Abiding Fruit - Part 1

Vineyards are a way of life in many countries around the world. A vine and branch are a common symbols of the intimacy of our relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ (Isaiah 5:1-7, 27:2-6).

No branch can bear fruit unless it is connected to the Vine, with the nutrients from the roots and leaves flowing into each branch through the Vine (John 15:4).

The only way to bear fruit for God's Kingdom is by abiding in the Vine. In Christ, we bear much fruit (John 15:5). He puts us in the right place, at the right time, with the right people to impact lives.

God's abiding fruit gives us a new personality, prunes the decaying negative characteristics from our life, and nurtures the positive aspects, which He birthed in us.

He replaces hatred with love, discontentment with peace, irritation with patience, criticism with gentleness, backbiting with goodness, worry with faith, pride with meekness, and depression with true joy as He controls and guides us by His Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

The branch has no responsibility but to allow the life of the Vine to produce fruit through it. The branch is securely attached to the Vine, an integral part of the makeup of the Vine.

To abide in the Vine means to be so unified with the Vine that there is no difference between the two. We flow out of the Vine, reaching up to God's life-giving Son and basking in the refreshing later rains (John 15:2; Joel 2:23).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that the Vine and branch are one entity, created for the purpose of bearing fruit to sustain a famished world dwelling all around us. Without this union, the branch dies and is pruned, discarded and burned in the fire.

Help us to enter into Your rest and to patiently hang out with the Vine, enjoying the cooling winds of the Spirit and the warming rays of Your Son. Encourage us to continue in Christ throughout our lifetime (Hebrews 4:10).

Thought for the Day:

If a branch is torn from the Vine by the storms of life, it no longer bears fruit and it withers and is thrown into the fire to be burned; yet, if we weather the storms of life by clinging to the Vine, we remain in the Vine and bear even more fruit. 

- John 15:6

Feasting on God's Word

 

I have spent the last few months gardening in containers, which are spaced throughout my tiny outside flower garden. Some plants did better than the others. My tomatoes flourished and are still producing juicy, rich tomatoes. The peppers did well and are still sparsely bearing fruit. However, the okra, squash, green beans, celery and onions all failed to generate any usable fruit.

This reminds me of Jesus’ parable concerning the four types of soil: some seed fell upon the path, others among the thorns, many within the rocks and then just a few on the good soil. If the ground is hard, thorny or rocky, there is no room for the roots. It is only in a garden of prepared soil that a plant can take hold and grow to full maturity.

Similarly, our spiritual food is found in the rich depths of the Word of God. The only way to withstand the winds of adversity or the scorching trials and temptation we encounter in this life is to have our roots sunk deeply into a spiritually fertile environment. Jesus said that we will know His disciples by their fruit.

If His disciples are to produce fruit, they need good, rich, tilled, spiritually fertilized soil. As we receive God’s Word with conviction and repentance, we are ready to receive the proper nourishment. We feast on God’s Word, reading it every day to prepare the soil, so that we will bloom where God plants us.

Many of today’s churches are barren wastelands with nothing spiritually nutritious to offer the Believer. They focus on providing glitz and glitter to attract people, and then they supply only spiritual junk food, rather than wholesome nourishment. However, God is still raising up an army of teachers with every generation - those people who faithfully sow the seeds of the truth of God’s Word.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to feast on Your Word throughout the day. We eat three physical meals a day, and we need at least that many spiritual meals in order to have a healthy spirit and an intimate relationship with You. Provide us with teachers who seek You in prayer before they share Your Word. Lead us to a caring and loving fellowship of Believers. Even in these end times, please keep a remnant of spiritual teachers, preaching Your truth on which we can feast, Biblical principles, which enable us to bear much fruit.

Thought for the Day:
A lifetime commitment to feast on God’s Word gives us the spiritual strength to minister for Him in every area in which He calls us.
– Ephesians 2:10

 

You Will Be Amazed

 

Most people have no idea how electricity, the weather, the human body or the universe works, but we believe these things nonetheless. We do not have to understand God’s mysteries to believe them either. God’s Kingdom is full of mysteries, which God asks us to fully embrace, even if we do not actually understanding how they work. For instance, Christ dwells in us by His Spirit, works through us, and we abide in Him. We believe this by faith.

