Monday, February 27, 2012

Fruit that Remains

When I think about fruit, I think about a farmer who goes out and tills the ground to prepare for the seed he is going to plant.  A farmer is not only skillful but a strategist and he plan on how to bring about the right crop that will remain. 

There are so many external factors that can come into play when planting a garden or growing crop in your field.  It is the farmer’s responsibility to make sure he plants the seed in the right environment as well as making sure the ground is suitable for the seed to get into the ground so it can bring forth what he intended.
Well God is our vinedresser and He is the greatest strategist.  We are the seed that God has planted in this earth to bring about His desired fruit.  When I talk about fruit, I’m talking about your character, your gifts, your nature, your assignment, your purpose and destiny.  When God planted us, He desired for us to produce in the earth and to look like Him doing it.

Like a farmer, God will begin to purge, only to bring forth more fruit (John 15).  Purge means to “take away” to lift up or raise higher.  God will take the unfruitful branch and lift it from the dirt into which is has fallen giving it a better chance to be productive in another’s dirt.  Wow!  Can you see how in your transition of leaving one place to go into another; it was God moving you into another dirt giving you a chance to bring forth more fruit.
The word of God tells us that we are to ABIDE in the vine.  Abide means to remain, stay connected, stay in relationship with Jesus.  We abide by remaining in prayer and in relationship with the Father through His son Jesus.  You can’t say you are in relationship with any one and do not talk to them but once or twice a week.  That is not a relationship.  As we abide in the vine, we must trust that the vinedresser, who is God, is carefully watching over our lives; making sure we are producing and looking like Him in the earth.

God is the one who planted us and we are His seed so He knows what we are supposed to look like.  The branch receives its nourishments to produce from the vine.  All of the nutrients, vitamins, and sap are in the vine and it is giving the branch life and food to bring forth; as long as the branch is connected.
Don’t think that you can do what God has called you to do on your own.  Your supply is only coming from the vine and it is the vinedresser responsibility to watch over your ground and make sure He plucks up the weeds that would chock out your life and if necessary move you to another ground so you can produce more fruit.

Before the foundation of the world, God has always intended us to bear fruit that would remain.  Fruit that is tenacious; bold as a lion and gentle as a lamb, like our big brother Jesus is what God is looking for.  What Jesus started we are to finish; the paton has been passed to us.  What are you doing with your part of the race?  Stay connected and grow in your relationship with the Father.  Trust the vinedresser who sees more and knows more than you, so He can do what needs to be done in your life so you will bring forth fruit that remains.
Pastor Karen, www.karenpresley.org