Got back from a weekend Bible conference and am taking today off and enjoying this one today with you from Spurgeon that I gleaned from his Morning and Evening Devotions. It was actually on Hosea 14:8 (suggest you read it on your own) but it fits perfect and you most likely would not have known. I pray that God blesses these words and that we all may find encouragement and enlightenment that He is pleased to reveal.
Extra Credit: Basically todays message, and every message is that fruits, works, faith, salvation, anything that All Things are of God. And so is the title and article by Tom Harding.
Jhn 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Jhn 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Jhn 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
How does He purgeth the branch?
Our fruit comes from God, through our union with Christ. The fruit of the branch is directly traceable to the root. Sever the connection, and the branch dies, and no fruit is produced. But through our union with Christ, we bring forth fruit. Every branch of grapes started in the root, passed through the stem, flowed through the sap vessels, and fashioned itself externally into fruit. In a similar manner, every good work was first in Christ before it was brought forth in us. Christian, prize your precious union to Christ, for it is the source of all fruitfulness. If you were not joined to Jesus Christ, you would be a barren branch.
The fruit owes much to the root, which is essential to fruitfulness, but it also owes much to external influences. How much we owe to Gods providential grace! He provides us constantly with life, teaching, consolation, strength, or whatever else we need. Whatever we have or are, we owe to Him. Our fruit comes from Gods wise cultivation of His vineyard. The gardeners sharp knife promotes fruitfulness by thinning clusters and cutting off superfluous shoots. So it is Christian, with the pruning the Lord gives you. (from C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening Devotional)
