Becoming a Fruit-Bearing Christian

Scripture Text:  John 15:1-8
 by Kemi Olubiyi.

There are two types of believers in the body of Christ today, the one that bears fruit and the one that does not. Unless you continually dwell in God's presence and abide in His Son, you will not grow spiritually; it is as simple as that. John 15:1-2 tells us that Jesus is the True Vine, God is the Vine dresser, and we are the branches. A branch with a fruit cannot be detached from the vine or tree it grows on; to grow or bring forth, it has to be attached or connected to that Vine (its source of nutrition), or else it will wither away and die. 

 

 Let us go ahead to define what a Vine is before going further:

 

 A Vine, according to Dictionary.com, is any plant having a long, slender stem that trails or creeps on the ground or climbs by winding itself about a support or holding fast with tendrils or claspers. Unlike most trees or plants that grow steadily independently, a vine requires some help to lean or climb onto to grow well. Sometimes you see them on structures such as buildings, ladders, fences, etc. Examples of such flowering plants are grapes, cucumber, and kiwi fruit. 

 Because of how these plants grow, they must be pruned often, which is the job of the vinedresser or farmer who cultivates and prunes the vines as often as necessary. In this text, I believe the type of Vine Jesus referred to here is the "Grapevine," which was very common during biblical times. We also see how this analogy applies to us, in the sense that Jesus refers to Himself as the True Vine and His Father the Vine dresser, while we are the branches and, of course, the fruit we are to bear are the souls won for the kingdom, our good works, and overall service to the Lord.

Believers are the branches connected to our Lord Jesus Christ and God; the Father is the one who takes care of the Vine to ensure that the link between Christ and us is not faulty or broken for us to mature spiritually and bear fruit. However, we shall be kept from the source if we do our part. God forbid! Jesus puts it simply in verse 2, saying, " Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He (i.e., God, the Father) will be cut away and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it can bear more fruit. Beloved, we can not just receive the gift of salvation and live without impacting the world we live in like Jesus did when He was on earth. We need to follow in the footsteps of our most significant role model, our Master, and Savior. Our light has to shine amid the darkness in this world so that men can see our good works and God takes the glory. Matthew 5:16

 Verse 2b tells us that God cleanses and prunes us (the branches), cutting away things that no longer bear the fruit He desires us to show. This cutting away, which is the pruning process is usually quite painful. It could come in the form of challenges or storms in our lives, which, if you are not a mature believer and spiritually discerning, can be misunderstood as something else happening, but it (pruning) is necessary for us to grow into fruit-bearing Christians. For those believers or Christians, who are bearing fruit, He cleanses and often prunes for them to bear richer and excellent fruit. We must understand that our God is progressive, and sometimes He needs to trim us as He takes us to higher heights.

 

 Jesus even further states in verse 5 that if we ( believers) are not abiding in Him, bearing fruit, we can do nothing. i.e., whatever we lay our hands to do, whatever we aspire to achieve in life, it may not prosper; it may only be a temporary achievement, but sooner or later, it will not hold because we are no longer to connect to the Vine, ( The Source). Verse 6 also states that if a person does not dwell in Him, he is thrown out like a {broken-off} branch and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned—amplified version. Our goal as believers, once we become born again, is to strive to become useful vessels in the hands of God, vessels that He can use in these last days for His glory to accomplish His work on earth II Tim 2:21. If we are not doing that. He will raise others in our place willing to do His will.  

 

 May the Lord never have cause to give someone else your assignment in Jesus' name.

 

 Our God is such a rewarder of them who genuinely serve or seek Him Hebrews 11:6, For He promises us in verse 7 of our text that when we bear fruit for Him, we should ask whatever we so desire, whatever we wish, and it will be done. This is His promise to every believer who abides in Him and bears fruit, and it also confirms that we are His disciples. Beloved, trust the Lord to keep His promise in your life as long as you do your part.

 

 

 To become a fruit-bearing Christian or believer, I admonish us today to cultivate a regular habit of spending quality time studying & meditating on His word, in praise and worship and prayer. When we do that, we get to know, love, and appreciate Him even more and can receive direction on where He is leading us and our assignment in the body of Christ.

As we do this, His Holy Spirit will give us the grace and ability to bear much fruit in His name, and all the glory shall go to our Father in Heaven.

Shalom..

For You, Daughters of Zion from JESUS WITH LOVE.

" The Positive Approach"

If you want to strengthen your relationship with your husband, take the time to encourage him.  Be a support.  Help him carry his load.  He does need to learn to communicate more and to humble himself and ask for help, but your offering to help will be a start.

Encourage him for his strong points and try to overlook his faults.  If you have trouble recognizing his strengths, ask Me to point them out to you.  This positive approach will get far better results than nagging.  If you're seeking Me and asking Me to help you love him as I do, with My love, I will cause you to see his good points and not to focus on the faults that bother you.

