"Be A Branch!"

  "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser.
   Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
   You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
   Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
   I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
   If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
   If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
   By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
   As My Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
   If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
   These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15:1-11

So here is the thing or rather the thought that jumped out at me as I read this through this time ...Jesus said, "that we are the branches ...!" He is the vine and we are the branches ...! Let that sink in! The branches are a smaller extension of the vine. They are connected! All the nourishment that is needed to produce fruit flows through the vine, to the branches, and then to the fruit. So, according to what Jesus said in the verses above ... everything we need to produce the fruit of God in our lives flowed from the Father, to the Son, to us! If we truly want the fruit of God it means we must be connected or as Jesus put it, "We must abide in Him the same way He abides in the Father! How do we abide? The same way He did. He is always, as the Son of Man, the perfect example, and He explained how to abide pretty clearly in the verses above, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." When Jesus said, "I only do that which My Father tells Me." He meant it it! He was abiding! He was able to abide in the Father by keeping the Father's commands and we abide in Him when we keep His commands as well! As we abide by keeping and doing His commands ... we get all the 'nourishment/power' needed to produce an abundance of fruit.

Consider this thought ... The difference between being a branch or a stick ... a branch is alive and connected! A stick is neither!

If you want to be a branch that produces fruit? Remember to keep His word and ... ABIDE!