One Final Word

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

And that's how He wrapped it up: Love each other.

But, back up a bit and catch the few lines before that. He chose us. He loved us before we even took breath. He appointed us. Do we really understand the gravity of this? I know I do not always find myself stupefied like I should be over this. I can get caught up in how much I love Him and how great I am for all I do for Him and can forget that the only reason I love Him like I do is because He is absolutely crazy about me!

I think He also said this to empower us. We can do the opposite and find ourselves feeling unworthy of His love. He would remind all of us that we are His chosen, His appointed, His idea, His plan, His Branch.

He brings this thing all the way back to Him, just like in the beginning of the passage when He said, "I am the True Vine." He starts and ends all of this with Him.

And what is the reward of such a thing? We get what we ask! We get to enjoy the great fellowship of Christ, the reward of obedience, the joy of transformation, the splendor of knowledge, and the great wonder of seeing others come to Him!

And then He says it: Love each other.

Can you picture Him looking every one of those disciples square in the eyeball and maybe even repeating Himself. "Peter, love each other. Matthew, love each other. John, love each other."

I wonder, after all that talk about the Counselor coming, after all the talk about the fruit they would bear, what did they feel when He looked them in the eye and said, "This is my command: Love each other."?

Wrapped up in that statement is the prerequisite that if are to love each other then we must love ourselves last. We serve one another. We serve mankind.

Recently, I was listening to John Piper teach on loving God and finding all our pleasure in Him. One of the arguments against his teaching is that whole idea of denying ourselves and giving our lives to service. His rebuttal is this: Jesus does not need us to serve Him. The joy of it is that our service in the Body and to mankind does not come out of an ambition to prove our loyalty to Christ, but from deep inner relationship with Christ. Also, Christ, not needing our service, then still remains the Giver through us. Out of this fellowship with Him, He gives Himself to mankind through us over and over. And this from our Love Of One Another.

His fruit from the True Vine to the Branch.

Love each other.

Bear that fruit and we will find that all fruit will be glorious. As John Piper says, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

Be satisfied in Jesus and watch and see if your most glorious fruit doesn't pour forth out of abundant love.

This satisfaction in Jesus comes through abundant prayer. Our lives should be lives of prayer and intercession. We should be people marked with prayer. In order to know that what we ask will be answered, we must know the mind of Jesus. We have learned that to abide in Him, is to be in prayer with Him.

Let me finish out this study with one more quote from our dear teacher, Andrew Murray.

Beloved disciple, seek above everything to be a person of prayer. Here is the highest exercise of your privilege as a branch of the Vine, here is the full proof of your being renewed in the image of God and His Son; here is your power to show how you, like Christ, live not for yourself, but for others; here you enter heaven to receive gifts for men; here your abiding in Christ has lead to His abiding in you, to use you as the channel and instrument of His grace. The power to bear fruit for men has been crowned by power to prevail with God. Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Thank you so much for joining me in this study! I have learned and grown and been challenged in way I never have before. I pray that you too have been changed by the Word of Jesus Christ and will find that there is no better thing to be in Him that a Branch connected to the True Vine.

Blessings to you!!

Check back Monday, November 3rd to find out what's next on the docket!!

My love to you all!

Natalie

There is No Greater Love

We'll be coming to a close on this month's study in a few days and I have to say that, for me, this was an amazing study! I have learned so much from Jesus about being His branch and I hope you have too. Let's keep moving, then we'll wrap it up on Friday.

I also wanted to thank you all for reading this month. I know you're out there and I wanted to tell you I love you and love serving you this way.

Now, about that picture. Let's just get to the passage and you might get an idea as to why I chose it.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

I've been reading a book called "The Heavenly Man" and the main character/real person let himself be beaten almost to death so he could protect those he loved. I sat stunned at what he endured to ensure that his friends, his brothers and sisters, would be protected.

Not unlike Christ. I've sat stunned at what He endured to ensure that I would not die in my sin. He went through torture and shame and pain to make sure that the enemy, The Enemy, would not hold my name captive any longer.

And now, because of our love and obedience to Christ we are called His friends. We have been let in on the mysteries of the heavenlies. We have had the secrets of God whispered in our ears to shout from the mountaintops! We have been brought into the greatest elite circle in the universe and in that we are servants, and yet...friends to a Most Holy God.

Again, I am stunned at the wonder of it all.

Jesus even goes on to say that those who obey Him have now been let in on what God knows! He already made that clear in regard to the Spirit. Slide over to 1 Corinthians 2:7. Here, I'll show you.

