Fri Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ you are not bearing any fruit, because you are not even a branch. You are not even attached to the vine. Once you decide to become a follower of Jesus Christ and you decide to become that branch, from that moment on you enter into a life-long process where your Heavenly Father as a loving gardener is going to do everything He can to maximize the fruit in your life. He does it the same way a gardener does. A gardener does two things with a vine to maximize its production. First of all, he continually positions that vine in a way to receive the most sunlight so it can bear the most fruit. Listen to verse 2 again.

“Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away.”(John 15:2)

The words “take away” can better be translated “to pick up” or “lift up.” Grapes are not like squash or pumpkins. They don’t develop while lying on the ground. They grow better when they are hanging free.

Sometimes branches get so heavily loaded up that they droop close to the ground and they get covered in dust. Then, they can’t get the sunlight they need and they begin to wither. The vinedresser will come along and lift these branches up off the ground, brush off that dust and repossession that vine so that those branches are hanging free so they can get the most sunlight. That is why if you go to a vineyard you will see vines stretched out from pole to pole. They are trying to keep the branches in a maximum position so they can bear the most fruit.

So many times things happen to us where God is simply trying to pick us up and lift us up and put us in the best place we can possibly be to bear the most fruit for Him, but we don’t even realize it.
He will send people to encourage us when we are down or He will answer a prayer that we thought was impossible or He will provide a way out of an inescapable situation or He will solve a problem that we thought was insurmountable. All He is trying to do is position us where we can bear the most fruit.