Fresh FruitSample

Day 12 | Now What?

How are you different today than when you began this study?  What are some things the Lord has shown you?  How have you grown?

As I’ve written this study, I have been challenged.

It’s become so clear to me that no matter how successful I am to the world, how great a mom I can be, how wonderful I am to my husband, or how involved I am in my church, if I don’t bear the Fruits of the Spirit I’m not in line with what God deems important.

The hardest lesson I’ve had to learn is that it’s nearly impossible to become a fruit-bearer if your life is so full of things to do and projects to complete that you can’t stop long enough to listen to His voice.

Over these past few months God has revealed things in my life that lend to “overload”.  I have begun to eliminate the extra things -- even good things -- that are keeping me so busy doing that I can’t be.

These things compound my inability to be patient with my children and give me no time for being the hands and feet of Jesus to someone in need.  I can’t possibly show kindness in action when I have my schedule so packed that I can’t stop for a moment to listen to what someone else thinks is important “right now”.  I will miss opportunities in my path to be Jesus to those around me if I don’t have a spare minute built in to my day.  

Remember, Jesus didn’t meet the needs of people on His schedule.  He met them when they needed Him.  At the drop of a hat.  It wasn’t on His GoogleⓇ calendar.  He didn’t have it in His iPhone.  He was available to do the work of the Father – even when it changed His plans.

With each new evidence of fruit, I have become even more aware that I can’t do any of this on my own.  The world is too crazy.  My responsibilities are too intense. The probability of failure is sure if I try and do it on my own strength. 

Follow me through the story Jesus told about the vine and the branches.  In John 15, Christ explains in plain terms (verses 4&5) that we absolutely cannot accomplish anything eternal apart from Him. 

Listen to these words.  “Take care to live in me, and let me live in you.  For a branch can’t produce fruit when severed from the vine.  Nor can you be fruitful apart from me.” John 15:4 (tlb).

Have you ever been given a lovely bouquet of flowers that took your breath away?  They smell wonderful and light up a room with their beauty.  What do they look like the next week?  If they aren’t completely gone and in the trash, they are looking wilted and are surely on their way to being thrown out.  Why?  Because no matter how beautiful they are, when they stand alone they can’t live without the vine.   Once they’re severed from their source of nourishment they not only cease to grow, but soon they’ll die.

And so it is with us.  If we stay connected to the vine, we’re likely to produce more fruit by accident than we could produce on purpose away from our source!  

The more fruit we’re producing and the more we’re growing in our relationship to Christ, the more important it is to stay connected.  We must abide. Abiding is persistent, lasting, enduring, and permanent.  

We don’t visit Him.   

We don’t come and go.

We live with Him.  

We abide.

We must constantly be searching and drawing from the Vine.   God wants us to know Him in a personal way -- an on-going work in progress.   

There are so many women searching for what they need.  But they won’t find it in a magazine, in a movie, or on a blog. 

All they need is to be connected to the Vine. 

He wants us to be beautiful.  

He wants us to choose the narrow path.  

He wants us to succeed.  

And He wants to help!

He sent the Holy Spirit to be our guide.  

When we enter into a personal relationship with Christ, He gives us a small reminding voice, the Holy Spirit, that prods us to make the right decisions… to love the unlovely, to choose good when no one else is watching, and to be faithful to our friends, our family and our God when we’re backed into a corner.   

I can’t do it alone.

And neither can you.

The good news?

We don’t have to.

Think about some things that are different in your life today than when you first began this study.  What are some action steps you’ve taken to make the changes permanent?  What Fruits of the Spirit do you see growing in your life?  How have you seen God working?  What is He doing in your life today?

Think about what it means for you to be connected to the Vine.  What things are you doing to nurture your relationship with God?  What are some things you aren’t doing that you know would bring you closer to Him?

How often are you in the Word?