I seen a funny T-shirt a Christian guy had one time that had a picture of a cartoon bear with fruit around his head. This made me think...What does it mean to bear fruit? Probably one of the most famous passages of scripture in the Bible is John 15. I will whole-heartedly admit that when I was growing up I thought bearing fruit meant that we Christians had to produce the fruit. This actually held me back considerably for a long time because God had set this ridiculously high standard of me producing fruit and all I could see was that I fell short. So what did I do when I fell short, tried harder and harder. This eventually left me even more discouraged.
God finally spoke to my heart through reading this passage and through preachers that I listen to through on podcast on my phone. I came to realize verse 5, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. I was never trying to abide solely in God, I was trying to make bear fruit in my own strength. I was trying to do everything I thought God wanted me to do without His help. Long story short, I tried producing fruit for much of my Christian life with little to no results, the results I did have were merely fleshly.
So how does one bear fruit?
Abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know, I said the same thing. What does that look like? How?
The best way I believe that I have heard it put which helped me to understand this was, think of a man and a woman. A man and a woman when they are ready to bear physical fruit [produce a child] they are not necessarily thinking about the mechanics of how to produce a child but get caught up in a moment of intimacy with each other and the result thereof is a child. Spiritual fruit is much the same way, believers get swept up in the intimacy with Jesus the Christ and the natural result is bearing fruit. The intimacy is the "Abiding in Me" part. This may come through different ways depending on how you are as a person. For me this comes through intensely studying God's word for sermon preparation. This comes through worshiping in the car extremely loud and with all abandonment while driving down the road, through God speaking to my heart [usually at very early hours in the morning causing me not to be able to go back to sleep] God speaks to me repeatedly, giving me plans, and dreams for my life, how He is going to bring things to pass.
Go bear fruit!
I think not.Go abide in Christ. Abide in Him through His word, worship, prayer, listening. Get caught up in a moment, a season, a life of intimacy with Him and let Him bear fruit through you. For further understanding and reading use 1 Corinthians 3:5-17.
God finally spoke to my heart through reading this passage and through preachers that I listen to through on podcast on my phone. I came to realize verse 5, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. I was never trying to abide solely in God, I was trying to make bear fruit in my own strength. I was trying to do everything I thought God wanted me to do without His help. Long story short, I tried producing fruit for much of my Christian life with little to no results, the results I did have were merely fleshly.
So how does one bear fruit?
Abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know, I said the same thing. What does that look like? How?
The best way I believe that I have heard it put which helped me to understand this was, think of a man and a woman. A man and a woman when they are ready to bear physical fruit [produce a child] they are not necessarily thinking about the mechanics of how to produce a child but get caught up in a moment of intimacy with each other and the result thereof is a child. Spiritual fruit is much the same way, believers get swept up in the intimacy with Jesus the Christ and the natural result is bearing fruit. The intimacy is the "Abiding in Me" part. This may come through different ways depending on how you are as a person. For me this comes through intensely studying God's word for sermon preparation. This comes through worshiping in the car extremely loud and with all abandonment while driving down the road, through God speaking to my heart [usually at very early hours in the morning causing me not to be able to go back to sleep] God speaks to me repeatedly, giving me plans, and dreams for my life, how He is going to bring things to pass.
Go bear fruit!
I think not.Go abide in Christ. Abide in Him through His word, worship, prayer, listening. Get caught up in a moment, a season, a life of intimacy with Him and let Him bear fruit through you. For further understanding and reading use 1 Corinthians 3:5-17.