Daily Devo - John 15:5a

“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."

John 15:5

Jesus seems to be making the same point over and over: He is the vine, we are the branches, therefore, apart from Him we can do nothing. So, we need to remain in Him. Why does He keep saying it?

I think part of the reason could be that we forget. We often think we are the vine (the ones who bear fruit), or that we don’t need Him. We try to do life on our own, not giving much thought to Jesus or what He would want to do through us.

What are some ways that we can continue to remember our dependence on Him? One way that works for me is to stop before every meal and acknowledge Him as the provider of everything I have (even the food I eat). Another way is to ask what He would want me to do when I am going about my day. Sometimes, before I get out of bed, I offer my day to God to use how He wants to use it.

PRAY and ask God to help you see and live in your utter dependence on Jesus!

Daily Devo - John 15:4e

“Remain in me”

Remain connected to Jesus through a vibrant relationship with Jesus through prayer, sensing His presence during your day, spending time in His Word, seeking His will.

“as I also remain in you.”

Rejoice in the fact that Jesus has gone above and beyond to have a relationship with you. Jesus has torn down every barrier to your relationship with Him.

“No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.”

We are desperately dependent on Christ. There is no substitute, no amount of work or good things we can do to earn favor with Christ. It is simply about the relationship with Him.

“Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me”

As you are connected to Christ, you begin to bear the fruit that you were created to bear. The fruit you bear is not difficult because you are energized by Christ and do what you were created to do.

PRAY and reflect on you walk with God. What are some ways you can connect to Christ each day? Is it praying in the morning over breakfast? Is it spending a few minutes kneeling at your bed before you go to sleep? Is it to ask for God’s presence three times during the day? Think of ways you can connect to Christ daily!

Daily Devo - John 15:4d

“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” John 15:4

As you might have noticed, we have looked at John 15:4 every day this week. This is getting to the heart of what Jesus says: Remain in Jesus because apart from Him you can do NOTHING. So, what happens if you ARE connected to Jesus?

Think of a TV. In order to do what it was made to do, you need to plug it into its power source. Once it is plugged in, it shows its bright, sharp images. It is not hard for a TV to do what it does because that is exactly what it was created to do. It is the same way with us.

God has created us to bear fruit. The reason why that seems so hard sometimes is because we are not connected to the power source - Jesus. As we remain connected to Him, we do exactly what we were created to do. Typically, that will be in light with your gifts and talents.

What do you think are some things God has created you to do?

How do you think being ‘plugged into’ Christ will help you bear fruit?

PRAY and ask God to reveal to you the things that He wants to do through you. Spend some time asking God to speak to you directly about them.

Daily Devo - John 15:4c

“No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain on the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

John 14c

Imagine I were to give you a severed branch from an orange tree. The orange tree is nowhere to be found, but I give you the branch and say “Just wait, there is going to be a ton of oranges!” You would think I was crazy. Everyone knows that a branch cannot bear fruit unless it is connected to the tree (the thing that nourishes the branch to cause it to bear fruit).

There is no substitute for being connected to Christ. We cannot bear fruit in our lives apart from our relationship with Christ. So many of us as Christians try to do good stuff, maintain good behavior and say the right things in hopes that we will please God. But, ultimately, what we need is to stay connected to Jesus.

What this means that is our entire life is about admitting our desperate need for Jesus on a daily basis. We must admit daily that we need Jesus to survive. One of the concerns that I continually have for us is that we fool ourselves into believing that we ‘graduate’ and can, at some point, maintain our faith through our own good works. This is a lie. Instead, we need to remember that, apart from Christ, we can do NOTHING.

PRAY and admit to God all of the ways you are dependent upon Him. Ask Him to help you daily remain connected to Him.

Daily Devo - John 15:4b

“…as I also remain in you.” John 15:4b

Often we think we are the ones who have to remain in Christ, but Jesus says in this passage that He also remains in us! Jesus has a passionate commitment to remaining in relationship with you. It is not as if you have to do all of the work. In fact, Jesus has done way more than we can imagine to be in a relationship with us.

To name a few, He took of His divinity (His ‘God-ness’) to be human. He spoke in the language of humanity so that we could know His Word. He died on the cross in our place so our sin would not keep us from Him. He sends the Holy Spirit to us to guide us, teach us, counsel us, and comfort us. He promises to return and live with us in eternity as our God and King!

Jesus has gone above and beyond just to be in a relationship with YOU.

PRAY and thank God for all He has done to be in a relationship with you. Name some of them during your prayer. Ask God to meet you each day and to make you aware of His presence with you.

Daily Devo - John 15:4a

“Remain in me…” John 15:4

Today I want you to do something different. Jesus asks us in this passage to ‘remain in Him’. Spend some time in God’s presence. Here is a way you do that (though not the only way):

1. Thank God for loving you and being willing to meet you.

2. Admit any sins, attitude, or struggles you are having. Ask for forgiveness where you need it, and ask for help where you need it.

3. Ask God to be close to you (perhaps think about this passage: Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God”).

4. Sit in God’s presence. Your temptation will be to become distracted (read, turn on the TV, text, etc.). Force yourself to just sit in God’s presence. If things come to mind, don’t discount them. Take note of them and ask God about them.

5. Take it from here. Just spend time with the Lord as little or much as you want. When you are done, thank God for being with you.

