How to Bear Much Fruit

If you are a Christian, you desire to be fruitful. You want to please God, you want to be productive, you want to be a blessing. But what does it take? Jesus tells us what.

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. (John 15:5 NKJV)

Making up your mind that you are going to be spiritually fruitful and productive and then trying real hard to do so will leave you frustrated and defeated. Why? Because it takes more than will power and dogged determination to be fruitful spiritually! “Without Me you can do nothing,” Jesus said. That’s nothing, nada, zilch!

Then how can you be fruitful? By learning the secret of the branch. By learning to relate to Jesus like the branch relates to the vine.

I’ve never seen branches struggling to bear fruit. Have you? No, they bear fruit effortlessly. They bear fruit, much fruit, by simply “abiding” in the vine and allowing the flow of fruit-producing sap from the vine to enter them. Branches are fruitful because they are excellent at receiving life.

And that, my friend, is what it takes to bear much fruit spiritually. Just behave like a branch. Become excellent at receiving Life!

“But Bishop,” you ask, “how do I receive Life from Jesus?” By grace through faith! Notice all Jesus requires of you is to “abide” in Him. That simply means, “remain where you are.” Like a branch on a tree, God has already graciously placed you where you need to be for life to enter into you. He has already placed you in Christ, so that Jesus’ life is now able to flow through you effortlessly.

Your part is to believe this, that He has joined Himself to you like a vine is joined to a branch. Then, as by faith you acknowledge His union with you daily, and meditate on His sayings, you experience His fruit-producing life working in you just like sap from the vine works in a branch. You experience Him as your life, and He bears His fruit through you!

Child of God, stop struggling to bear fruit. That is not God’s will for you. Though well-intentioned, such struggles are exercises in futility. Rather, use your faith to focus on the presence of Jesus in you. Learn to receive life through your union with Jesus, just like the branch receives life through its union with the vine. Believe He is your life, feed on Him, and you will bear much fruit effortlessly. You have His word for it, and He cannot lie.