I am the True Vine

I am the True Vine

John 15:5 - “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.

            Jesus said, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” I really wanted to know this meant so I went online and began to research the terminology of it all. And I was able to dig up some pretty neat stuff. To properly grow the grapes, the grounds must be fertilized, planted in the right season, and be can carefully cultivated so to produce the fruits. They must be cut back on a dormant season so to produce better fruit woods. When your vines start to grow you have to train them by cutting off certain branches in order to make room for good quality fruits. You also need to train the branches to wrap around certain fences or other vines. It’s all a long process in order to produce good quality grapes. One cool things someone said was that the vine is what provides the water and the nutrients to the branches. It is the source of life. Without it, there wouldn’t be the branch or the fruit to go with it. Now after learned all of this, I had a revelation with this passage.

To me, this who process just screams Jesus. Because Jesus is the True Vine, God sent him to be in this wicked world. He sent him in the time that we needed him the most. And Jesus’ task was to cultivate the people for the kingdom of heaven. In the time Jesus was walking on this earth, he rebuked, loved, encouraged, and brought true transformation into this completely darkened world. Jesus is our Vine of Life. He gives us everything we need in order to flourish the way God intended us to. We are to be so deeply rooted to Him, that our branch is weighed down by a multitude of glorious fruit. We need to WANT to STRIVE to have the JACKPOT of all branches.  But…. If you don’t have that desire, then you are going to be writhed up by your own selfish pride. That pride that tells you that you can be your own vine. That pride that Satan likes to puff up and tell you that you can make everything happen in your own power.  Let me tell you something, that’s absolute TRASH. Living Word says right here at the end of this verse that, “apart from ME….. you can do NOTHING.” You cannot live your life that true joy, true peace, or fulfillment if you don’t have Christ living in you. The thing that blows my mind is that once we admit to God that we are nothing, He turns us into His inheritance.  

I had to tell God that I was nothing so he could show me just how great He is in my life. I had to ask me to break me, in order to for me to understand who he truly.  I encourage you to ask Him to break you, so that you can fully understand what he did for you on that cross. Put yourself in the purifying fire. It’s painful to melt away all of the layers of guilt, shame, grief, and everything else, but once God takes you out of the fire, the result is more than worth it. It was sure was in my life. But it’s a continual process and you have to be committed. Ask yourself, do you want to be a branch or do you want to be a withered branch that will be cut off? Eternal Life or Hell? There is no in-between.

Application:

I am going to fast Wednesday and take that time to reflect on God and what he wants and spend time in Prayer