John 15:8 // When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
We love to describe our God as a God of increase because He saw fit to give His creation the ability to grow, to reproduce and to multiply. Although there are some who struggle with the idea that God is highly interested in growth, when you take time to study nature and how it behaves, you can clearly see that increase is indeed the heart of God.
We’ve said it before but it bears repeating: our God wants us to be fruitful.
Whether it is in our marriages, our families or our finances, God wants us to increase in every area of our life. He wants us to increase in our purpose. To increase in our love and generosity to others. He also wants us to increase in our relationship with Him, which comes with increasing our knowledge of His Word. In order for His kingdom to expand throughout the earth, it requires for us to maintain a faithful commitment to grow and to increase.
Earlier on in this passage of scripture, Jesus describes Himself as a vine, and those of us who believe in Him as His branches. If you have ever seen a fruit vine in person, you know that the branches are only alive and productive when they are connected to the vine. As His branches, the same is true with us. When we are committed to staying connected to God through His Word and through prayer, we are essentially staying connected to a source of constant increase for our lives.
When we agree to abide in His presence, we rarely have to worry about the results. God does that for us. There’s nothing we have to do or make happen. When we abide in Him, fruit happens. By producing fruit, we are demonstrating the difference between simply being a believer and being a disciple. A disciple is someone who doesn’t just believe in God, he or she is connected to God.
Connection always produces, and when we are connected to the right things, it can produce a life of joy. Did you realize the most fulfilled and happiest people on the planet are those people who are being productive? They’re not just being busy doing things that don’t matter; but they’re being fruitful because they are focused only on what will bring results.
Perhaps today is one that you just aren t experiencing the results you are looking for. It could be a season of barrenness or one that feels like a dry wilderness. Well, we’ve got good news for you. Where you are now is not where you have to stay. Just like a branch connected to a vine, there are seasons where God desires for us to be pruned. It’s not that He is mad at us, but so He can produce more fruit in and through us.
God wants us to grow there before we go there.
This season of focus and discipline can produce an amazing harvest of fruit if you lean into God’s presence. Believe today that where you are is designed for increase. This pruning has a purpose.
Once you realize that you were created to multiply and produce, you will begin to see that what God has for you just ahead may in fact be your best season yet.
Day 13 of 21 Days of Prayer
*This devotional is from A God First Life, written by Pastors Michael and Charla Turner
