Living in the Vine 10 

Out of the Overflow

Read John 15:5; Psalm 106:13; Romans 5:1-6; 1 John 2:27.

Jesus’ word is very clear: in order to be those who bear much fruit for Him, we need to learn to ‘abide’ or ‘remain’ in Him. We have a choice to continue walking in the ways we know, that have borne moderate fruit in the past, or make the choice to dig-in deeper into our relationship with, and dependency on, Father God that we might bear the degree of fruit He longs for us.

Back in 2001, my husband and I were faced with such a choice. We had been planting a church for the ‘unchurched’ in a rural village for the previous three years but by the summer of 2001 every single person relocated to different parts of the country. At that time, the Lord gave us a very real choice: we could either start again using the learned methods that had brought a modest level of fruitfulness or we could go with Him on a riskier, more challenging personal journey, one which would mean a complete life of trust, faith and dependency on Him, no longer relying on any pre-learned ministry experience, and relying on Him to meet all our needs. He promised that if we persevered in this, we would see a whole different level of fruitfulness to anything we could have ever thought or imagined. We made the choice and went on the journey and I am still doing my best to keep following.

‘Abiding’ comes down to cultivating a moment-by-moment consciousness of the indwelling Holy Spirit, giving time to waiting in His presence, to enjoying – revelling actually – in our communion and fellowship with Him. As we do so, we become aware of the truth as Paul writes that “…God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5). Then, out of the overflow of His love, we find that He places His word, His will and His ways within us. So, we find ourselves receiving instruction, direction, correction or training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16) and because we know these things are flowing out of this well-spring of living water within us, we have the confidence to trust Him and walk obediently.

This is the ‘sap’ that flows from the Vine to and through us, the branches. This ‘sap’ contains everything we need to live a life of godly obedience. Without Him, everything we are and do falls back into the activity of the flesh. The Psalmist describes the futility of Israel as they refused to not wait on God for His counsel. But if we will learn this lesson, with Him all those things that we long to see happening in our towns, villages and nation really are possible. There will be fruit in us, and what we do for Him will also be fruitful.

Additional reading: John 15:6; Lamentations 3:24-26; Colossians 2:9-10.

Prayer Time

To walk with Jesus in this way is a big challenge, especially to our own preconceived ideas of what the message of the Kingdom we embody should look like. We naturally default by resorting to old learned patterns. 

• What is the challenge in this for you personally?
• What does ‘fruit’ look like in your life? Is it only spiritual or is it practical as well?

The shorter catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith says that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Give the remainder of your time today to waiting quietly in Father’s presence. Invite the Holy Spirit to take control of those things you have just identified. Allow His peace to flow over you. 

Turn your eyes to Jesus and enjoy Him.

To see previous installments of this devotional, follow this link. 


^{Image by David Kohler on unsplash.com}