The Lord Jesus once said to His disciples, “Without Me ye can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). With this statement He makes it clear that there is only one way we can bear fruit for God: if we remain in Him, the true Vine. But what does this actually mean in practice? How can this be implemented in daily life? How would you answer this question? Dependence means to be dependent on someone. The word often has a negative connotation for us, because we like to be independent and do not want to be restricted in our freedom. But those who have once seen how one can experience God’s guidance and His work through practiced dependence, come to a completely different conviction: practiced dependence is the key to a blessed, meaningful, and exciting life in fellowship with the living God, who still does wonderful things today.

A born-again Christian who lives in dependence on God will practice the following three points in his life: he shows by his prayer life that he lives in dependence; he makes himself dependent on the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit; and he lives in the expectation that God speaks to him through His living Word, and thereby gives him guidance.

But what does such a dependent life look like in specific terms? If you want to know this, then you must study the life of the Lord Jesus. The “leader and completer of faith” (Heb. 12:2) was always in prayer (cf. Ps. 109:4), was guided by the Holy Spirit (Lk. 4:1), and lived by every word that comes from the mouth of God (cf. Mt. 4:4). Because He now lives in you in the power of the Holy Spirit, you are able to walk in His footsteps—and to walk “as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6). But you will only be able to do this if you live daily in conscious dependence on Him.