MORE FRUIT
_________________________

John 15:1-8 (NRSV)

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

_________________________

Every branch that does bear fruit [God] prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
- John 15:2 (NIV)
_________________________


IN the spring I decided to clean up a long-neglected area behind an old shed. As I worked, my rake caught on a vine that I thought was a weed. More raking revealed a grape vine with a trunk rooted deep in the ground and many long branches. The plant needed pruning badly, but a few green shoots grew at the end of some of the branches. Pruning would have to wait until fall, when I would cut off the branches that had not produced new growth and trim back the ones that had. I tied the long vines onto a simple trellis, hoping that it might produce a few grapes.

As I looked at that old grapevine with its dried-up branches and few green sprouts, I remembered Jesus' teaching. We, his disciples, are like branches. Like an old grapevine, our spiritual lives need to be tended and pruned from time to time so that we will bear more fruit. Cutting away the unproductive parts of our lives -- materialism, worldliness, cynicism -- may be painful, but it is the way to produce the bountiful fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for your gift of the Holy Spirit. Prune us so that we produce fruit to glorify you and to show that we are disciples of Jesus. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
What parts of my life need to be pruned?

-- Kathleen Newberg (North Carolina, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Farmers

but...but...pruning hurts!

yep, it's not supposed to be easy!!! But just think how much more "fruit" you'll have to show after you prune away all the "dead" stuff.... :thumbsup: