{"id":25068,"date":"2015-03-24T00:15:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T04:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=25068"},"modified":"2015-03-23T19:06:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T23:06:50","slug":"bearing-fruit-in-the-vine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/03\/24\/bearing-fruit-in-the-vine\/","title":{"rendered":"Bearing Fruit in the Vine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM<\/em><\/strong>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

I AM<\/strong> The Light of the World
\nI AM<\/strong> The Bread of Life
\nI AM<\/strong> The Door <\/em><\/span>
\nI AM<\/strong> The Good Shepherd
\nI AM<\/strong> The True Vine <\/em><\/span>
\nI AM<\/strong> The Way, The Truth, and The Life<\/em><\/span>
\nI AM<\/strong> The Resurrection and The Life<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him<\/em> blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus\u2019 revelation of Himself as I AM<\/em><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus\u2019 sacrifice\u2014His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death\u2026and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead. \u00a0We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them. \u00a0And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus\u2019 words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

I AM<\/strong><\/em> the True Vine<\/strong>, and my Father is the gardener.<\/span>
\nHe cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit,<\/span>
\nwhile every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.<\/span>
\nYou are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.<\/span>
\nRemain in Me, as I also remain in you.<\/span>
\nNo branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.<\/span>
\nNeither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.<\/span>
\nI AM<\/strong><\/em> the Vine<\/strong>; you are the branches.<\/span>
\nIf you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;<\/span>
\napart from Me you can do nothing.<\/span>
\nIf you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers;<\/span>
\nsuch branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.<\/span>
\nIf you remain in Me and My words remain in you,<\/span>
\nask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.<\/span>
\nThis is to My Father\u2019s glory, that you bear much fruit,<\/span>
\nshowing yourselves to be my disciples<\/span>
\nJohn 15:1-8<\/span><\/p>\n

This passage gives us an illustration of how bearing fruit is essential in the eyes of God. \u00a0The Bible is talking of a garden that is being taken care of by God Himself. \u00a0And Jesus said \u201cI\u00a0AM\u00a0the True Vine…\u201d. \u00a0This means there is another vine that is not<\/strong> true<\/em> and has not been planted not by God.<\/p>\n

As Christians we need to understand which garden we belong to\u2014
\nis it God\u2019s or the other garden?<\/h4>\n

We are told “you are the branches<\/em>.” \u00a0Branches bear the fruit; and so if a branch is not producing fruit, then it must be cut off. \u00a0If we do<\/strong> bear fruit, we are true branches. If we do not,<\/strong> then we are not true branches. Which side of the coin are we?<\/p>\n

Then God said, \u201cLet us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness,
\nso that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky,
\nover the livestock and all the wild animals,
\nand over all the creatures that move along the ground.\u201d
\nSo God created mankind in His own image,
\nin the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.
\nGod blessed them and said to them,
\n\u201cBe fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
\nRule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky
\nand over every living creature that moves on the ground.\u201d
\nGenesis 1:26-28<\/p>\n

We are created to bear fruit and win souls to Christ. If we don\u2019t do that, we are not true branches and the Bible says in Proverbs 11:30 \u201c…He who wins souls is wise.\u201d Therefore, as Christians, and believers, and followers of Christ, we are to win souls for it to be accounted that we are wise. Failing to win souls, which is then the opposite of wise, would be shame in the eyes of God.<\/p>\n

As branches cannot stand on their own unless they are attached to the vine so shall we remain attached to Christ (and Him to us) so that we can bear fruit.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 * <\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Lord, we thank You for being our Good Gardener. \u00a0And we thank Christ for being our True Vine. \u00a0Dear Lord, I pray for Your grace to be sufficient in me that I remain to be a true branch and bear fruit. You created me, Lord, for this purpose\u2014let it be fulfilled in Jesus\u2019 name. Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM\u2026 I AM The Light of the World I AM The Bread of Life I AM The Door I AM The Good Shepherd I AM The True Vine I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life I AM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3188,8636,8637,3367,8635,8610,8611,7531,8634,8626,3174],"class_list":["post-25068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ann-mwafulirwa","tag-branches-bear-fruit","tag-cut-off","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-genesis-126-28","tag-i-am-the-true-vine","tag-jesus-is-the-true-vine","tag-john-151-8","tag-proverbs-1130","tag-prune","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-6wk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25070,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068\/revisions\/25070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}