No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him,' but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

The things of God are revealed by the Spirit of Christ, showing us Jesus in all His glory. Paraphrasing Beth Moore, we can know things we don't know! Amazing!

We must position ourselves close to the Vine. Be willing to be pruned and learn from Him. Learn from others that have traveled harder roads. Learn from other Christ Friends that have taken the road of suffering. Honor them. And honor Him with your obedience and love.

We have no greater friend.

The Greatest Amount of Glory

"This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

Oh mercy, can I ever get tripped up on this little verse. Just reading it makes me want to begin writing down all the dreams, ideas, and plans I might have that could really give to the Kingdom as a whole.

I can come up with a hundred different ways to serve Jesus and serve people, but will those hundred different ways bring about the best and greatest glory? I doubt it.

It's funny, though, we tend to think that it's all up to us bring glory to God.

Think on that for a minute.

Can we bring glory to God? YES! We can do it in so many ways! But, in this verse it says it is to His glory that we "bear much fruit."

We've already discovered that we cannot bear fruit on our own, much less a lot of it. There is no way for us to bear fruit unless we have the living Spirit in us doing the work of bearing the fruit. We cannot produce a product that is not within our power to produce!

We must rely on the Spirit!

And what does that do but bring glory to God! Jesus Himself brought glory to God by only doing what the Father asked of Him; by only doing that which God could do through Him. That kind of power in us can do nothing less than produce glory to the Father.

Relying solely on the Spirit does three things:

1. It keeps us from thinking we're hot snot and a bag of chips!
2. It gives Him the freedom to produce as much fruit as possible for the greatest glory.
3. We get to watch God do His best in a broken human because we were humbled and willing to simply and gloriously be a Branch.

I probably say this every day, but if you want to see God do His best and greatest in you then you must humble yourself to the filling of His Spirit and walk in the sweet relationship with Christ, the Vine, the Leader, the Guide of your life. He is your Life.

We must be quick to listen to the Holy Spirit call us deeper in Christ. We must be willing to be cut closer the Vine to gain the greatest amount of His Spirit in order for Him to put forth the greatest amount of His power to produce the greatest amount of fruit for the greatest amount of glory! Whew!

How can we glorify God? Not by adding to His glory or bringing Him any new glory that He has not. But simply by allowing His glory to shine out through us, by yielding ourselves to Him, that His glory may manifest itself in us and through us to the world. Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Don't Die on the Vine

"If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." John 15:6-7

The first part is the one that makes me turn my head and think Uh-oh...am I one of those?

I'm sure that if I fear this, there is a good chance I'm not one of those withered plants, but...are there things in me withered and unproductive? Maybe. Probably. I'll have to ask.

However, there are those who have tasted the heavenly relationship and have chosen to step out of that abiding with Christ. There, I believe, is when they begin to wither and could suffer the consequence of being thrown out. We must pray that such things don't happen!

This is one of the reasons I sit here and do what I do! To encourage you to remain in Christ! Remain in the Word. Abide with Him. Live with Him. Talk to Him.

And, this is not for our glory or our benefit or our consumption, it is for the bearing of HIS fruit. Turn and look at your life for a moment and search for the rich, luscious, green life that you are to bear. Do you see it? Do you long for it? Is it there?

I pray that it is. If it isn't, begin "re"abiding in Him. Ask Him for His abundant fruit in you life.

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But, what about that second part? The who ask for whatever you wish part? I've asked, and it hasn't always happened. Does that mean I'm not remaining in Christ?

Hardly.

My constant striving to know Him will only gain me greater access to the heart of God, and in turn, my heart is changed, molded, formed into His heart, His thoughts. And before you know it, what I ask becomes what He asks.

And how is this done? From the pen of our Mentor, Andrew Murray, he says it is in unceasing prayer.

This passage is a promise! If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

This isn't a prayer that will be just for our fulfillment. Looking at the life of Jesus himself, we know this cannot be. Our lives must be for the longing of others to know the love of Jesus. The asking for what we wish doesn't come from looking around to see what we need! It comes from looking with the eyes of the Holy Spirit to see what the world needs.

Man, He is teaching me right now with you! This is such an amazing thing to realize! Andrew Murray says,

Many try to take the promise, and then look around for what they can ask. This is not the way, but the very opposite. Get the heart burdened with the need of souls, and the command to save them, and the power will come to claim the promise.

This is not a new teaching. We watched as Jesus gave Himself up to the leading and power of God and saw men come to Him. His love with God drove Him to ask for what the Father wanted...and it was us.

