John 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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.
How do we produce much fruit? What is the Lord saying?
In the modern world, the work ethic is, achieve and produce by working longer and harder! The focus is on getting results through human effort -- we've become product oriented and the bottom line is......the bottom line! But God's way runs contrary to this approach -- His way is much more oriented toward process and relationship rather than performance and production. He IS interested in results which He calls "fruit"; but not by pushing or egging us on to work harder or longer.
The Lord's way is to work with and through us so that every result or product comes out of our abiding in Him, since without Him WE CAN DO NOTHING.
This is opposed to of the culture we live in today, and to human nature in general. Think about it -- we're constantly bombarded with self-help books promoting self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-control -- our society is all about SELF! But God's way of success produces the results which He values; results which are not produced by self-effort, but which grow out of an intimate relationship with Him, in which we seek to constantly abide.
The only way we can become abundantly fruitful is to understand the Lord's fruit-bearing process. As we lay down self-effort, our natural human independence, and seek communion with Him, abiding in the Vine, then His power, His will, and His desires will be realized in our lives, which then, will bear fruit that remains throughout eternity!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]True story! In 1940, a large and wonderful Christian family, the Rudolph's, announced the birth of their 20th baby! Though the baby was not expected to live, having been born prematurely and with polio, she defied all odds. She did live, but by the time she was four she had suffered polio, pneumonia and scarlet fever. This little girl was badly crippled with hardly any use of her left leg. While her brothers and sisters enjoyed running and playing outside, she was left confined to braces.
Near Eilat, in Southern Israel, there is a life-size replica of the tabernacle in the Negev desert, a couple hours from where we live. One particular year, as we visited and entered the Holy of Holies, the guide shared something I never heard before.
My wife used to teach Israeli dance workshops all over the world. And over the years, she has acquired a few interesting and rather funny stories of people, including herself, tripping and stumbling over each other during a class.
We've been in full-time ministry just over 20 years now, and boy, have we had our share of trials and tribulations!
Sometimes when we are in the midst of trials we start to wonder -- Lord, will it ever end? In case you haven't noticed, it doesn't. But the good news is that with each faith-testing experience, our ability to deal with these trials and tribulations becomes better and our faith grows stronger!
A group of scientists and botanists were exploring remote regions of the Alps in search of new species of flowers. One day they noticed through binoculars a flower of such rarity and beauty that its value to science was incalculable. But it lay deep in a ravine with cliffs on both sides. To get the flower someone had to be lowered over the cliff on a rope.
When Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on water – he literally stepped out of the boat! Imagine that! But was Peter going overboard? No, I don't believe so -- he was literally taking a step of faith with his eyes fixed on the Lord!
On December 25, 1908, a newspaper in Messina, Sicily dared God to make Himself known by sending an earthquake. Three days later, the city was destroyed by an earthquake that killed over 84,000 people.