Luke 13:6  He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
Luke 13:7  Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
Luke 13:8  And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
Luke 13:9  And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

How many of us are like this fig tree? we have been hanging around for years soaking up the good soil, yet never producing fruit. We have sat under good preaching and yet never surrendered our lives to Him. Maybe we have sat under bad preaching, maybe when we read the Bible we ignore the things that don't fit into our own picture of how God should be and we are wasting the soil. I for one was one of those who wasted the soil for many years. Knowing that I was His child and yet I went around living as the world. Turning my life over to Jesus Christ at a young age I spent many early years hungry for Him but there came a time when I walked away as the prodigal son to waste my inheritance in Him, yet when the owner of the vineyard came and saw no fruit, the vine dresser asked for another year and in January 2007 I completely surrendered my life to Christ. That entire year was spent in His word as has every year since. It has been a time of obedience to Him, not always 100% but I am willing to allow Him to dig around the roots and fertilize the soil that I might bear fruit.

John 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
John 15:2  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.
John 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
John 15:4  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.
John 15:5  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 ye can do nothing.
John 15:6  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.
John 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
John 15:9  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Jesus goes further here and not only reiterates what He said in Luke but goes even further to demonstrate how should bear fruit as a part of the vine. Fruit is not just posting blogs on here nor is it just being a part of a Christian ministry. It involves obedience to Christ in all areas. It involves loving as He loved; in fact He said that this is how they will know that you are my disciples. It is allowing yourself to be pruned so that you might produce more fruit. Pruning is not chastisment and the difference is found in the fact that in pruning there is evidence of fruit to begin with but with chastisment there is no evidence. There are many out there on this site that might appear that they are on the vine. They say the right things. They post blogs that are pleasing to the ear and appeal to our carnal side yet the fruit that they produce is bitter because it is not a part of the true vine. Jesus said "I AM" the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser. Using the authority that He used in the Old Testament with Moses in calling Himself "I AM" He exposed His diety and relationship with the Father. And as He spoke of the pruning He confirmed what He would later tell Paul when He said I will show you all that you must endure for My names sake. He never preached a prosperity message because prosperity wasn't a part of His plan. Oh, He might bless some with it but it is those to whom prosperity means nothing. Job wasn't concerned with his great wealth; Barnabas wasn't concerned about his wealth and neither were any of the other disciples; their riches were in heaven where rust and moths couldn't destroy them. His message wasn't about making everything easy for us because it is not going to be easy and it is our response during this pruning that speaks the loudest to those around us. It is our response that the Holy Spirit uses to draw others to Him and that is the more fruit that He intended for us to produce. I fear that the vine is getting barer every year with withering branches being cut off. It is evident by the lack of the most important fruit of all, the fruit of love. We have not loved as He loved us in so long that we have grown accustomed to it. We deny the power of it especially when it calls for us to reach into our pockets or to take from our personal time. We can make all the excuses in the world and the truth is they just don't float because the evidence that His plan works is laid out before us and either we believe it all 100% or we don't and therefore God is the greatest liar of all times. I firmly believe that His word is 100% for all times and that what was good for them in that day is just as good today.  I recently read a blog about driving a stake into the ground and claiming that day is the day that we are on fire for God all the time and while that might be good the problem is that it didn't include a personal relationship with God but a feeling. God doesn't want feelings He wants relationships. I am sure that He longs for the relationship that He had in the Garden before man was deceived by Satan. I know as a parent the pain that I endure because of the lack of relationship with my two older children, but Jesus said that He had come to put son against father and father against son and when you make a stand these things are going to happen. I am in continual prayer for my two older children. My love for them extends beyond this life and I would gladly take their place and if this is the way I feel as an earthly father I can imagine how our heavenly father must feel. The years of unfruitfullness comes with a price and for many of us that price may be more than we can bear. However we do have a promise and that promise is this that if we abide in Him then He will abide in us. He tells us in John 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  With this promise we have the confidence of His loves towards us just as we have the confidence that if we are susceptible to His fertilizing that we can bear fruit. However none of this is possible without a relationship with Him. A branch withering on the ground cannot bear fruit. A wild vine while in appearance may seem to part of His vine cannot bear good fruit and a vine that is by itself cannot bear fruit. Oh they may do good things like give money to the poor and feed the hungry but in the end it is for their own purpose and the result is dead branches. In closing I ask only that you compare spiritual with spiritual. Search the scriptures as you should with anything you hear or read from others to see if it is of God or not.

Tags: Truth Fruit False Teachers

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