“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Have you ever had some really good fruit? Succulent…awesomely sweet and ripe and just right?
Well, that’s what a relationship with Jesus is like.
John 15:4 says : “ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.”
Do you want to grow? Try Jesus. He can make bitter places sweet.
God can change your life. He can make it all new. I remember being in a place where I was extremely hopeless, afraid – and found myself feeling as if things would never change. I thank God for hope, because somehow it found me. God’s angels spoke and delivered hope unto me- in my deepest and darkest places. They had to – because I found myself in a place of unending hope – even in the midst of my despair. Hope would arise from deep within. It was amazing…I wouldn’t even know I had it, and it would arise. I’d dream visions that were God-given, and instead of being sad in my dreams during this time of my life, I’d be happy, fulfilled and loved. That was my good fruit. When I’ d awaken the next morn, it would give me more room to press forward and wake up and face the next day. I didn’t know daily I was going through a pruning process. John 15:2 says : “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”
Good fruit.. can be refreshing, enlightening, revelatory… It’s like waking up ( in life) and finally realizing that some “bad things” can actually be good… that you really never knew it all…. and you humbly accept God’s gifts to you, in that place.
In the Bible, fruit is a synonym for growth.It’s not always good that growth and pain are associated with one another. But I suppose that depends on your perspective. Everything “good” I have ever gotten was a result of something character defining and enduring and yet a bit painful in order that I might have what I have today. I love the story of Jabez. Though a very short story in the Bible, it’s a bout a man who desired God bless Him, indeed. Water his soil, keep him form evil, and he asked God to keep him covered. Jabez asked God to “enlarge his territory. He asked God for growth. And the Bible says : “And the Lord granted him his request.” I Chronicles 4:9,10
I challenge you to today to ask God for the unimaginable, like Jabez. Ask him to mature you. To give you growth.