I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Saints are fruitful. When I created man, the first words I spoke to him, the first words he ever heard were Mine, and they were words of blessing giving the power to bear much fruit, to fill the earth with that fruit and to reign in life over the works of My hands. They were words of increase and authority. Genesis 1:26-28.
And then I gave them seed and that was the way they were to increase, by sowing and cultivating seed. Seed to sow and its harvest to eat. Seed, time, and harvest. And that law will never cease as long as the earth remains for it is the law of increase, provision, profit, and prosperity. He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you. Genesis 1:29,
And I showed the man how to increase and multiply so that the works of his hands would produce a continual and increasing supply—I was the first to sow seed for an abundant result.
I planted a garden toward the east that I named Eden, which means a place of pleasures, delights, and luxuries. And I placed the man whom I had formed to abide in that garden and I caused to grow from the planted seed every kind of tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And as I had done I then blessed the man to do, that is, to cultivate and guard the garden. Genesis 2:8-15.
And each day I walked with him in fellowship to teach him how to profit and the way he should go so that he and the woman I pulled out of him could partner as one to make the whole earth a garden of delight filled not only with the fruit of the ground, but also the fruit of their union of an ever increasing family upon the earth living a life of delights in the home I made for you, My family, called earth.
And when Noah came out of the ark and stood with his family in the cleansed earth, he built an altar to Me as LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And I made covenant never again to destroy every living thing on the earth, and the sign was the rainbow but the evidence was that while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:20-22.
And Jesus taught you what the seed is that you must plant in your heart to bear much fruit, fruit that remains and continues in the earth, seed that will give you a harvest of abundance of whatever promise it contains so you can live a fruitful blessed life of all sufficiency and an abundance of overflow for every good work.
And He defined it in the very first parable he taught, the parable He told His disciples they must understand to understand His teachings that would follow. It was the parable of the sower sowing seed on various types of ground.
And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:13-20.
The seed is My Word, which is Spirit and life, which gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, that if cultivated and guarded, depending on your level of diligence, produces thirty, sixty, or one hundredfold. And a hundredfold is not a hundred times but the exponential power of a seed.
One seed planted and cultivated can produce a tree that bears fruit in due season and every fruit on that tree has seed within it, which then can be planted to produce multiple trees which produce fruit bearing seed which become multiple trees producing fruit until that one seed you began with has produced an orchard. But it all begins with planting one seed. And then each of the many trees bear fruit in due season which then from each tree many more can be planted, until you have a garden of Eden in your life which eventually with enough seed sown will replenish the earth. And many fruits have multiple seeds in each fruit, like apples, grapes, figs, papayas, and pomegranates. In My Word there are many seeds that produce the harvest of the promise contained in them. Plant them, grow them, eat them, do them, and share them.
And Jesus defines for you how you become fruitful—by abiding in Him as the branch in the vine so your life produces a continuous and abundant flow of fruit.
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide (menó: to stay, abide, remain (μένω) ) in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so 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, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:1-5.
In yesterday’s manna, I talked with you about the vineyard and My looking for good grapes produced by the lessees, and today you see that the Son the owner sent that the tenants killed to take the vineyard away from the owner, really came to join with them and give them His abundant life flowing into them by the Spirit so they could produce and enjoy wonderful, amazing fruit and prosper therefrom. He is present as your helper.
The vine determines the fruit on the branch and provides all that is needed to produce it (for life and godliness) but the branch is the one that has the honor of being the fruit bearer. Never hinder the flow into you from the vine. Stay attached.
But there is even more, when My life flows into you as you abide in Jesus by My Spirit our fellowship becomes so close and so understanding of each other that you ask whatever you will and it is yours, from the smallest favor to the greatest work.
If you abide (menó: to stay, abide, remain (μένω) ) in Me, and My Words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:7-8.
And how do you abide in Him? By remaining in His Words, which are My Words, and letting His Words remain in you. He calls one who lives attached to Him a disciple, and He already defined disciple for you.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide (menó: to stay, abide, remain (μένω) ) in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31-32.
The more Word you plant and cultivate in your heart and then speak with your mouth and do in your actions the more fruit you produce and the deeper you abide in the vine and the sap of the vine, the flow of the Spirit, pours into your branch and the more fruit you produce. And in the abundance there is fullness of joy as you rest, abide, and delight in Me and I in you. My left hand under your and My right hand embracing and sustaining you.
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-10.
And your life becomes the life of good deeds I prepared for you in advance, and created you for as a new creation is Christ Jesus, and the more you walk in the light and remain in the light the more mega fruit you produce. Have you seen the huge vegetables and fruit produced in places like Alaska when they have six months of minimal darkness but hours and hours of light?
Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light, for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Ephesians 5:7-10.
And it all comes by abiding in love. Love one another as I have loved you and when you do this your be fruitful in everything you do. So love one another as I have loved you and My joy will be within you and your joy will remain true.
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also 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 so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. John 15:9-12.
The only fruit that will remain (continue, abide) is the fruit born in love. No matter how amazing what you do is, if it is not done in love and with love and through love it is nothing. Why? I am love and without Me you can do nothing. Nothing fruitful comes without love.
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another. John 15:16-17.
And in tomorrow’s Life Lesson we will talk about what I mean when I say that you did not choose Me but I chose you, and that many are called but few are chosen.
I love you, live on in My love and you will bear much fruit. Love is fruitful. The works of the flesh are not. Love is not done for self-glory or praise, it is done out of compassion, generosity, and a desire to bless. It is the Eden blessing that I told Adam and Eve to spread to all the earth. And it all starts with one seed, Salvation.
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; WHEN ABRAHAM WAS BUT ONE I CALLED HIM, THEN I BLESSED HIM AND MULTIPLIED HIM.” Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and sound of a melody. Isaiah 51:1-3.