Category Archives: Best of Drew

Best of Drew

Vine, Branches and Prayer

Vine, Branches and Prayer – Jesus’ Instructions on Prayer in John 15

Grape Vines in Washington State

Grape Vines in Washington State

Wow, look at vines, branches and prayer in in John 15, chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17.  In these four chapters, Jesus was trying to comfort His disciples and at the same time get them to just abide in Him.  So right in the middle of that, in chapter 15,  Jesus was talking about abiding. He was talking about how we need to be like branches on a vine. He was the true vine. Some people say this describes kind of an organic, living and real relationship between Jesus and us, or between us and the Father.  Without getting into the rest of the context, there,  John 15:7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” That seems kind of like a blank check where you can expect God to do anything you ask of Him. Some people look at that verse and they wonder why God doesn’t answer when they pray for something. There is a condition in this verse, though. It says, “If you abide in Me and My words aide in you”.  The “asking” is prayer.

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

Well, the first condition, there, is, “If you abide in Me… “ Without getting into the context,there, one way to abide is to stay in the Lord, to rest in the Lord, or to remain in the Lord.  So how does one abide in the Lord, it simply means to trust and rely on Him. I would even say it means to do the things God wants you to do, to obey the Lord.  He says, “If you abide in Me”.  Then He says, “And if My words abide in you”.  This passage in the book of John says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you”, you can ask whatever you will and I will do it. What words is He talking about when Jesus says, “And My words abide in you”? I believe He is specifically talking about the word He is speaking. Oh, and by the way, what ever Jesus says is the Word of God. I believe it also has to include the words of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

The video this text is taken from is on  Drew’s YouTube channel.  This portion is at YouTube.

Morning Time for Prayer and Bible Reading

The morning time is an wonderful time to be with God in the Bible and prayer.  Jesus loved the morning time for prayer and Bible reading.

Morning time is an awesome time to connect and be with God in the Bible and prayer.

Just before the day gets started, take time in the morning to connect with God, the source of our life and our strength. He is the one to strengthen us through the whole day.

Consider these encouraging Bible verses on prayer in the morning.

Psalms 55:17—“Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.”

Mark 1:35—“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

God Uses People Like Gideon with Little Faith

God even uses people with little faith. Do we ever wonder why God put us in some situations? Well Gideon also wondered.  Look at this Bible passage. Gideon almost gave up, until the Lord spoke to him. And after the Lord spoke, Gideon had trouble believing God.

Judges 6:13-14
And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? ’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”

Judges 6:16
And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

Multnomah Falls Oregon

Multnomah Falls Oregon

Gideon still did not believe what God said, and so asked for a “sign”. The Jews also asked for a sign at the time of Jesus. Both situations were considered evil in the Lord’s eyes since they did not just take God at His word. But it’s hard to do that, and Gideon being a man of faith, well sort of a man of faith, really did not fully believe God’s word. So Gideon asked several times for a sign. Notice that God did not rebuke Gideon, but sort of went along with his crazy requests. So Gideon really did not have that much belief and faith in God, but God still used him just as he was.

In the New Testament The Lord Jesus put up with a lot of failures and unbelief from His disciples. He put up with Peter, Thomas and more. Well the point is, God puts up with us just the way we are, and still let’s us work with Him for His Kingdom.

2013 Predictions

My 2013 predictions:

Christina Lake, Canada

Christina Lake, Canada


1. Will the Bible still be real and relevant to us? YES
2. Will God still be real and available? YES
3. Will there still be coffee for some of us? I hope so!
4. Will God’s promises in the Bible be real? YES
5. Will Jesus Christ still be the same? YES
6. Will books still be read? Probably…

Bumps in Life

A few of us humans encounter bumps and troubles in life.  I think only about 99.9999 percent of humans experience bumps. Consider the Apostle Paul who encountered a few bumps in his life and ministry; look at Second Corinthians chapter one and chapter four.

Dead Sea Israel from the top of Masada

The Dead Sea from the top of Masada, Israel

2 Cor 1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

2 Cor 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

Masada Israel

Masada Israel

Notice the two phrases in blue above. Paul trusted in God, not himself. Paul trusted in God’s power, not his strength.

Morning Scripture Verse – Revelation Chapter 11

God always wins and the Bible story has an encouraging happy ending. So God in His word, the Bible, the scriptures looks forward to the day where every evil thing is subdued on the earth. At that future time the earth is returned to the original creator and owner, which is God.

Spokane River

Spokane River – the Bible story has an encouraging happy ending

Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.  This is a wonderful encouraging Bible verse.

Spokane River

Spokane River – God always wins

God Sees Tears, Pain and Disappointment

Purple Flower

Purple Flower

When we or others cry, go through pain or disappointment, we have to remember God is here.  God actually remembers all our tears and pain. Look at the Bible verse in Psalm 56:8 … you(God) know my wanderings: you(God) put my tears into your bottle: are they not in your book?

We may think God is remote or does not care, but He does. At the end of the Bible is a promise in Revelation 21:4  God will wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither will there be any more pain: for the former things are now passed away.    There is also Psalm 34:18 “The Lord God is very close to the brokenhearted and saves everyone who is crushed in spirit.” God is always with us in our pain. Notice, the verse says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He is not far away, but right there and with us.

Morning Scripture Verse – Revelation Chapter 8

Revelation chapter 8 talks about the prayers of the saints resulting in the seven trumpets of God’s judgment. In this Bible verse the saints are the Christians and God’s people.  The first four trumpets are covered in this chapter. The key verses are:

Cannon Beach

Cannon Beach

The prayers of the saints are offered:  Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

The prayers of the saints are accepted by God:  Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

The prayers of  God’s people are answered by God:  Rev 8:5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.