involves the Scriptures. Maybe you can study it out and determine the first and probably most important thing you can do every single day to remain IN Christ that you may bear fruit and be the disciple He is looking for.

A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "Am I trying to change my life today, or am I simply allowing Him to exchange my life today?"