“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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
~~~John 15:1-2 (ESV)~~~
“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.”
~~~John 15:1-2 (MSG)~~~
“I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.”
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.”
~~~Matthew 11:28-30 (AMPC)~~~
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Former atheist Police Detective J. Warner Wallace* “Faith is not something that’s blind. It’s the step you take at the end of the evidence trail…And I knew two things, that He was who He said He was and…I am in need of who He says He is….And it changed who Jesus was to me….but that doesn’t make you a Christian….I had believed that the Gospels were telling me the truth. You don’t move from belief that to belief in until you stop reading the Bible for what it says about Jesus and you start reading the Bible for what it says about you…You eventually have to come back to the truth”.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.
Rich Mullins “There are many things in the Christian faith that are hard to get a handle on. And one of the things that I struggle the hardest with is believing that God really loves me. It’s too good to believe, but it’s true. Whether I can believe it or not. The fact is, I mean if you took the whole Bible and you shook it around and melted it down and said what is the essence of what this whole thing is saying, I think that it would just be that God loves you very much, that God in fact is crazy about you….To the degree that you can believe it, it changes things”.
“for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God”.
~~~John16:27 (ESV)~~~
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.
~~~Romans 5:8 (ESV)~~~
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him”.
~~~1 John 4:16 (ESV)~~~
“Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever”.
~~~Psalm 136:26 (ESV)~~~
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”.
Andrew Wommack referencing a conversation he had with a woman who believed in God yet was in support of social moral issues which explicitly conflict with scripture, “….explain to me how you can say that you are a Christian, that you love God, and yet you believed in all these things that are completely contrary to what the Bible says?” Her response, “….I was a Christian and I loved God, but I did not love the Word of God,…I didn’t honor the Word of God, I didn’t respect the Word of God,….when I came to Bible college and I began to realize the importance of the Word,…now that changed everything”.
Andrew Wommack “There may be some people here who say that you’re a Christian and yet you believe in things that are completely contrary to the Word. You could be a Christian and still not have the right value system, but you can’t fear God to where you trust in Him and exalt His opinion above your own. You can’t fear God and still embrace these principles that are completely contrary to the Word of God,…the fear of God will cause you not to be wise in your own eyes, but instead exalt the Word of God”.
“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.”
Billy Graham “Religion doesn’t save anybody. Religion is man’s attempt to reach God. Christianity is God’s attempt to reach man. There’s a vast difference”.
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
~~~Luke 16:15 (KJV)~~~
“But He said to them, You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted and highly thought of among men is detestable and abhorrent (an abomination) in the sight of God.”
Jesse Duplantis “You never judge Christianity by the conduct of Christians. You judge Christianity by the conduct of Christ. Cause on the cross He said forgive them for they know not what they do”.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Kirk Cameron “To be a Cameron is to be a Christian. And I know that there’s been times I’ve seen my wife stand up on the kitchen table, you know, in moments of conflict and say ‘as for me and my house we serve the Lord. Satan get behind me!'”
“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Have you ever wondered what the real difference is between living life what looks to be the world’s way, compared to the way a true born again by the saving grace of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection lives life? In other words, do you honestly know how a Christian should live as stated in Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (ESV).
The book of Galatians speaks of walking by the Spirit in order to not give in to the desires or lusts of the flesh: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” Galatians 5:16 (ESV). Also “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” Galatians 5:16 (KJV).
What are the desires or lusts of the flesh? “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these…” Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV). As if we need more confirmation as to why we should refrain from such, verse twenty-one explains “…I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” Galatians 5:21 (ESV).
Okay, so how then should we live? In other words, what does it mean to walk in the Spirit? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,…” Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV). Again, do we need further confirmation as to why walking in the Spirit sounds so good? “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” Galatians 5:24 (ESV).
Honestly, just reading through the list of the fruit of the Spirit makes sense and leaves no doubt in my mind how good life can be for the Christian who realizes just how truly blessed we are.
Despite it being lengthy, should the English Standard Version not be convincing enough, maybe reading Galatians 5:16-26 in The Message will be:
“16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.
22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” Galatians 5:16-26 (MSG)
Blessings!
“Alone With God” by Deb E
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