I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

John 15:1-11

If we abide in Him, we can bear His fruit.  It is only in the place of His Spirit.

Consider the place of His Presence.  Some call it living in Him, some call it abiding, some call it practicing His Presence, but those who stay within the flame pay a price to do so.

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[T]hou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength

Mark 12:30 KJV (portion)

The fool says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 14:1).  It takes faith to please God, for one must first believe that God is!  (Hebrews 11:6).  This is the first, and greatest commandment.  The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Consider for a moment, the Gospel of John.  Jesus says in John 16:27 that the Father loves us because we love His son and believe that He came from God.  In John 14:15, Jesus says that if we love Him, we will obey Him.  And, throughout the final chapters before the crucifixion, Jesus’ repeated command to the believers was this:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 13:34

While the summation of the Old Covenant, all of the Law and the Prophets hung upon these two commands, it should be considered that the goal of the New Covenant is the same, that is also hangs upon these two.

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 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

Galatians 6:1

What a far distance from this Scriptures so many people live today!  Not that this isn’t done, but that there are so few that can do it, or seem to, at the very least!  It happens for sure, but we could be further along.

Consider this.  If someone who is caught in a trespass, the one who is spiritual should restore the other in gentleness.  That is, the person who is not caught in sin should restore the person who is.  While it is obvious that a person here is caught in a trespass, let us not miss the obvious that there is someone in this picture who isn’t!

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He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

Mark 16:15-18

In my lifetime, I have been to many prophetic conferences.  I have been equipped, taught, and otherwise prepared and shaped through them.  As the late Jill Austin put it, she felt that conference were becoming the new Seminary for much of the Body of Christ.

Looking over the vast array of conferences, there are only a certain segment of them that interest me today.  The ones with a prophetic bent, the ones open to the manifestations of the Spirit, gifts, healing, prayer, and the like are what I generally go for, without another specific leading.  Certainly, my selection has been biased, I believe for the better, but God is the ultimate judge.

Yet, in the course of my attending many such meetings, it has come to my attention that there is a greater plan, the overall calling, or charter, if you will of many of these conferences.

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I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 (portion)

The beginning portion of this verse says that the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  Jesus said that He came not only that we might have life, but have it to the full!  The moment we begin to think that in some way, that this fullness of life has anything to do with this life, let us remember the apostle John’s words.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15

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But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

1 Corinthians 2:15

The world has not seen, within the space of several generations anyway, a host of spiritual men.  There were of course plenty through history, and there have been great pockets of notable names even in the darkest hours (Revelation 3:4).

Today, the world has had it plenty of people afraid to judge, afraid to speak, and afraid to have any bold opinions, but this is not how it was at the beginning.

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Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Exodus 3:1

Moses, a man of forty years old, found pasture in a far away land, on the “back side of the desert”.  He had lived his entire life in the palace.  After murdering a man, he fled to a far away place, and found favor with a man named Jethro, a priest of Midian.  For the next forty years, until he was a man of eighty years old, are scarcely mentioned.  He married Jethro’s daughter, had children.  And, his greatest achievement to show the world up to that point, as a murder, was tending someone else’s sheep.  For forty years.

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Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

2 Peter 1:5-11

We are told by Peter how to be be sure we remain productive, or fruitful, in Christ.  Whereas one aspect of Sermon on the Mount could be loosely termed ‘how to keep from falling in ministry’ (Matthew 7:26-27), this passage could be likewise be termed ‘how to remain productive in the Kingdom’.  Peter goes on to say that by practicing these things, we will never stumble.  This is a great promise!  What great freedom is ours in Christ, to never again stumble after the flesh, but to be pleasing to Lord, body, soul, and Spirit, so long as we live.  What a great gift and availability before us, if we choose to walk after His Spirit.

Jesus said that the good soil produced a harvest, some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred fold.  Faithfulness, the good heart, produces something, where the others, even if the plant grows, produces nothing.  In this way, the true heart after His produces fruit in keeping with His.  As faith without works is dead, so a heart living out of His heart must produce the fruits of repentance, of righteousness, and of the Kingdom. Read more…

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Matthew 5:8

All of my desire is in this one thing, to see His Face (Psalm 27:4).  If we truly have this hope in ourselves, we will purify ourselves (1 John 3:3).

The New Testament is replete with examples that underscore the fact that the God of the Old Testament hasn’t changed His desire for purity and holiness as a lifestyle for those who are of His house.

Hebrews 12:14 says without holiness no one will see Him.  2 Corinthians 7:1 indicates that we should do it out of reverence.  It was because of His reverence that Jesus was heard of His Father when He prayed (Hebrews 5:7).  Ephesians 5:6 indicates strongly, lest we give way to being deceived with empty words, that God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient.  Even Jesus Himself, in Matthew 5:48, commanded us to be perfect, even as the Father is perfect.

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But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8

The demonstration of the Kingdom of Heaven is in power.  With respect to those who have gone before, who have had only their level of revelation from the scriptures, remembering that we, too, only see the portion of the words of Jesus that have been entrusted to us, unless the Kingdom of God is demonstrated with power, we have not fully preached the Gospel (Romans 15:19).

And this power is founded upon a Kingdom, whose throne is righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14).  It is always in the context of exercising authority, while being under the authority of another (Matthew 8:9).  A servant that is proven unfaithful to the will of the master, who goes around saying, “In the name of my master, whom I serve”, while not serving Him, will have that power taken away, and given to another.

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