Reading your Bible for today December 17

December 17: John 15:1-8

KJV Key Verse: John 15:7
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will , and it shall be done unto you.

Devotion:
What gives you more confidence in something than being able to actually experience it and practice it? What gives you a better understanding of something that being able to find out what can go wrong? What gives you a better feeling about something than knowing you have someone close by who will be able to help if anything gets out of hand?

When Jesus started this talk to the disciples just before the last supper. He had so much to say and not too much time left to say it within. He wanted to make sure they understood what they had left to do with their lives. He also wanted them to know they must depend on Him for everything. This was probably a bit of a struggle for them to understand just after being told that He was going to die, but using the vine branch as an example was excellent.

If you want your vine, or even a fruit tree, to produce more fruit at the right time of the year, you have to tend to it in many ways. One of those ways is by pruning; cutting away the useless branches and trimming back the good branches so they will be invigorated. The more you trim back a branch (so long as you know what you are doing) the more the shrub or tree will to likely to produce. Another way of making sure the plant survives is by cutting off a piece of a good branch and splicing it into another tree so it has a good place to grow.

We are like those branches. We need a good environment in which to grow. We need to be cut back now and again so we continue to grow in the right ways. If we were to be let loose to grow as we please, we would not choose the right ways and we would end up being useless in many ways and good in only a few. But whilst there is someone to keep us in trim, we continue to be of the very best use! If we were to start failing in one environment, moving us to another may well be the answer for us, so we can expand to our full potential. But whatever way we look at it, we are nothing without the ultimate gardener to tend to us. We are nothing without the love and care from that gardener. We need only ask for His assistance and we will get it!

Points to Ponder:
Do you look forward or backward when things go wrong?

Will you ask God for help to continue forward?