"If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you."
Your asking will be in line with the nature and goals of God.
Asking whatever you wish does not include necessarily, being forever healthy, having lots of cars, boats, houses, fancy clothes and flaunting ostentatious wealth. One may need a car. But five!?
Abiding in Christ means learning to think, reason and value the way Jesus does. Abiding does not mean making yourself the focus of all effort.
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. — John 15:3-4
Remember that God made the first move in your salvation. He sought you out. He pursued you. He drew you to himself out of totally undeserved grace. There was nothing in you that attracted you to him. Now respond to his seeking by seeking him. You now have his Spirit working in your to will and to do, so will and do.
The fruit you seek comes from the abiding. It does not come primarily from knowing, being or doing but from knowing being and doing in response to and as a result of God’s saving work. The knowing, being and doing don't come first. What comes first is God saving you; taking you, a wild branch, and grafting you in. As Paul says, “Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the olive root, do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.”— Romans 11:17-18
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
"I [Jesus] am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit."
It is God who cares for the vine. He is the one taking away and pruning. His reputation as a gardener is at stake. He will work at making sure that the vine bears and that the yield is great.
God purges so as to form bigger, better, more flavoursome, more nutritious fruit. In the process you may lose something precious to you, but it may be in God’s plan that that loss is so as to improve your fruit and make you resemble God more in your character and behaviour.
And what is the yield in view? What fruit must come from the Christian? Christianity! Christian-ness! Christ-likeness! In fact some commentators suggest that so far as John is concerned, the sheer fact that you have been grafted into the vine is fruit, because it’s not something you can do yourself – only God can make you, a wild branch, part of the vine.
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