We can follow the same thing. Our hearts given to Christ in full humility and surrender might find themselves asking for what He wants rather than seeing that verse and looking for what we can find to ask for.

Let us all remain in Him, seek His heart, and ask for what He desires. We might find that love is the answer for every good thing we ask.

"The promise (of getting what you ask) is given in direct connection with fruitbearing. Limit yourself and your own needs, and you rob it of its power, you rob yourself of the power of appropriating it." Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Much Fruit. Way Better Than Some Fruit

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."


Nothing Nada Zip Zero Zilch


That is what we have when we strive to bring forth in our lives something that only Jesus can give. Certainly, there is so much humanitarian things we can do in our world, but what of humanity things? What of the things that change the fancies of men's hearts? What of the things that tilt the head of the skeptic and raise the eyebrow of the atheist? Could we possibly, truthfully, in our own efforts bring forth spiritual things?

My Tender Branch Friend, no, we cannot.

I do not pretend I have not been one who has most certainly tried to tickle the ears and emotions of those from Jesus with my Christian antics and intellect. I have danced a Monkey dance of piety and judgement and they are left unmoved.

What did Jesus do that was so unique, so different than what I do? Oh, I don't have time to list those details, but what I do know is that what He did to sway men's hearts to love is not far from my reach. Indeed, it is but a bent knee, and humbled heart, an emptied soul away.

The more I abide in Christ Jesus, the more I humble myself to the life altering power of His Spirit in me, the more I will produce only that which the Spirit can provide. Why, in all of my life, do I ever think I can produce fruit can only be produced by the Spirit? My fruit, then, must come off more like wax fruit fit for a painting, rather than the mouth-watering fruit of the Spirit that draws men to the table where they are satisfied, nourished, refreshed, and redeemed.

Only in the resting in the Spirit where we receive the life-giving sap and vitality can we then produce much fruit as the Branch who lives to extend the Vine to all Nations.

You see to the abiding; He will see to the fruit, for He will give it in you and through you. Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Getting Cleansed

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” John 15:3

In order for us, the Branch, to be of and in the Vine, there is cleansing that has to happen. You know, getting rid of the “old man” or the natural self with its selfish ways and sinful desires. That sucker has to die. We have to be cleansed from it.

Here Jesus said that we are clean because of His word. What word?

• The Word He spoke when He said He was the Son of God and whoever believed that would be saved.
• The Word He spoke over them when He washed their feet.
• The Word of Truth He spoke when He claimed to be I AM!
  

That Word. That Truth. That is the pruning knife in all of us-- His mighty Word.

Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is living and active. It says it’s sharper than any doubled-edged sword and that it penetrates us soul and spirit, joints and marrow and judges our thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. This Word is what we hold up next to us as a mirror that allows the Holy Spirit to cleanse that which is not like Him.

Not only does His Word cleanse us, but it protects us, warns us, strengthens us, provides for us, and changes us. The Word is the power of the Spirit in us. That mighty power extending through us as the Branch to bring out the best fruit that only the Spirit of Christ can bring forth.

The cleansing of the Word must be a daily part of our lives. It doesn’t have to be large portions of the Bible, but I encourage you to be in the Word asking the Holy Spirit to enlarge Christ in your spirit so that you can be cleansed by His righteousness and made more ready for His calling.

What is more, you’ll find a new level of relationship with Him!

“It is as the soul gives up its own thoughts and men’s thoughts of what is religion and yields itself heartily, humbly, patiently, to the teaching of the Word by the Spirit, that the Father will do His blessed work of pruning and cleansing away all of nature and self that mixes with our work and hinders His Spirit.” Andrew Murray, The True Vine

Pruning is Good....Real Good

“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.” John 15:2

Welcome back to week two of The Vineyard! We're just getting started, but if you're new here head on back to last weeks to get caught up. Were in John 15 where Jesus is teaching His disciples about being a Branch on The Vine.

Remember, this time around it's just Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Here we go...

I’m not a gardener, but from what I can see, those people really love doing it! I don’t mind buying some already flowering plants, i.e. mums, and sticking those suckers in the ground. That’s easy. What I’m not all that interested in is getting the ground ready, making room, tilling the dirt, planting the seed, waiting, waiting, weeding, waiting, and then ooooo, there’s a flower. I just don’t get much out of it. The problem is… I’m impatient.

However, there are those blessed people who exhibit patience far better than I do that love to garden. Get their hands in the dirt. Wait for the perfect bloom. Feed it. Fertilize it. Watch for it.

They create their garden and it is precious to them.

