March 20, 2026

Living Water Vineyard Devotion

Friday

16 Days Until Resurrection Sunday

Abiding in His Word

John 15:7

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The Power of Staying Connected

In John 15, Jesus continues His teaching about the vine and the branches.

He says something remarkable in John 15:7:

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

That’s an incredible promise.

But it begins with something very important.

Jesus doesn’t say:

“If you ask whatever you want, you’ll get it.”

He says:

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you…”

The power of prayer is connected to abiding in His Word.

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What Does It Mean to Abide in His Word?

To “abide” means to remain, to stay, to dwell.

So when Jesus says His words must remain in us, He’s describing something deeper than just reading the Bible occasionally.

It means the words of Jesus begin to live inside us.

They shape how we think.

They shape how we see people.

They shape how we pray.

The more His Word fills our hearts, the more our desires begin to align with His.

And when our hearts align with God’s heart…

our prayers begin to reflect His will.

That’s when Jesus makes this incredible promise:

“Ask whatever you wish.”

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The Word of God in the New Testament

The early church understood how central the Word of God was to the Christian life.

References to the Word of God appear well over 150 times in the New Testament.

The apostle Paul alone refers to God’s Word dozens of times in his letters. He reminds believers that:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and useful to teach us what is true.”

— 2 Timothy 3:16

The apostle John constantly points people back to the words of Jesus. In fact, he begins his gospel with the powerful statement:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

— John 1:1

And Peter writes:

“The word of the Lord remains forever.”

— 1 Peter 1:25

For the early Christians, the Word of God wasn’t just information.

It was life.

It shaped their faith, their prayers, and their decisions.

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When the Gospel Gets Twisted

Unfortunately, over time some people began teaching a distorted version of Jesus’ words about prayer.

This is sometimes called the prosperity gospel.

The prosperity gospel teaches that if you have enough faith, God will guarantee things like:

• wealth

• perfect health

• constant success

In simple terms, it treats God almost like a cosmic vending machine.

If you just believe hard enough, you’ll get whatever you want.

But that’s not the gospel Jesus taught.

The real gospel is not about using God to get what we want.

The real gospel is about abiding in Christ so our hearts become aligned with what God wants.

One way banks train people to recognize counterfeit money is interesting.

They don’t spend most of their time studying fake bills.

They study the real one so carefully that when a counterfeit appears, they recognize it immediately.

The same is true with the gospel.

When we know the true gospel, we can recognize the false versions.

The real gospel says:

Jesus forgives our sins.

Jesus transforms our hearts.

Jesus invites us to follow Him.

And when we abide in Him, our prayers become part of God’s work in the world.

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The Story of George Müller

One of the most beautiful examples of abiding in God’s Word and trusting Him in prayer comes from a man named George Müller.

Müller lived in England in the 1800s and cared for orphaned children in the city of Bristol.

Over the course of his life, he helped care for more than 10,000 orphaned children.

But what made his story remarkable was how he trusted God to provide for them.

Early in his ministry, Müller made a decision that shocked many people.

He decided he would never ask people for money.

He would simply pray and trust God to provide.

Over the years he recorded more than 50,000 specific answers to prayer, with more than 30,000 answered the same day or even the same hour.

One morning, the orphanage had no food at all.

Around 300 children were living in the orphanage at the time.

Breakfast time arrived.

The children came downstairs and sat at the long wooden tables.

But the kitchen was empty.

No bread.

No milk.

Nothing.

Imagine the scene.

Hundreds of children sitting quietly with empty plates in front of them.

Looking toward the adults.

Waiting for breakfast.

George Müller calmly stood and said something extraordinary.

“Children, we must thank God for the food He is about to give us.”

And so they bowed their heads.

Hundreds of children…

empty plates…

thanking God for food that had not yet arrived.

Just moments after they finished praying…

there was a knock at the door.

When they opened it, a local baker was standing there.

He said:

“Mr. Müller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt that you might need bread this morning. I got up at two in the morning and baked extra bread for the children.”

Basket after basket of fresh bread came into the orphanage.

But God wasn’t finished.

A few minutes later there was another knock at the door.

This time it was the milkman.

His cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage.

The milk would spoil before he could deliver it.

So he asked if the children could use it.

Suddenly the orphanage that had nothing for breakfast had fresh bread and milk for hundreds of children.

Imagine the joy in that room.

The laughter.

The amazement.

Moments earlier those children were staring at empty plates.

Now they were enjoying breakfast together.

But more importantly…

they were witnessing something powerful.

They were seeing that God hears prayer.

And after breakfast the children helped clear the tables, went to their lessons, played together, and continued their day in a home where they constantly saw the faithfulness of God.

George Müller later said the secret wasn’t that he was special.

The secret was that he abided in God’s Word.

He read the Bible more than 200 times through during his lifetime.

His prayers were shaped by the Word of God.

And that brings us back to what Jesus said.

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The Invitation of Jesus

Jesus said:

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish.”

George Müller’s prayers weren’t magic.

They flowed from a life deeply rooted in God’s Word.

When the Word of God fills our hearts…

our prayers begin to align with God’s will.

And that’s when we begin to see God move.

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Reflection Questions

 1. How regularly are you allowing God’s Word to shape your thinking and your prayers?

 2. Are there areas where your prayers might be more about what you want than about what God wants?

 3. What would it look like this week to spend time abiding in Scripture before you pray?

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Worship Song for Reflection

A beautiful song to reflect on abiding in Christ is:

“Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me.”

One line says:

“With every breath I long to follow Jesus

For He has said that He will bring me home.”

These words remind us that the Christian life is not about striving for our own success.

It’s about abiding in Christ and letting His life flow through us.

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Closing Prayer

Lord,

Teach us to remain in You.

Let Your Word take root in our hearts and shape the way we think, live, and pray.

Protect us from believing distorted versions of the gospel that focus on earthly success instead of Your kingdom.

Help us trust You the way George Müller trusted You—bringing our needs before You with faith.

And may our prayers become aligned with Your will so that Your purposes are accomplished in our lives.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen