"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so 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, he bears
much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Insights: Remember these words were
spoken by Jesus on His final night before His arrest, trail and
crucifixion. These are last words of
teaching to His closest and most intimate friends. He tells them the Father’s expectation of
their lives is to bear fruit and that if they attempt to do it alone, they will
fail and no fruit will be born. The
power for fruit bearing is to remain in the vine, who is Jesus. There are two kinds of fruit. First is the fruit of character. This fruit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22). How does the Father produce that kind of
fruit in our lives? He does it by putting
us in situations where we will learn those characteristics by the Holy Spirit’s
promptings. So, if we are needing to
show kindness because we lack that characteristic of God, then He may put call
us to serve in a soup kitchen, or the like, where we will grow at showing kindness
to those in need of it. As He is pruning
out the old branches and allowing these healthy branches to grow bigger the
second kind of fruit will be a natural bi-product. The second fruit is salvation to the
lost. In other words, lost people will
see these changes in our lives and begin to be drawn to us because they will
want what we have. At that point we must
share the gospel. Now these last two
sentences are the perfect example of fruit bearing. There are times, more often than not, when
the Father calls us to engage the conversation with the lost world. Again, our ability to start conversations
with the intent to share the gospel is a result of abiding in Jesus and letting
the Father prune old selfish characteristics out of our lives. The more we become like Jesus through the
sanctification process, the more we are going to want to share Him with those
around us. Sharing Jesus becomes as
natural as a grandparent talking about their new born grandchild. Because we abide in Jesus, we will want to
share!
Questions:
- Are you receiving the Lord’s pruning with joy?
- Is His pruning stirring you to share the gospel?
Prayer: Lord, my life is full of the old nature and selfishness. Prune my desires and make them Yours as You
mold me through the process of sanctification.
As I grow through this journey with You, make me sensitive to Your
promptings to share the gospel with the lost around me. My heart desire is to bear more fruit. Amen.
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