There is no zoom prayer room in July, we resume in August.

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

John 15:1-8

PRAYER GUIDE

Jesus makes two promises to us, each based on a condition. The first conditional promise is this: “If you remain in me, you will bear much fruit.” And the second is it’s opposite: “Apart from me, you can do nothing.”

When God makes a promise, He really means it. His promises are not like so many human promises, that fail over time. It is not possible for God to break his promises or to lie. So when Jesus promises we will bear much fruit, if we abide in Him…he means both parts. We really will bear fruit. Our lives will be fruitful. Not fruitful like a factory that churns out widgets 24/7, but fruitful like a grapevine, or a tree, that yields its fruit in season. There will be seasons of dormancy and winter and pruning. But there will be unmistakable fruit that issues from our lives. It is impossible for a healthy branch, embedded in the vine, to not bear fruit. Fruitfulness is the natural result of remaining. So he means it when we says we will bear fruit. But he also really means it when he says, “If.” We will only beaf fruit IF we go on abiding in Him. Fruitfulness is a conditional promise. If we want a fruitful life, we must meet one condition. Only one. We must abide.

The other conditional promise Jesus makes is the opposite corollary. “Apart from me you can do nothing.” That is to say Jesus is promising, that however hard we try and however much we want to, all our best efforts will fail to produce fruit…if we are apart from him. This too is a promise. There is no getting around it. We live in a world where lots of people are doing lots of things. Things that seem to be important. Things that seem to make a change. Things that gain the attention of others. That gain notoriety, fame, accolades. But don’t be deceived – if these people are doing these things apart from Jesus – they will amount to nothing in the grand scale. And so it is with us. We may think we can accomplish much apart from the Lord. But we need to take him at his word. In the words of the Instructor in Ecclesiastes, it is all vanity, a striving after the wind.

And so, our invitation this morning, is to take Jesus at his word. To recognize he means to keep his promise. And that the promise he makes to us is based on our decision – will we abide or will we do life apart from Him? And therefore, it behooves us to examine our manner of life over the past season – has it been a life of abiding or has it been a life of not abiding?

PRAYER PROMPTS:

• Ask the Spirit to search you. To reveal the habits and places in your life where you have done life on your own.
• Ask for faith and trust in Jesus’ promises…both the promise of fruit and the promise of barrenness.
• Ask God for fresh and holy resolve to do nothing on your own. Holy resolve to remain in Jesus through patterns and habits of prayer throughout the day.
• Invite Jesus to lead you and work through you in your work, whether that is a 9-5 job, a ministry calling, raising children, or whatever.
• Ask God for wisdom to order your life in a way that keeps you connected to him through the day.
• Begin to pray this for others in your life, your family, friends, loved ones.
• Pray this for the Big C church – that God’s people will resolve to abide so that we can bear much fruit.

There is no zoom prayer room in July, we resume in August.

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

John 15:1-8

PRAYER GUIDE

Thus far we’ve explored our dependence on God and how we “remain/abide” in Jesus through ongoing back and forth communication. Now let’s turn our attention to another aspect of the relationship between vine and branches: pruning.

Jesus says this, “My father is the gardener. Every branch that remains in me he prunes so that it will be more fruitful.” 

Pruning is unpleasant. It involves the removal of living tissue. It involves the cutting off of something we have become attached to and gotten used to. And according to Jesus, God will prune us, even if we remain IN him. God will cut away things from us. Things we have grown accustomed to and gotten used to. This is a promise. He will do it. There is no question about this. 

Why? Why does the Father prune us?

As those familiar with gardening and especially with the care of vineyards know, pruning is essential for a healthy plant. Without pruning, plants can grow top heavy. Or plants can accumulate deadwood that sucks energy and/or adds strain to the plant. These can be dead or diseased limbs that get pruned, but not always. Sometimes, even our past growth, if not pruned, can hinder future fruitfulness. In the case of a grapevine, every year, the vinedresser prunes back the growth of the past year all the way to the vine itself, cutting off nearly all of the branch, so that it can grow in a new season. A branch that does not remain will wither and die. A branch that remains but will not allow itself to be pruned will produce minimal fruit. But a branch that both remains and is pruned will produce maximum fruit.

How does God want to prune you? What needs to be removed? From your life, your calendar, your habits, your thoughts, your focus? Growth and fruitfulness are often not a function of adding more stuff to our already packed lives, but taking things away. It is this pruning combined with our dependence and abiding in Christ that makes our lives fruitful.

PRAYER PROMPTS:

• Pray this for the church? What needs to be cut away or pruned?
• Give God permission to prune you. Ask, “Holy Spirit,” what does the Father need to prune so that I can produce maximum fruit in this next season?
• Pray this for your family and/or friend group.

There is no zoom prayer room in July, we resume in August.

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

John 15:1-8

PRAYER GUIDE

On the last night of his life, in a few short verses, Jesus uses the word remain (or abide) 8 times. The Greek, meno, is a present, continual, plural command. In other words, “keep remaining,” in me. 

How does a branch remain in a vine? Plants have vascular systems, not unlike our veins and arteries. Sap flows back and forth between vine and branches, carrying with it nutrients and water. It is this back and forth movement between vine and branches that enables the branch to remain alive. Once the flow stops between vine and branch, the branch withers, dies, and falls off the vine. 

Our job, our one job, our first job, our only real job, the job everything else derives from – is to keep the arteries and veins of our souls open to Jesus. To keep talking to and listening to Jesus. To watch out for anything that stops the back and forth relationship of dependence on Jesus. If we do this, Jesus promises, we will bear fruit. We don’t need to try to produce it, it will come naturally as a byproduct of being connected to a lifegiving God. If we do not keep the lines open…we will begin to lose our vitality and wither.

This summer, let’s pray for ourselves and the church, for the lines of communication between us and Jesus to re-open.

PRAYER PROMPTS

• Pray for barriers to be removed…whether those are areas of sin or disobedience or a business of life that has removed space and time to commune with Jesus.
• Pray for new rhythms and ways to abide and commune with Jesus
• Pray that this vital connection with Jesus would take the priority in our lives – especially for any of those in ministry leadership. 
• Pray for repentance for operating in the flesh and a renewed conviction to depend on Jesus and walk by the Spirit of God.