You're a good team, but you'd be an even better team if you spent more time loving Me and each other.  You need to spend time together reading My word and talking about things I show you.  This will draw you closer to each other and help you grow in Me together.


" Through the ups and downs...."

 Every marriage is a work in progress.  Every marriage has its ups and downs, but it is through those ups and downs that marriages are strengthened.

The most important thing is that you're good friends.  Most marriages start in the heat of passion, but over time settle into the routine of day-to-day living.  This is the normal course of events, but it can come as a disappointment

Some people think their marriage is a failure or they've "lost" something just because the initial passion is gone, but that is not necessarily the case.  The problem is often that one or both mates have unrealistic expectations.  It is not wise to compare your marriage to how marriages are portrayed in movies, books or with anyone else's marriage either, for that matter.  
Just as every person created is unique, so is every marriage built.

The "style" of your love and relationship might change over the years, but real love will become even deeper and stronger through the difficulties you overcome together.

The Lord bless and keep your marriages now and always in Jesus name.

Shalom

Intimacy with God, Spending Quality time with Him.

  Heb 4:16, James 4:8a
 by Kemi O.

It is obvious that some people are closer to the Lord than others and its been like that since biblical times e.g Abraham, David, Moses etc.  You begin to wonder why does these ones seem to have a closer relationship with the Lord? or why is that they are hearing from God clearly, what is it that they are doing that I am not?
Is it that God has favorites? Is He a respecter of persons? The answer is No, because the scripture tells us that He is not a respecter of persons Rom 2:11 and we, not God determine our own level of intimacy with Him.  God is not going to force himself on us  but He has freely invited us into His presence  to fearlessly and boldly come unto the throne of grace that we may receive mercy for our failures and find grace to help in good times for every need. Heb 4:16 amplified.  This verse in scripture indicates that each one of us can be as close to God's throne of grace as we choose to be.
 In order to have a closer relationship with the Lord, we have to be willing to spend quality time with Him.   It also depends on how much time you are ready to commit to  pursuing a relationship with Him.  God does not ask for all our time, just a portion of it in which He can spend time guiding and directing us, revealing important things to us, enjoying our praises and worship etc.  I have found out from personal experience that the best time of the day to give to the Lord is early in the morning before my day begins.
I receive strength, guidance, refreshment from above that will carry me through the day and it always feels good.  The day I forget or postpone my quiet time with the Lord, I do not feel good at all, things just seem to be out of balance and I have to ask God for mercy by the end of the day. 

As christian women, especially we, mothers who are constantly busy with not just our careers but household chores, children's activities etc, our goal should be to have proper balance in order to live healty and fulfilling lives.  I know it appears almost impossible to juggle both our time with the Lord, family and career, church activities etc,  but the Lord has designed us ( body, spirit & soul) to accomodate all however, we need to ask Him for the strength to live balanced lives.

 I believe the whole issue of intimacy with God is a matter of how we chose to spend our time.   Look at the story of Mary and Martha, Luke 10:40-42.  Martha chose to spend her time by serving,  being burdened with the cooking, cleaning etc, while her sister, Mary chose to spend her time with Jesus learning more about the kingdom of God.  It is not that Martha's service to the Lord was not acceptable to Him, but at that point in time, it was not a priority to the Lord for He had preferred her to do the same as Mary. 

A lot of times, we argue that there is not just enough time in the day and so therefore it's not easy to commit to spending quality time with the Lord but yet, we take time to do other things that are important to us.  Women, we need to fight distractions that are around us on a  daily basis to protect our time with the Lord.  No matter how busy we get, we should always remember how important our God is, He has to take top priority in our lives for all that we have is from Him  and all that we are is because of Him.  The enemy knows that when we have an intimate relationship with our God, it makes us stronger believers and alert in the spirit and able to discern between good and evil, which makes us dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. As a result, satan tries to do everything in his power to distract us from spending quality time with the Lord.

In order to experience intimacy with God, we must be ready to give up time for Him, quality time.  A commitment to spend time with Him is as serious as any other commitment we could ever make in our lives.  The Lord reveals in Psalm 27:8 that  He is a vital necessity in our lives.   If we say we love the Lord with all our heart, then we should be eager to be in His presence as often as possible.  Matt 22:37

The quality of our lives as women is greatly affected by  the time we spend with God.  As a result of spending time in His presence, we become effective in our prayer lives and more knowledgeable of who He is, fruitful and productive in our homes, careers, ministries, etc.  Sisters, it is time to enjoy an intimate, loving relationship with our God. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Jam 4:8a

Let us come boldly into His presence for He is ready to spend as much time with us as we allow Him to and the Lord will help us by His Holy Spirit to achieve this in Jesus name.

Shalom!