January 24, 2016: Fruitfulness in Christ

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 24  

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a video of the group Hillsong singing in leading worship, … Jesus You’re All I Need, expressing reality of total surrender in fruitfulness to Christlikeness, allowing the fruit of the Spirit to be manifest in our lives.

 
Highlight Passage:  John 15: 5 [NKJV] …  
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 
 … Jesus tells us (His disciples) to be connected to/with Him to be fruitful in this life. 
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Highlight Context – John 15:1-8 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK  …  
… Jesus taught in the Upper Room about being fruitful as His Disciples.
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Reference Passage #1 - John 14:21 [NKJV] …  
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 
 … Being obedient to Christ and His word = Fruitfulness in Christ

Reference Passage #2 - Romans 12: 1-2 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK  …  
… Fruitfulness is “living sacrifice,” avoiding the worldly deterrents to a fruit-filled life.

Reference Passage #3 - Galatians 5:22-23 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… Being fruitful in Christ produces these nine characteristics of Christlikeness - Also see attached photo.

My Journal for Today:  Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Lawrence Darmani, helped his readers appreciate what it takes to be a fruitful Christian. What about it, friend? And the question today is, “Do we consider ourselves to be fruitful disciples of Christ?”

 And Jesus, the night before His perfectly fruitful sacrifice on the cross, called His inner 12 Disciples [and all Christians] to be fruitful and He taught them what it would take to live as fruitful disciples. They didn’t really get it at that time; but later, after the resurrection and God’s Spirit coming upon them at Pentecost, they did get it; and they began to live out the fruitfulness of born-again Christians. 

And when we, as disciples of Christ, do what Christ preached in John 15:1-8, we too will demonstrate - in our lives - the fruitfulness of Christlikeness, which was delineated by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2 and Galatians 5:22-23 (see also the attached photo). And in that fruitfulness we’ll internalize and realize the truth of what Hillsong sings in the linked song today … that Jesus is all we need!!

 So let’s go forth today, dear one, completely connected to The Vine and displaying His fruit of Christlikeness for all to see in our lives.

My Prayer Today:  Heavenly Father, … Help me to be fruitful and display Your fruit in my life. Amen  

Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.