Devotional Guide For the week of April 6, 2008
LIFE FOREVER MORE
About fruit and works
To read the Bible in one year, today read Psalms 19-21
To Know:
³Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself,
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.²
(John 15:4)
If a person bears fruit for the kingdom of God, what does he or she
produce?
The Bible abounds with promises that faith will produce fruit. Perhaps the
most familiar promise is in Psalm One where we read, ³Blessed is the man
who
walks not in the counsel of the wickedhe is like a tree planted by
streams
of water, that yields its fruit in its season.² (1,3) Jesus told those who
abide in him by faith that they would produce ³much fruit.² (Jn. 15:8) To
the Colossians Paul wrote, ³All over the world this gospel is bearing
fruit
and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard
it
and understood Godıs grace in all its truth.² (Col. 1:6) What fruit do we
bring forth who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ?
In nature, fruit comes from the seed that was in fruit that was before.
Apple seeds in apples promise future apples. Fruit in the Christian life
was
first borne in the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to expect results
from having our faith in his name. ³Truly, truly, I say to you,² said our
Lord, ³he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater
works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.² (Jn. 14:12)
To Do:
Jesus came to reveal the truth about God. He alone has seen the unseen
God.
John wrote, ³No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom
of
the Father, he has made him known.² (1:18) We who believe are ourselves
the
fruit of Christıs labor. We know what the world has never guessed, that
³God
is light and in him is no darkness at all.² (1Jn.1: 5) Also, we know that
God is love. (1Jn. 4:8) We know that it is eternally safe to trust in him.
To walk by faith in Christ is to enter into partnership with God that
through us he might do his works on earth.
To Ask:
Father, grant me to be fruitful for you.
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