We did not acquire our talents, skills, resources and energy by our human efforts. God gave them to us. He does not want us to use them for Him. We get in His way when we try to work for God on our own. God wants to use these assets through us. He wants us to realize that we are actually dead, and we are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). We have no human ability to accomplish anything for God. We simply need to stop our human efforts, enter His rest (Hebrews 4:10), and allow Him to use our body, soul and spirit for His glory.

We do not need to understand this in order to follow God’s directions. We simply surrender to His will each day and go where the Spirit leads us. We work and bless others wherever He directs us. We come to know Christ more intimately with each moment we spend in fellowship with Him. He already prepared works that He wants to accomplish through us (Ephesians 2:8-10). We just need to get out of God’s way and give Him full reign with our life.

We do not need any program to witness or to help other people, because Christ will work instead of us. He wants to use our spirit, body and soul – our mind, choices and emotions – to accomplish His will in our world. We simply abide in Christ as He dwells in us. We cease from our human efforts and allow Christ to accomplish His will through us. We will say and do what the Spirit directs, and we will be amazed at all He accomplishes by the end of our day.

Prayer:

Father God, fill us through all of our being with all of Your fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19). We submit to Your Spirit, unreservedly cling to Christ and refuse to rely on our own understanding any longer. We believe that Christ will do His work through the power of Your Spirit instead of us. We do not want to hinder You by our need to understand or to control our activities. We totally surrender to Your will and direction moment by moment. 

Thought for the Day:

The sap of God’s Spirit flows through us and bears fruit, sometimes in spite of us!

 

The Human Beings - Part Two of Three

What does it really means to be a Human Being? Read Part One of "The Human Beings" and then enjoy this excerpt from the full essay.  

IV. BE-ING  PARTAKERS

What is a partaker? Simply put, it is one who takes part. Have you ever run in a race, or tried out for a team?  You have to "qualify" first. You have to measure up. You have to be one of the best. Do you feel like you qualify to be in God's Kingdom?  Do you feel like one of the best? Most of you are saying, "No way!"  You are listening to all the negative comments that are left-over in your mind from childhood, from hurtful people in the present, or else you are listening to Satan’s lies. I have good news. Jesus already qualified you on the day you accepted Him as your Savior. You do not even have to try out!!!  You are already on His team.

Jesus laid down His own life on Calvary’s cruel cross to set us free from the bondage of sin, and to give us His glorious power. God delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood. There is no sin so extreme or ghastly that it cannot be forgiven. He forgives all of our sins. Our acceptance of the redemption given to us by Jesus’ death on Calvary’s cross qualifies us to take part in His family as well as His ministry on the earth (Colossians 1:12).

V.  BE-ING AWARE OF JESUS

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. By Him and for Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible things. Even thrones, dominions, principalities and powers are under His dominion. He lived before all things were created, and in Him all things exist. He is the head of the body, His church. He always was and always will be, the firstborn who rose from the dead. He has the preeminence and is the fullness of all things. We dwell in Him and He lives in us. He reconciled all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:11-20).

At one time we were all alienated from God and enemies because of our unbelief; yet now, He has reconciled us in the body of His flesh through His death. In the end, He will present us to our Father - holy, blameless and above reproach in His sight (Colossians 1:21-22).  Christ reconciled us to Himself, and now He has given us the ministry of reconciliation to introduce others to Him.  Do not worry about the results. All He asks is that you tell others about what Jesus is doing for you and He will do the rest. Your life, your smile, your handshake, your listening ear may be all a person needs to bring him or her out of the kingdom of darkness and into the glorious light of the Kingdom of God.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we may not see the results of our ministry to other human beings right away. We may never know what happens to that person we talked to. We trust in Your promises that Your Word will never return to You without bearing fruit. We plant the seed or water the seed someone else already planted; then You give the increase.

Thought for the Day:

Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. – St. Francis of Assisi