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| Women for the Lord www.WomenfortheLord.com "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Proverbs 31:10 |
BEARING FRUIT
LESSON 1
We are all called to bear fruit according to John 15:1-5. Fruit should be a natural function emanating from our
lives because we are branches connected to a fruit bearing Vine (Jesus Christ).
Jesus said this Himself in John 15:5, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them,
will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” Here, Jesus reminds us to remain in Him (abide
in Him), because we are the branches and we cannot bear fruit of or by ourselves. This can only be done as we
remain united to Him, the Vine. If we cut a branch off a tree, that branch cannot and will not ever bear any fruit.
Instead, what happens to it? It shrivels us and dies. Good only for firewood to be burned up.
Now of course there is always a time when the Gardner has to come along to trim and shape us. This hurts and
is painful at the time, but the good news is that after we come out on the other side of the pruning, we will find that
our character is stronger, we have obtained a high level of endurance in our lives, we can turn and strengthen
others who are going through the same things we have just gone through and that we will bear even more fruit.
How many of us begin to get disconnected and begin to do things in our own strength? It’s quite easy to do. All
we have to do is begin to let our prayer life slip a little. The Lord may wake us up early some mornings, and what
do we do? We say to ourselves, “Oh, I’ll pray when I get up.” Then the morning comes and we’re up. Suddenly
we begin to pick up the house, the phone rings, Satan reminds us that we NEED to wash, buy groceries, bank,
help someone and so forth. And sure enough, the day slips through our fingers and we’ve never gotten around to
prayer or spending any time to read the Word and spend intimate time with our precious Lord. We didn’t have
time to wait before Him or listen before Him for our instructions for that day, nor did we cease the opportunity to
draw our strength from HIM (as our Vine) to face whatever that day may have brought.
Then the next days comes! And it is a repeat performance. Finally we find ourselves operating each day in our
OWN strength! Not really remaining connected to the Source of our fruitfulness. And we are not equipped to
overcome the daily temptations of sin and trials that come our way. We wonder “why am I not living victoriously?”
The Bible says in Revelation, “He who overcomes shall receive a crown of life.” And John says in chapter 5
verse 6, “Anyone who parts from me is thrown away, like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are
gathered into a pile to be burned.”
So, let us get back to ground zero. Let us start remembering that we cannot do ANYTHING successfully for very
long apart from being connected to our Lord. We cannot be good wives, mothers, relatives or even friends and
we cannot minister effectively in ANY ministry unless we are constantly every minute of every day united to and
abiding in our everlasting Source.
The Devil goes about “as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” He may not eat you up, but he can mall
you up pretty good! We MUST stay united to Jesus, our lives are at stake, our crown is at stake, our families are
at stake, our ministries are at stake and our witness is at stake.
We simply cannot afford to let a day go by without drawing from the Source. We MUST spend time with Him. He
is our very LIFE source. Remember Jesus said to us, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We as born again
Christians can live in newness of life, but we MUST draw upon that new LIFE that Jesus gives to us by staying
connected to the Vine. So let us resolve, right now, to once again get back into our prayer closets and get to the
place where He becomes the One in whom we live, and move and have our being. HE is EVERYTHING TO US!
Next we shall learning about the wonderful virtues that I Peter tells us to add to our faith, as we yield to the Holy
Spirit and give Him total control of our lives.
LESSON 1
We are all called to bear fruit according to John 15:1-5. Fruit should be a natural function emanating from our
lives because we are branches connected to a fruit bearing Vine (Jesus Christ).
Jesus said this Himself in John 15:5, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them,
will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” Here, Jesus reminds us to remain in Him (abide
in Him), because we are the branches and we cannot bear fruit of or by ourselves. This can only be done as we
remain united to Him, the Vine. If we cut a branch off a tree, that branch cannot and will not ever bear any fruit.
Instead, what happens to it? It shrivels us and dies. Good only for firewood to be burned up.
Now of course there is always a time when the Gardner has to come along to trim and shape us. This hurts and
is painful at the time, but the good news is that after we come out on the other side of the pruning, we will find that
our character is stronger, we have obtained a high level of endurance in our lives, we can turn and strengthen
others who are going through the same things we have just gone through and that we will bear even more fruit.
How many of us begin to get disconnected and begin to do things in our own strength? It’s quite easy to do. All
we have to do is begin to let our prayer life slip a little. The Lord may wake us up early some mornings, and what
do we do? We say to ourselves, “Oh, I’ll pray when I get up.” Then the morning comes and we’re up. Suddenly
we begin to pick up the house, the phone rings, Satan reminds us that we NEED to wash, buy groceries, bank,
help someone and so forth. And sure enough, the day slips through our fingers and we’ve never gotten around to
prayer or spending any time to read the Word and spend intimate time with our precious Lord. We didn’t have
time to wait before Him or listen before Him for our instructions for that day, nor did we cease the opportunity to
draw our strength from HIM (as our Vine) to face whatever that day may have brought.
Then the next days comes! And it is a repeat performance. Finally we find ourselves operating each day in our
OWN strength! Not really remaining connected to the Source of our fruitfulness. And we are not equipped to
overcome the daily temptations of sin and trials that come our way. We wonder “why am I not living victoriously?”
The Bible says in Revelation, “He who overcomes shall receive a crown of life.” And John says in chapter 5
verse 6, “Anyone who parts from me is thrown away, like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are
gathered into a pile to be burned.”
So, let us get back to ground zero. Let us start remembering that we cannot do ANYTHING successfully for very
long apart from being connected to our Lord. We cannot be good wives, mothers, relatives or even friends and
we cannot minister effectively in ANY ministry unless we are constantly every minute of every day united to and
abiding in our everlasting Source.
The Devil goes about “as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” He may not eat you up, but he can mall
you up pretty good! We MUST stay united to Jesus, our lives are at stake, our crown is at stake, our families are
at stake, our ministries are at stake and our witness is at stake.
We simply cannot afford to let a day go by without drawing from the Source. We MUST spend time with Him. He
is our very LIFE source. Remember Jesus said to us, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We as born again
Christians can live in newness of life, but we MUST draw upon that new LIFE that Jesus gives to us by staying
connected to the Vine. So let us resolve, right now, to once again get back into our prayer closets and get to the
place where He becomes the One in whom we live, and move and have our being. HE is EVERYTHING TO US!
Next we shall learning about the wonderful virtues that I Peter tells us to add to our faith, as we yield to the Holy
Spirit and give Him total control of our lives.