True Vine • Devotion 3

Bearing Fruit
Rich Sawicki

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” John 15:4

Jesus is the vine. The vine chose us to be grafted into it, to become part of it; but it is our choice to stay connected to the vine and feed off the vine. If we stay connected to Him we will be fed by the vine. When we are fed by the vine, we will grow fruit according to the vine we are connected to.

The word abide means to accept or act in accordance with. Before we can abide in Jesus, we must first accept and believe that He is God. Once we have accepted that He is God, then we have to confess it with our mouths. As we abide, we grow more and more. I am not talking about just giving lip service. It is about serving our King with our lives through loving others.

The only way we can know how to love is to have Him living in us. If He is living in us, He is going to be loving others through us.

There are at least three ways we can abide and stay connected to Him:

1. Reading the Bible. It is very important to know the Word of God. It is how we can know God, how He acts, and how He expects us to act. Satan will try to twist God’s Word; we need to know the truth so we can recognize any lies.

2. Prayer. This is the first way we get connected to God and it is the best way to stay connected to Him. The Bible tells us to pray about everything all the time. God is always listening and He is always there.

3. Church and a Growth Community. Studying with other believers is an important way to stay connected. God did not call us to live out our faith in Him all by ourselves. When Jesus sent out the disciples, He sent them out in pairs.

The Bible tells us if we stay connected to Jesus we will see His fruit in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit that comes from abiding in the True Vine, Jesus.
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