We can also choose to depend on the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that God puts his Holy Spirit in us to give us power. All Christians have God’s Spirit in their lives, but not all Christians have God’s power in their lives. Jesus gives a beautiful illustration of this in John 15. He compares our spiritual life to a vine and its branches: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NKJV).

In this illustration the branch is totally dependent on the main vine; it cannot produce fruit by itself. Fruit growing is an inside job. If I went out in the spring and tied apples on the branches of a dead tree and then took my wife out and said, “Honey, look at our fruit tree,” she would say, “You tied those things on.” That is what it is like when a Christian says, “I’m going to tie on a bunch of fruit in my life — a little patience here, a little goodness there, a little self-control here. I’ll do it on my own.” It can’t be done. Remember, the fruit Christians bear is the fruit of the Spirit and therefore must be grown within.

Now you might be saying, “How do I know whether I am abiding in Christ? How do I know if I am hooked to the vine? How do I know if I am depending on his Spirit?” Simple — look at your prayer life. Your prayers demonstrate your dependence on God.

What do you pray about? Whatever you pray about is what you are hooked into God about, what you are relying on him for. Whatever you don’t pray about is what you are trying to do on your own. Prayer is the acid test.

The secret of depending on God’s Spirit is to be incessantly in prayer. Pray about your decisions. Pray about your needs. Pray about your interests. Pray about your schedule. Pray about problems you are facing. Pray about people you are going to meet. Pray about purchases. Pray about everything. That is what it means to “abide” — to be aware that God is always with you, to practice his presence. As you pray, you will start to see the fruit of the Spirit developing in your life.

Rick Warren, God’s Power to Change Your Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008).

We have just released a new Bible study on based on Rick Warren's book God's Power to Change Your Life.

These lessons are available on Amazon, as well as a part of my Good Questions Have Groups Talking Subscription Service. Like Netflix for Bible Lessons, one low subscription gives you access to all our lessons--thousands of them. For a medium-sized church, lessons are as little as $10 per teacher per year.

Sessions include:

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #1
The Power to Change Your Life

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #2
God’s Part and My Part in Changing Me

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #3
God’s Power to Make You More Loving

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #4
God’s Power to Make You More Joyful

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #5
God’s Power to Give You Peace

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #6
God’s Power to Develop Your Patience

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #7
God’s Power to Develop Your Kindness

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #8
God’s Power to Develop Your Goodness

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #9
God’s Power to Develop Your Faithfulness

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #10
God’s Power to Develop Your Gentleness

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #11
God’s Power to Develop Your Self-control

God’s Power to Change Your Life, Lesson #12
A Productive Life