True Vine

John 15:1 I AM the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches

Jesus makes a huge proclamation in John 15:1 and 15:5.  He says “I AM the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman…I am the vine, ye are the branches” John 15:5 Jesus takes it a step further “for without me ye can do nothing”

Quite a statement from Jesus, “without me ye can do nothing”. How many of you reading this today 100% trust God for everything? As I just put on the “Walk to God” website this weekend, do you love God with every breath you take, each step you walk, or every second that ticks on the clock. It is an irony as I write this it is Day Light Savings when speaking about seconds on a clock. 

My guess is not many. One of the first things Jesus did to me when I first became a Christian, that is right did to me, was prune me of all the bad fruit in my life. John 15 was a key verse as was Galatians 5 which tells us how to be a strong Christian. Let’s read two very opposite verse, one which is very dark, the other shines a bright light. 

Galatians 5: 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law

I always chuckle when reading where the next verse says but. Here are all the bad things that will keep you out of Heaven but here are the good things that will help get you to Heaven if you believe in Jesus Christ by doing his will and plan for your life.

The second verse found in John 15 is the one God used to truly purge me of all these works of the flesh found in Galatians 5:19-21. The purging was long, over 3 years, and painful to endure but in the end, I was made a new creation through baptism and purging of my soul to bare good fruit for Jesus Christ. 

The spirit of truth, the comforter, was there with me going through these times by guiding, protecting, and securing my walk as well as giving me the wisdom, knowledge and understanding to Walk Righteous and Holy for Christ. 

I was at the end of the rope after three years when I cried out to God, stop all this purging, stop pruning me. It is too much for me to bare. Just like that, the pruning stopped. The Comforter says it is about time you asked me to stop. Like I had a choice in the matter. 

James Allen, As A Man Thinketh, reminds us “Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstances. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.”

I wonder if James got this from Matthew 7:17 “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”

As the writer of Matthew says a verse before in Matthew 7:16: “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

Which fruit are you producing? It is an easy list to look at to determine where you are. For those that need to be pruned, ask the spirit of truth and the comforter to start the process. For those that need the fruits of the spirit, pray for the Lord to show you how to live these Godly principles of truth. Ask the comforter to show you how to live a life of love, joy, peace, etc.