Daily Devo - John 15:3

“You are already pruned because of the word I have spoken to you.”

John 15:3

Over the past week we have learned that God ‘removes’ those who do not bear fruit and he ‘prunes’ those who DO bear fruit so they will produce more fruit. Today’s passage literally says “you are already ‘pruned’ because of the word I have spoken to you”.

Because we are in Christ (remember, Jesus says ‘remain in me’ over and over in John 15), we are already ‘pruned’. Having a relationship gives us life! John 17:3 (which Jesus will say to his disciples later) says that having a relationship with Jesus means we have eternal life! Jesus tells them that they have this relationship through His Words to them.

Jesus’ words (THE BIBLE) are what cleanses us. Often Christians will go days, months, even years without ever reading the Bible. This would be like letting weeds grow in your yard. At first, it may not be a big deal. However, over time, they get out of control. Take a look:

God’s Word (the Bible) is meant to be cleansing for us. That’s why we are releasing these daily devotionals!

PRAY and ask God to continue ‘pruning’ you. Ask Him to speak to you through His word, the Bible. Commit yourself to reading God’s word on a regular basis.

Daily Devo - John 15:2b

“every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:2b

This passage considers us (any Christian connected to Christ in relationship) to be the branches that are getting pruned. What it means to be ‘pruned’ is that we are clipped of the things in us that cause us to be disconnected from Christ and hinder us from bearing fruit. This might be a sin, a bad attitude, a time-consuming habit, or anything that takes us away from the good stuff of life.

It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that ‘God doesn’t want us to have fun.’ In reality, God does!!! Pruning us is the process by which we are made to be exactly what we are made to be. As we are rid of those sins, attitudes, habits and all of that, we are living the best kind of life which will bring us the most joy and satisfaction.

PRAY and ask God to reveal to you those areas (sins, attitudes, habits, etc) that need to be pruned so that you can be more connected to Jesus and more fruitful in life. Ask Him to tenderly prune you of those things and offer yourself to Him.

Ask some tough questions:

What do you think are some areas that need to be pruned?

Sins:

Attitudes:

Thoughts:

Habits:

Anything Else:

Thank God that “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (John 15:3 – tomorrow’s verse).

Daily Devo - John 15:1c-2a

“My father is the gardener, He cuts off every branch in me produces no fruit” John 15:1c-2a

These can be some pretty intimidating words from Jesus. At first glance it seems like we will lose our salvation if we do not produce fruit. We need to take a closer look at this passage to understand what it means, though.

Remember that we said yesterday that Jesus being the vine means “we are to be connected in relationship to Jesus”. What this passage is saying is that if we are not connected to Jesus in a relationship, we will not produce fruit; instead we will wither and die. Our salvation is secure, but this passage is about thriving and producing fruit. So, the idea is that if you are connected to Jesus, you will produce fruit. If you are not connected to Jesus, you will wither and be cut off (you will not sense God’s presence).

Ask yourself some tough questions:

Are you connected to Jesus through prayer, reading His Word, worship, walking in His presence (we will talk about these as we go)?

Are you producing fruit through serving, telling others about Jesus, giving of your time, talent and treasure?

PRAY and ask God to connect you to Jesus. Ask Him to help you to see opportunities to produce fruit. Ask Him to help you thrive and grow!!!

Daily Devo - John 15:1b

“I am the true vine…” – John 15:1b

Jesus said that He is the vine? What in the world does that mean? Take a look at the picture:

Do you notice how the branch owes its existence to the vine. It only exists in relationship to the vine, otherwise it would be dead. Jesus being the vine means that we are made to be in relationship with Him. Just like a branch exists only in relationship to its connection to a vine, we are to be connected in relationship to Jesus. In that relationship of branch and vine, the branch gets its nourishment from the vine. So, we find our life and nourishment in Christ.

As we are thinking about ‘Growing a Movement’ we need to understand first and foremost that this ONLY happens in relationship with Jesus Christ.

Pray: Spend some time in connection with Jesus. Tell Him what is going on in your day; what has you exicted, anxious, or whatever. It can be silly, random, deep, incoherent, or whatever is on your heart. He is interested in being connected to you like the vine is connected to the branch!! That’s what it means that He is the vine.

Daily Devo - John 15:1a

“I am the true vine…” – John 15:1a

We are often tempted to believe that Jesus is just one of many gods. I mean, how do we know that Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or Judaism isn’t true and we are wrong? We assume we can’t know FOR SURE.

Jesus said He is the TRUE vine. This statement is one of fact. He has given tons of proof for this (this is what we talked about last semester – if you would like a book on the proof, let Jim know and he will give you "More than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell). We can have confidence that Jesus is true and really who He said he is.

But, here is the problem: If Jesus is who He says He is, then that means our lives need to change. That is what we will be looking at this semester. Take some time to answer the following questions:

What are some topics, questions, or doubts you have about Jesus being the ONE, TRUE God (“I am the true vine…”)?

If Jesus is who He says He is, our lives need to change. What are some areas you think you will need to change?

PRAY: Take some time to bring those areas of doubt before God – ask Him to answer your questions. Now, bring the areas of change to God and ask Him to love, accept, forgive and meet you in those places. Ask Him to change you – He will!!!