“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that BEARETH FRUIT, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth MORE FRUIT. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot BEAR FRUIT of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth MUCH FRUIT: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is WITHERED; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear MUCH FRUIT; so shall ye be my disciples.” John 15:1-8 KJV
Verse 16: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ORDAINED you, that ye should go and BRING FORTH FRUIT AND THAT YOUR FRUIT SHOULD REMAIN; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Chapter 16, verse 1: These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be OFFENDED.
Apparently Jesus and the Father are EXTREMELY interested in you bearing fruit! And not just fruit but more fruit and much fruit! Indeed, Jesus goes so far as to say it glorifies the Father!
John chapter 15 is actually a detailed description of just exactly how to function effectively in THE BLESSING with specific emphasis on how to increase your harvest! Word by Word, step by step instructions right down to dealing with the withered seed that came about through offense.
I’m telling you my brother and sister, the Word has got the answers to life!
Let’s take another look at verse 5…”I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.”
He just gave us the key to the vault…literally! Much fruit…much harvest…much manifestation of THE BLESSING!
The topic being discussed here is a concept known as TOTAL IMMERSION! Absolutely saturating yourself in Jesus!
Paul says it like this in Acts 17:28…”For in Him we live, and move, and have our being”
How can you do that? You have to remember to allow the Word to explain Himself! In the first chapter of John, He explained it as “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word WAS God! And then John explains in the book of I John chapter 4 that God IS love! He doesn’t HAVE love…He IS love! So, in John 15, Jesus is giving us a picture of what it means to abide in Him and Him in you!
Stay in the Word and keep the Word in you! Stay in Love and make sure Love stays in you!
“But Bro. David, I have to work and have family obligations and such! I can’t just study the Bible 24 hours a day!”
In my life, I have had the opportunity to know a couple and have studied other really outstanding athletes. I am talking about Olympic gold medal, Super Bowl caliber athletes! One thing that I’ve noticed that is consistent is that the people close to them (parents, teachers, grandparents, etc.) will almost always say something like “You know one thing about that kid…he ate, drank and breathed football! It didn’t matter what he was doing…he was thinking about football! He was totally obsessed with it!”
THAT IS TOTAL IMMERSION!