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Your Fruit Basket

Your Fruit Basket

John 15:5 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.

I spent the afternoon yesterday with a friend who is living out his life for Christ. I wish we had gotten to know each other better before he left Huntersville, but it is so awesome to see and hear how God has and is working in his life. He lived for the world many years, made lots of money and had lots of stuff, but God took it all away. He now sees Gods work in it, and is using his life in seminary and missions to draw glory to God. David you are a true disciple of Christ, and a huge encouragement to me. You get it.

I have been spending much time in study of John 15 and how we are to bear the fruit of the true vine. We are to be so close to Christ, that He gives us the sap of life from His vine, and we bear the fruit of our lives through it. That fruit is how you live your life every day; your witness as a professing Christian. David poured out bushels of fruit in my living room floor. A true believer will abide in the true vine, and as a result any true believer will produce fruit. John 15:4 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. Are you a true believer if you are not producing fruit?

Some of the scariest words in the bible are found in Matthew 7. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ What have you done with the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the savior of your soul, in your life. Has Is there evidence of Him in your life (fruit)? Is this the question God will ask of you on judgement day? Most likely so. Make today a day of seeking His Will, His guidance, and your heart for seeking Him with all of it. Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. When you truly do these things, your basket will be poured out and refilled by Him daily. Their WILL be fruit in your life.

 
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Posted by on August 12, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Teach me o’ Lord

Teach me o’ Lord

1 John 2:27   But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

I have been studying on the parable of the True Vine (John 15:1-11). One of the key points of that parable is the term abiding (NKJV) in Christ, or ‘remain in me’ in the NIV version. The term abiding is a consistent state, or state of being. The term abiding is synonymous with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the work He does from within. John 14:16 -17 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. Matthew Henry spoke of this as a “divine unction”, and of how it does not “supersede ministerial teaching, but surmounts it.”

When you pursue God, and the things of God, as a child of God; His Spirit will open your eyes, heart, and mind to the things of Him. 1 Corinthians 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. The heart that is in consistent pursuit is a heart that is abiding. The revelations that His Spirit shows us in the Word are priceless and only gained through Him. He opens your heart and speaks to your mind, and places teachers in your path for clarity. When you spend time in God’s Word, and He shows you a truth there, be not surprised when a teacher will soon speak of that before you. This is God confirming His revelation through another of His disciples. How will you ever receive those blessings if you don’t have His Spirit abiding in you, and you abiding in His Word?

 
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Posted by on August 7, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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A state of being

I would love to recommend a book “The True Vine” by Andrew Murry. It is a short devotional style study of John 15, and the parable of the Vine. It gives a great insight into the term abide which we hear so much of in the bible. I do believe that abiding is progressive and grows in us. I believe that God reveals and draws us closer to Him as we pursue Him, revealing progressively more discernment and growth. I pray that you too will seek Him, seek Him in prayer and time in His word every day. This is truly the only way to abide. Abiding does not come by going to church alone one day a week. Abiding comes from consistently pursuit.

 

 

A state of being

1John 2:24-25    Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us–eternal life.

In the gospel of John 15, the term abiding is spoken much of in the parable of the vine. It is a great passage to study, and ‘abide’ is central in it’s meaning. Abide simply means a state of being. Abiding in Christ is walking with Christ, having Him inside you, that nothing can take away. How can you remove a ‘state of being’? This scripture above speaks of the Good News that dwells inside us, the Gospel of Jesus Christ whom has come to save the world. If we proclaim Him, He abides in us, rests in us, we are in-dwelt with His Holy Spirit. If we truly believe, we have the blessing and assurance of John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

I believe abiding is progressive. I believe the closer you draw to Him, the more you seek Him, the more He reveals Himself to you. We learn in the bible of being fed “spiritual milk” as infants in Christ, then we are spurred on to bigger things as we mature. With our maturity comes a discernment from the Spirit that resides in us. When we diligently seek those things of God, we begin to understand more, we begin to discern more, to understand and recognize false teachings that John was speaking of here. There are many being led astray today with cushy promises of worldly pleasures wrapped up in a soft gospel. The more we seek God alone, the more we begin to discern through the smoke. 1John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. The only way to receive this anointing is through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and all the eternal blessing that flow as a result of it for an eternity.

 
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Posted by on February 24, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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