“I
am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” —John 15:5
In John 15, Jesus reminds us that we are to abide
in Christ, and he reminds us that apart from Him we can do nothing. He tells us
that if we are going to bear fruit, we are going to have to be pruned, and in
order to please God, we must bear much fruit. Part of being pleasing to God is
that we must submit to the Master’s shears. A lot of that comes in our times
of prayer.
Some of us need to be pruned of our leisure time,
our money, our desires, in order to spend time in prayer. It’s exciting to
know that God will definitely prune us in our prayer life, but it’s also great
to know that we have an Advocate with the Father.
1 John 2:1-2 tells us that Jesus will plead our
case before the Father. He doesn’t plead our case because we are innocent; He
pleads our case because we are guilty and we have been forgiven by Him. It’s
exciting to know that when we come to prayer we come as forgiven people, as
people to whom the righteousness of Christ has been imputed.
Pray
for God to give you the ability to do what He’s calling you to do, that you
might bear the fruit that He wants you to bear. Ask God to show you anything
that needs to be pruned from your life.