Inscribe the Word . . . 31 Promises of God for August.
Happy August, Friends!
This year, we are journeying through the Bible, discovering God's Promises. You can read our introductory post about why I chose this topic HERE. If you started with us in January, we have already inscribed over 200 of God’s Promises. This month, we are set to discover thirty-one more promises of God in Scripture.
One of the verses we are inscribing this month come from John 15.
Let’s take a look at these promises of God together.
John 15:1-2
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
PRUNED IF YOU DO . . . PRUNED IF YOU DON’T.
John 15 is a favorite passage of mine because Jesus gives us the key to walking through this life as His apprentice. If we want to bear good fruit, we must be attached to The True Vine as disciples of Jesus. We must be abiding in The True Vine, Jesus.
If we, the branches, abide in Jesus and He in us, we will bear much fruit. Apart from Him, Friends, we can do nothing. (John 15:5 NIV)
There is a precious promise in the passage here in John 15:1-8, and that promise is . . . you are pruned if you do and you are pruned if you don't. If you don't bear fruit, you will be cut off and taken away. If you do bear fruit, you will also be cut, but this word, in the original Greek, is not the same as the cutting experienced by those who don't bear fruit.
John 15:2b says ,". . . and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." If you are attached to The True Vine and are bearing fruit, you will be pruned. This word in Greek means to cleanse from impurity, to remove useless shoots from the branch. If you ARE bearing fruit, you will be pruned to remove anything useless; anything that is dirtying you up, SO THAT you will bear more fruit. I think we can all agree that we want to abide in The Vine and bear good and plentiful fruit for the Kingdom of God!
What Kind of Fruit am I Producing?
In the Sermon on The Mount, Jesus says false prophets and teachers will be known by their fruit.
"People and their lives are like trees. Good trees bear beautiful, tasty fruit, but bad trees bear ugly, bitter fruit. A good tree cannot bear ugly, bitter fruit; nor can a bad tree bear fruit that is beautiful and tasty. And what happens to the rotten trees? They are cut down. They are used for firewood." (Matthew 7:17-19 Voice)
We can apply the same verses to our lives as we ask ourselves what fruit are we producing.
Let me demonstrate this teaching with an illustration from our garden.
Look at these beans. Aren't they adorable?
A few weeks ago, we harvested our first round of pole beans. They were beautiful. We watched as their vines twirled around the trellis, their leaves became big and green, and their tiny white flowers popped open. We waited and waited, and finally, we got a handful from our harvest. And guess what . . .
They tasted like garbage!
Horrible!
They were bitter and completely inedible.
I researched and found that the variety of seeds we were using has had numerous complaints over the years. This variety was growing bitter and useless fruit. Who knew? We will try a different variety next year.
So we tore them out.
We weren't going to keep tending to something that didn't produce useable fruit. As has been the Lord's way, He used our inedible pole beans as an illustration for life.
The type of fruit your life produces matters.
Is it good fruit or bad fruit? Useable or unusable?
Is the fruit of your life love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, self-control, and faith?
Or is it anger, bitterness, jealousy, envy, pride, idolatry, hatred, or selfishness?
If it's the latter, ask yourself to which vine you have connected. The problem with my pole beans wasn't the bean itself; it was the vine producing the bean. The vine produced fruit that was bitter and tasteless.
To produce Holy Spirit fruit in your life, you have got to be abiding in The True Vine - Jesus. If you are connected to any other vine, your life will not produce good and useable fruit.
Friends, the question to ask ourselves as we walk through life is not whether or not we will be pruned - whether or not things need to go in our lives - whether it will hurt. You'll be pruned if you do and pruned if you don't.
The question to ask is what vine am I connected to, and what type of fruit am I producing? Jesus said we will be known by our fruit.
If you find your life producing bitter, jealous, envious, selfish fruit that is unusable for the Kingdom of God, check the vine. Are you spending too much time on social media feeding on the vine of comparison and envy? Are you ruminating over a past hurt feeding on the vine of bitterness? Are you hoarding your time, talents, and treasures feeding on the vine of selfishness? Are you holding onto resentment feeding on the vine of anger? Are you holding onto self-centeredness feeding on the vine of pride?
If that answer is yes to any or all of those questions, cut off that vine and get connected to Jesus. Ask for forgiveness. Get in Scripture and turn off Netflix and Instagram. Spend time in quietness and prayer throughout your day and reconnect to The True Vine. By simply abiding with Jesus and allowing His Holy Spirit to work in your life, you will start bearing His Fruit, and as you are pruned, it is a promise that you will bear more fruit that will be usable for the Kingdom of God. (Galatians 5)
