A garden hose is a great analogy of us in our relationship with Christ. Water will be our analogy for the life of Christ because His life is called "living water" and the "water of life" in the Bible.
Before we come to saving faith in Jesus, we are like an unused garden hose that is lying outside kinked and collapsed with no life or water filling us. Saving faith connects us to the water source, which is the resurrected life of Christ. The water is now turned on. But sin patterns and faulty theology are the kinks in the hose from our previous condition that restricts the flow of water from completely filling us. We also develop new kinks in our hose, after we are connected, by the world, the flesh, and the devil. But the more we learn to rely on the life of Christ for our every need we start to work the kinks out so that the water of life starts to flow more freely. We become fuller to the point that His life starts to flow unrestricted through us and those close to us get wet with His presence from filling us.
The motivation for prayer, Bible study, helping others, eliminating sin patterns and orienting to the truth isn‘t because life abides in any of those activities. Life is found in one place and that is Jesus. The activities mentioned cannot produce life. They contain no water in and of themselves, but they can help get the kinks out of our hose so that the life of Jesus can freely flow through us. As good as any of these activities are, they are no substitute for abiding in Jesus. They are merely the means by which we align ourselves to Jesus so that His life can flow in us. Focusing on any of these activities as an end in and of themselves is cheap religiosity with no life flowing in it. But when we use these activities to bring us to a place of abiding in Jesus they fall into their proper roll of keeping His life flowing in our lives. The Bible calls this flow "abundant life" and we can receive it but we can‘t produce it.
Revelation 21:6 Then He said to me, " It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.