Think about that in relation to Christ and what He said about God. One of the most awe-inspiring things about God is that He is a Pursuer. He created us in pursuit of relationship. He died for us in pursuit of reconciliation. He calls us in pursuit of His glory. He plants us in Christ in pursuit of intimacy.

He initiates everything.

In my own life right now, I am experiencing the love of God and His pursuit to draw me deeper in Him. It’s a strange thing, yet it’s familiar and welcomed. But, it wasn’t until my sister-in-law pointed out that God is the one who initiates relationship did I find myself struck with wonder, humility, and excitement at the idea that He pursues me.

That’s why this description of Him being the Gardener is so precious. We are the very creation of His heart, and just as we work in our natural gardens to have them produce the best features, He does so in our hearts.

We often think of being pruned as God cutting off the bad. However, that’s not always the case. Sure, there are always things that He must get out our of our lives. He gets after our sin-self and disciplines us. That’s a kind of pruning. But the pruning in this passage is something else. Crucifixion of self is the work of refinement, holiness, and purity. I believe John 15 pruning is the work of focus, excellence, production, and humility.

When a vine keeper comes to prune a vine, he cuts off that which is producing fruit. He even cuts the branch all the way back to the vine. He cuts off fruit! Good, plump fruit. And, he cuts off long, vibrant branches. Cutting off of the more immature fruit is called Green Harvesting. It’s for the purpose of decreasing yield and is most often used to produce fine wine. By removing these grapes while they are still green induces the vine to put all its energy into developing the remaining grapes. (ref: squidoo)

There are times in our lives when Christ will prune out of our lives things that, while producing some good things, need to be stopped in order to produce a greater return.

It is between you and Christ what those things will be, but the best news is is that when He prunes He cuts you all the way back to Him. He will draw your focus back on to the strength and sap of the vine in order that we work out of His strength, His Spirit, His leading and His love to produce Spirit-fruit.

The branch of the vine produces its best, sweetest fruit when all things that would sap us of His perfect fulfilling Spirit are cut away and we are left close to Him to bear His abundant fruit.

If we grow and grow in Christ, and we use all that He has given us in service for His Kingdom, there is a danger of those long branches of service becoming our focus and what we trust in.

There is the pruning. He cuts back even the good we do to ensure the Good we become. As Andrew Murray says, “God has to bring us to the end of ourselves…” The less of ourselves, and the more of Christ the greater He can use us for His glory.

We tend to measure our lives by what we are doing. Christ measures our lives by who we are becoming and who we are bringing along side to become as well – Christ-followers.

There is still that whole issue about Him cutting of those who don’t produce fruit. Ouch. I’m not going to be so presumptuous to know who those people are, but also have the ability to see someone who calls themselves a Christ follower, and well, there ain’t much to show that to be true. I’ll let Jesus do His job there, and I’ll stick to focusing on being a branch that produces fruit! How about you?

“There is not a plant of which spirit can be so abundantly distilled as the vine. And there is not a plant that so soon runs into wild wood, that hinders its fruit, and therefore needs the merciless pruning.” Andrew Murray, The True Vine

The Gardener

“…and my Father is the gardener.”

In regards to those who want to plant vineyards, winerackshop.com gives this advice. “Growers need to properly evaluate and prepare their site well in advance of planting.”

I gave some thought to that statement as it relates to what Jesus said about God. His Father properly evaluated and prepared the site of our eternal resting and salvation well in advance of “planting” Christ as the True Vine.

From the beginning of time, God watched our world become a sin-cracked and broken creation. His eye was on the barren, dry land, unfit for any kind of planting. If Jesus is the True Vine and God is the Gardener, then God took the time to “prepare the soil”. Better known as humanity.

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Galatians 4:4

God knew the exact moment to send Christ that would turn the world on its hinges and cause her to look up to Him. And here in John 15, Jesus makes sure we do just that. He points out that He is the vine and His Father is the Gardener. His Father is the one that holds us all in His hands. He turns the soil of our lives and ensures that our Vine will never die. He cannot. And He will not ever leave us to do anything on our own.

But, that’s for our next post!

Before we begin to think of fruit or branches, let us have our heart filled with the faith that as glorious as the Vine is the Husbandman (gardener)…As surely as the Husbandman made the Vine what it was to be, will He make each branch what it is to be. Andrew Murray

The True Vine

“I am the true vine…”

Welcome to our first day of study! My prayer right off the bat is that you will be refined, challenged, and loved on by Christ in this. I pray that you listen to the Gardener as He teaches us what He meant for us when He said we are the Branch and He is the vine.

