let the fruit grow

Some of the most incredible scenes and people in the world are those who can use the land God gave and grow anything and everything on it.  Through the years I have taken notice of some of these type places.

Some people have small gardens.  I’ve seen them in planters on apartment balconies.  I’ve seen then in small portions of city backyards, but I have also driven across vast fields that seem to never end with corn or anyone of a number of crops.

One of my favorite places where I have watched or seen things grow is a vineyard.  I walked through a friends backyard where he had several grapevines.  This friend was dying with cancer, but the care he had taken of these vines was incredible.  Then and in to the future John 15 has come to life when I saw such vineyards.

A few years ago I read part of Margaret Feinberg’s book Scouting the Divine, and the secrets or insights from various places were incredible.  One of those places was a vineyard.  That and the vines I had visited made this following Scripture come alive.

John 15:1-8  NLT

I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. ³ You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. ⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷ But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! ⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

In the verses we have just read we learn about our relationship with God and how it relates to the vinedresser, his vines and the fruit that will or is growing on them.

God desires for us to grow, and He provides all that we need.  Abide in God.  Spend time with God and allow your growth to come alive and be or what God made them to be.  Fruit is coming.  Fruit should be overflowing from our lives.  Let it grow.  Let God make more fruit a reality.