Kenneth Copeland Ministries: Pursuit Of His PresenceSample

Overflow With His Fruit

by Gloria Copeland

“If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered.” John 15:6

Jesus said if we want to bear fruit we must abide in Him. The word abide has a sense of permanency about it. It doesn’t mean to come in and go out. It refers to the place where you remain and dwell continually.

Contrary to what many people seem to think, you cannot live from Sunday to Sunday without spiritual food. You can’t fellowship with the Lord once a week at church, ignore Him the rest of the time, and still have the new man on the inside be the dominant part of you. John 15:6 makes that clear.

The moment a branch is broken off from the vine, it begins to die. It doesn’t matter how close they are to one another. You can lay that branch beside the vine, but if the union has been broken, there will be no life flow. There will be no sap (no life) flowing from the vine into the branch.

The same is true for us. When we get too busy to spend time with God in prayer and in His Word, when we get preoccupied with natural, earthly things and disconnect from communion with Him, we immediately begin to wither.

The word wither means “to shrivel, to lose or cause to lose energy, force or freshness.” That’s a vivid picture of what happens to us when we aren’t living in vital contact with the Lord. We still belong to Him. We still have His life within us, but His energy is not flowing through us so we can’t produce anything.

We lose our capacity for spiritual action. We may know what to do, but we find ourselves lacking the power to do it. We haven’t the strength to bear fruit!

On the other hand, when you do abide in the Vine, you are certain to bear fruit. In fact, it is inevitable! The power of the Holy Spirit flowing through you will just naturally bring forth that which God has placed within you. And you will begin to act like the loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, gentle, good, faithful, meek and self-controlled person you really are! You will overflow with His fruit!

Speak the Word

“I abide and dwell in Jesus so that I bear abundant fruit.” —John 15:5, The Amplified Bible

Need prayer? Call 817-852-6000. We’re here for you, 24/7!

Also, visit www.kcm.org/youversion to receive a free gift from Kenneth and Gloria Copeland.