Our main text for this month is John 15. Please take time to read the whole passage. I’ve put it here so you can refer back to it when you want. Ingest what Jesus is explaining to us and ask Him to teach you something new over this month.

My goal is to keep these devotions short yet poignant and hopefully filled with a choice bite of fruit every day for you to, well, chew on. We’ll study the Word, look at one of my favorite outside sources for this study, The True Vine, by Andrew Murray, and also we’ll take a look at resources that explain real vineyards for those of us land locked in the red dirt of Oklahoma!

I’m so excited to begin our day with the Words of Christ.

“I am the true vine…”

Why did He say the “true” vine? Well, many times in the Old Testament, the people of God, the Israelites, were referred to as God’s vineyard. However, she produced no fruit. She became a wasteland and Jesus was telling them He was restoring her to her place. Only this time, He would be the Vine. He would be the life source. He would be everything the people of God needed. They most certainly understood what He said when He used those word “the true vine.”

I wonder as those words sunk in if there wasn’t a sigh of relief in their hearts. They no longer would have to strive to fulfill the law. They would no longer have to feel a sense of hard labor for fruit that would be pointless. Could they really rest in the true vine?

The True Vine?

We can ask ourselves the same thing. To get us started this week consider what you think it means to have Christ say over you, “I am the true vine…”

Do you feel a sense of striving to fulfill the commands of the Bible? Do you feel like you have to work hard to have some sort of fruit of goodness in your life? Do you ever feel like you are spinning your wheels for the church, for others, for Christ?

Can we really rest in the True Vine?

Ask Christ to begin teaching you by His Holy Spirit what it means for Him to be the True Vine in your life. He is the only one who can explain it in your heart.

When Jesus says: ‘I am the true vine,’ He tells us that all the vines of earth are pictures and emblems of Himself. He is the divine reality, of which they are the created expression. They all point to Him, and preach Him, and reveal Him. If you would know Jesus, study the vine. Andrew Murray

The Vineyard

It’s not your typical morning. Something different in is the air. There is a hint of subtlety and quiet. A light fog lies down for a morning nap over the vineyard. It’s just you and your heartbeat that fills your ears for a moment.

Before you take one step into what seems to be sacred, you take a long look at the place. Rows and rows of vines create a landscape of beauty and mystery. What lies behind each row of vines and fruit? What sits on each vine as it slowly and quietly generates its choice fruit for its Gardener?

You almost feel out of place, like you’ve interrupted something reserved only for nature and its Maker. Still, it welcomes you to walk through, take it in, and learn from its ways.

The grass bows to your step as you enter the row in the middle of the vineyard. It’s almost as though the land-kissed cloud moves out of your way so you can get a better look at the vine. You can tell that the Gardener has taken time to place the branch of the vine on the exact position suited for it on the trellis. You smooth your hand over the leaf, hold the heavy grape cluster in your palm, then feel your way down the branch. Finally, kneeling down, you softly touch the trunk of the vine.

His words return to you, “I am the vine; you are the branch.”

You realize there is no great distinction between the vine and branch. The lesser comes out of the greater. The lesser has the same attributes, characteristics and beauty as that of the vine. And yet, the branch is useless without the vine. In the same way, in order for the vine to produce it’s sweet, life-giving fruit, it needs the branch.

Someone’s coming. The Gardener comes from around the end of the row. He has on overalls, boots, a gardening hat, gloves, and hasn’t shaved this morning. In his hand you see the pruning knife.

“Good morning!” He says joyfully. “I’ve got some work to do, but feel free to keep looking around. There’s a lot to see.”

You take a step back, eager to watch what happens next. He clips the fruit, lays it in a bucket and then proceeds to keep cutting the branch back.

“But, that branch produced such beautiful fruit,” you say.

He replied, “Oh, I know! But, I need it to produce even more fruit. Better fruit. Lasting fruit. That’s why I’ve got to cut it back to the vine for awhile. It gives it strength, vitality, focus. Next year, you come back and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Yes, indeed, this batch will make some delicious wine for many to enjoy!”

You spend a few more hours just walking around. You can hear the Gardener faintly as you continue through the rows. You notice some branches are fragile and don’t have any fruit. Some have small fruit, the kind you’d be afraid to bite into lest your face crinkle up in surprise of its bitterness.

And still, the ones you are most taken with have the rich, dark, luscious fruit hanging down as if to be heavy with Life!

There is much to learn in the vineyard, you decide.

And so we will.

Welcome to our study for October. We’ll meet back here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a walk in the vineyard. Here, deep in the misty rows of His Vineyard, we will uncover truth in these vines that will change your life forever.

Welcome to... The Vineyard.