John 15: 1-11
The Vine and the Branches
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 it so that it may bear more fruit. ...
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.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
A branch must be connected to the Vine to receive the life of the Vine and produce grapes. If it's not connected, it will dry up and not produce anything, even if it looks like it's connected. It will just get drier and drier until it's all shrivelled up and ready to be kindling.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
If we are living our lives in accordance with His Word, delighting ourselves in the Lord, then He will put His desires for us in our hearts, and whatever we ask for will be what He wants for us! And the Father gets the credit!
Just as the Father has Loved Me, I have also Loved you; abide in My Love.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My Love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His Love.
When you love someone, you want to do what pleases them. So if we really do love God, then we will want to obey His "Manufacturer's Instructions."
And the more we learn His ways, and live our lives according to them, instead of our own ideas, then the better we'll know Him; and to know Him is to love Him.
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
And all this knowing and abiding and obeying and loving will bring us the unspeakable joy of the Lord! Everything's connected and interdependent.
O my Father, You are so much more than my puny imagination can conjer up. You are our Source of Everything! Existence, life, Universe, Earth, air, water, food, environment, relationships, societies, civilizations, etc., etc., etc.!
Father, teach us how to abide in the Vine as a branch. I want to be intimately connected to my Source, so that I will drink deeply of Life, and produce the kind of fruit that will be self-reproducing, so that the fruit You cause me to produce would multiply 100-fold, over and over again, to continually bring You the glory!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
