Early this summer I purchased a raspberry bush. Nancy and didn't think it would survive. Neither of us have time to tend it as it would need to make it through the worst of the summer heat. As it was dying I mentioned it to some friends at a coffee shop. One of them suggested taking a gallon milk jug and put a small hole in the bottom. Fill the jug with water and place it next to the plant. So I put pine straw around it and once or twice a day I would fill the jug and set it next to the bush. We thought for sure it was dead. One day I noticed new life in one of the branches. Then there were more and more new leaves. Eventually the bush became vibrant and full of life.
We are like that raspberry bush trying to grow. Once we are watered with the water of life we can sprout and grow. Jesus tells us He is the water of life. John 4:13 "...Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." If we drink of the water Christ gives us we will grow spiritually and become stronger in faith. Being filled with the Holy Spirit we will produce good fruits of the Spirit. If we are not filled with the Holy Spirit we will not produce good fruit. We will wither and die spiritually. John 15:1-3
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Jesus is the way and He is the source of our strength. Through Him we can bear fruit. It is through Jesus that we can be with God the father. John 14:6 "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Are you a vine that the Father will cut off and cast into the fire? Or are you a vine that will produce fruit? Will you be pruned to bear more fruit or resist and be cut off? Jesus is our water of life...
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