A Minute In It - Fruit and Love

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the text below and then answer the questions at the bottom of the post.

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “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. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. John 15:1-17 (NIV)

What does it mean to abide in Jesus?
What can you do if you are not abiding in Jesus?
What is the fruit that Jesus wants you to grow?
What does love have to do with it?

What's Your Favorite Fruit?

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

The fruit that the Holy Spirit grows in our lives is:

love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness and
self-control

Which three of these would you like to see more of in your life?
Why?

How do these become more evident in your life?

Hint: Relationship

Not So Patiently Waiting

Wait patiently for the Lord.
    Be brave and courageous.
    Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 (NLT)

Ever notice that when you follow God there is a lot of waiting. We wait for an answer to prayer. We wait for guidance. We wait while we try to figure out what God wants.

Waiting is not my strongest trait. As a matter of fact, I think I am pretty terrible at it. On a pretty regular basis I complain to God (and my friends) about the waiting. I feel that I have been waiting on God for a couple years now.

What am I waiting for? I am waiting on some idea I have in my mind about how things are supposed to look. And they don’t look like that. Where did I get that idea? Good question. Somewhere in my head I formed this idea about what life is supposed to look like. It doesn’t so I am expecting God to change it.

Maybe that’s where the next line in today’s text comes in. Be brave and courageous. Sometimes we feel that waiting is a bad thing. But in all honesty, it takes courage. When you wait, you acknowledge that you are not going to “fix” it by yourself. In this case, I am waiting on God to step in. I am surrendering the outcome to him not knowing his next move.

Surrendering is hard. It requires courage to trust God and let him run the show.

There is one word in this text that I am still working on; patiently. I am learning to wait. God’s been telling me to wait for a while now. While I wait, I am learning to trust. But the patiently part still eludes me on a pretty regular basis.

Good thing God has the “patiently” part down! He is very patiently waiting for me to learn this lesson.