John 15:7-8 NLT
[7]”But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! [8] When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
I’ve heard much preached about abiding in the vine, how we remain in the vine, what abiding in the vine means, etc., but, in my experience, no one says much about prayer and the abiding branch.
Jesus coupled abiding and answered prayer and the outcome, gloryifying the Father, together as one event.
Fruit! No one plants a vine just to enjoy the beauty of its shape or colour. Grapevines have only one purpose… grapes. What people do with grapes can only happen if grapes grow on the vine.
In the same way, people’s lives are intended to bear fruit. Everyone inevitably bears fruit, good or bad. Good fruit benefits those around us; bad fruit spoils and poisons others. Fruit also identifies the nature of the plant.
Matthew 7:15-18 NLT
[15] “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. [16] You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? [17] A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. [18] A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.”
Hebrews 12:15 NLT
[15]”Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.”
What is it that causes a bitter root to grow?
Deuteronomy 29:18 NIV
[18] “Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.”
When we allow self to control, feeding grudges, with resentment and bitterness, we become our own idol. Self-pity is the poisonous root of bad fruit.
Idolatry! Letting anyone or anything else take the Lord Jesus’ place in our souls to nourish our lives….is a bitter root that will produce bitter fruit.
If good fruit is what Jesus wants of us, how do we bear good fruit? If we go on living in the flesh, making no effort to produce good fruit, we WILL bear bad fruit…
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
[19]” When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, [20] idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, [21] envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Wow! What a basketful of poisonous fruit!
There is an antidote to this poison that flows from self-dominated lives – union with Jesus.
Problem is that that vine’s branches, drawing nourishment from the world, are destined for the fire. The same thing happens to the branches that are disconnected from the true Vine.
John 15:6 NLT
[6] “Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”
So, the first lesson in bearing good fruit is to maintain an intimate connection with Jesus.
1 John 1:5-7 NLT
[5]”This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. [6] So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. [7] But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
When we remain joined to Jesus by humble and honest living, we keep drawing our nourishment and life from Him and His blood keeps cleansing us from ALL sin. The fruit that results, through the work of the Spirit in us, is in harmony with the nature of Jesus.
Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
[22]”But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
So, where does prayer fit into the process of fruit bearing?
The only way to stop the poison that flows from selfish lives is to cut off the flow and reconnect to the source of divine life. God’s plan is for us to participate in the divine nature, i.e., to be transformed into the image is Jesus. We do this by plugging into God’s promises.
2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV
[3] “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. [4] Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
How do we do that?
2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
[20] “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”
And “amen” to God’s promises is the essence of New Covenant prayer! Everything God wants to do in us has already been accomplished because the operative word in the New Covenant is “Done!”
It’s all so simple! We make such heavy weather of prayer because we think that the energy we put into prayer influences God’s answers. No, Jesus put all the energy into prayer at the cross, releasing to us all that God has promised in the New Covenant. All we must do is say the amen… agree with God!
Romans 8:32 NIV
[32] “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Does God need our prayers to help Him to run the universe? No, because He has put the universe in Jesus’s capable hands.
Philippians 2:9-11 NIV
[9]” Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “
Hebrews 1:3 NIV
[3] “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Psalms 2:4-12 NIV
[4]”The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. [5] He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, [6] “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” [7] I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. [8] Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. [9] You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” [10] Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. [11] Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. [12] Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Rather, every time we say “Amen!” to God’s promise, Jesus says, “Done!”. Our union with Him grows stronger, the fruit of His character grows in us..
and the Father is glorified.
John 15:7-8 NIV
[7] “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8] This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
It’s that simple!