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Be Not Fruitless or Barren -Part 1 of 3 (Amplified & KJV) To become partakers of the divine nature, we are admonished to nourish and nurture the life of Christ that has been planted within us. As we allow the formation of His character to develop and increasingly abound, and as we continue to abide in Him and His Word in us, we will be neither barren (idle) nor unfruitful “unto the (full personal) knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One”{2 Peter 1:8}. As Paul prayed for the Christians at Colossae, we desire “… to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work… {Col 1:10}. As we manifest the life of Christ, the Gospel within us continues to bear fruit and grow “[by its own inherent power]” {Col 1:6}. But just as a branch severed from the vine cannot produce, neither can we produce the fruit of Christ’s character without abiding in Him “…apart from Me—cut off from vital union with Me -- you can do nothing” {John 15:5}. How often do we attempt to change the appearance of our carnal fruit without discerning the root from which it grows? How often do we allow the roots of selfish desires and aspirations to strangle the sacrificial life of Christ? “Israel is a luxuriant vine that puts forth its [material] fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars [to idols]…Their heart is divided and deceitful…”{Hosea 10:1-2}. How easily and how often do we find our godly roots being choked and suffocated by “the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches and glamour” {Matt 13:22}? Or how often do we, like the Shulamite, become so busy working for others that we neglect the care of our own souls? “…they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have I not kept” {Song of S. 1:6}. In John 15:1, Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the true vine and His Father the husbandman. “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit…Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit…{v. 8}. The Father desires that we allow the Christ-life within to increase in productivity from “some fruit” to “more fruit” and ultimately to “much fruit.” In order to plant God’s word effectively, Jeremiah first had to “root out and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow” {Jer 1:10} all that had taken root in place of that word. When the Lord asked him to identify his first vision, Jeremiah responded: “…I see a branch or shoot of an almond tree [the emblem of alertness and activity, blossoming in the late winter]. Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it” {12-13}. As the Master Husbandman, the Father watches for the maturing of the many-membered body of Christ into that one new man for whom the ages have so long waited. -Ruth French January Newsletter 2004 | To Be Humbled part 1 | Stop, Look, and Listen | Test of Perseverance part 1 of 2 Pastor's Journal January 2003 | Intercessors Invitation | Be Not Fruitless or Barren part 1 of 3
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Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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