Good morning. 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. No matter what “great“ thing we do or how
perfect we live, we can take no credit and cannot brag. It is all Jesus! 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. Whoa! That
sounds ominous. Want to get your prayers answered? If you abide in Me, and My
words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. That
sounds simple – but not easy. As I said before, people are looking for some
formula to get their prayers answered. This does not mean just reading the
Bible every day and going to church on Sunday morning. You have to stay
constantly in tune with Him. That along with allowing His word to become a part
of you means that you don’t have to worry about asking something that is not in
His will. When we know and follow Him as we should, then we will only be asking
things that are His will. Of course that is not is easy as it sounds ha ha, and
takes a long time to perfect. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear
much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Remember that pruning is necessary
to bear the fruit. Bearing fruit may include winning others to Jesus, but it is
not limited to that. Remember the fruit of the Spirit. That fruit takes a long
time to develop. Father thank You that the reader abides in Jesus and bears
much fruit. Go with him/her and his/her family and answer all of his/her
prayers!
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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