A Fruitful Life

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing… "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples"
John 15:5,7-8

This week we started our Women's Bible Study on the book of John, chapter 15. I am really excited that we will embark on this journey of "Chasing Vines" together for the next six weeks. Jesus says we need to be connected with him to have a fruitful life. But how do we do that? As we connect with each other and talk about what it means to abide in the Vine we will explore this calling and how to live it out.

What does a fruitful life look like?

In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul describes what kind of fruit a follower of Christ can bear when walking under the influence of the Holy Spirit:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law"
Galatians 5:22-23

These fruits cannot be produced in our own strength. They are evidence of abiding and growth when connected to the Vine, Jesus. These fruits can only be produced through Jesus.

As I read this scripture, I imagined Jesus looking straight at the vine and branches and its surplus of fruit as He encourages His disciples to believe, abide and obey Him. He also warned them of what would happen if they didn't. If they tried to do things on their own, they would become weak and eventually die spiritually. This visual of the True Vine, the source of life, would help them understand Jesus would always be with them and help them through difficult circumstances.

John tells us that right before Jesus was crucified and ascended to heaven, He comforted his disciples and told them where He was going. He encouraged them by letting them know He would not abandon them but would leave them the Holy Spirit to guide them into bearing fruit if they chose to stay connected with Him. The Spirit would act as the source connecting them to Jesus. They wouldn't be cut off from their source even though He was going away.

In this source, we are connected to Jesus, the Vine. His Father, God, is the gardener. The gardener knows His Vine and branches and observes them as they grow. He knows exactly what they need. He cares for them and wishes to see them immensely fruitful! The gardener has been watching the process and is patient when it comes to nurturing us. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in love. (Psalm 145:8)

We are, of course, also reminded in this nurturing that sometimes the gardener needs to prune his vines. Pruning requires cutting away any branches that are not producing fruit. Sometimes God needs to prune things out of our lives that don't produce his fruit. This is for our benefit. Even though pruning can be painful, we know that God will be careful when taking us through the pruning process. When we depend on Him, we will endure the pruning process and bear fruit. The energy of being pruned will be redirected for growth with more fruit.

Those who depend on Jesus and undergo a pruning process experience the pain for a while, but because Jesus continues to tend us beyond pruning, we heal. We are not meant to sit in the pain of loss. Instead, Jesus wants us to grow more into him through our struggles. This tells me that whoever or whatever we have lost during this pandemic, whether it was a loved one, relationships, or material things, God has a plan for us to grow out of it. Instead of consuming us in grief, pain, or disappointments, He will use it to strengthen us. This helps us produce more fruit: love, kindness, gentleness, goodness, etc., and inspires us to connect with our vine all the more.

There is a promise to those who abide in Jesus. "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." John 15:7

Those who abide and walk in close relationship with God are promised that whatever they ask in Jesus' name will be given to them.

We see this play out when there is a need for prayer requests. If you are part of our prayer team, you would undoubtedly know that we have been flooded with email requests from our church community recently. Although it breaks our hearts to see our community in grief and fear about the dark situations their loved ones are facing, it's beautiful and comforting to come together in prayer. We get to ask God not just for their difficulties to end but also for him to use this time of pruning to bring healing and renewed fruit in their lives.

We ask God, trusting that He listens and answers our prayers and that he will bring fruit…and He does. He brings out of us the fruit of intercession, of helping others, and of serving others. He brings the fruits of trust, endurance, faithfulness, and faith out of those we pray for. Through these hard times, God works to always keep us connected to him so we can bear fruit, whatever is going on around us. In this way, we bring God glory and show others we are Jesus' disciples.

Serving Him Together,

Grimelda Sanchez