But when you return from the game, the children need your attention, the laundry needs folding, and before you know it, you're just plain too tired to talk with Him. You crawl into bed and fall asleep.

Of course, you probably think if Jesus were to physically come to your house, you'd stop everything to sit with Him, right? Maybe you would. But maybe you wouldn't.

But when you neglect to spend time with Christ in His Word and prayer, you give Him the impression that He's not important to you.

Staying in daily communion with Jesus is the No. 1 priority of the Christian life. It's the key that opens every door of blessing to this life and the next.

Jesus put it this way, "'If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you'" (John 15:7, NKJV).

The word "abide" refers to the place where you dwell continually. Jesus is instructing us to make that place of dependency and communion with Him our permanent dwelling place. Spending time with Him, and talking and listening to Him are the ways that we do that.

Just before Christ went to the cross, He said: "'Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine; neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 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 15:4-5).

Abiding in the Lord causes us to be productive. And, without Him, we "can do nothing."

Jesus makes that clear in verse 6 when He says, "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered."

To wither means "to shrivel; to lose or cause to lose energy, force or freshness." The moment a branch is broken away from the tree, that branch begins to die. It doesn't matter how close in proximity that branch is to the tree, if it isn't connected, it has no life source.

Have you ever felt as if you had no power to overcome adversity in your life, much less help others? That's what happens when you are not connected to the Lord.

You still belong to Him, but His energy is not flowing through you. Even though you are born of the Spirit to live in the supernatural power of the living God, you lose your capacity for spiritual action. You can no longer do the things He's called you to do.

If you truly want to see God's best in your life, you can't be satisfied with working Him into your schedules when it's convenient. You must seek God in prayer and the Word every single day—when things are hard and when they're easy, in good times and bad.

If you think about it, abiding in Him is just plain smart.

After all, God is the only one who has all the answerglos. He knows where you need to go in life and how to get you there.

He has the solution for every problem. He has the master plan for your life. Why not take the time to sit and talk with Him?

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Gloria Copeland is co-founder and vice president of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas. She and her husband, Kenneth, are known for their teachings on faith, healing and victorious Christian living. Their daily TV broadcast, Believer's Voice of Victory, airs globally on more than 300 stations. Gloria is also an internationally known author whose works include To Know Him and Blessed Beyond Measure (Harrison House). To read past columns in Charisma by Gloria Copeland, log on at www.charismamag.com/copeland.

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