21 Days of Prayer; a Devotion on JohnSample

John 15 | Abiding in the Vine and Friendship with God

Jesus asks us to abide in him - to make our home, to remain, to rest, and stay constantly attached to him - just as the branches of a grape plant remain constantly attached to the vine. In Southern Australia, deep in the Eden Valley, there is a vineyard called the Hill of Grace where vines planted 160 years ago produce fruit every year and are turned into beautiful wine that makes the heart glad. Every decade that passes, the deeper and richer the flavour. This is Jesus’ desire for us who abide. When the world encourages us to move from one novelty to another, the secret to life-long fruitfulness is to patiently and consistently abide. This is also the secret to friendship with God. So how do we abide? To abide in Jesus, is to abide in His love, and to abide in His love is to love others as He has loved us, and in loving others, we bear the fruit of the Cross – won for us on His Hill of Grace.