I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer

July 10 Scripture: John 15:1-8

“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.  He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes.  And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.  You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

Live in me.  Make your home in me just as I do in you.  In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

I am the Vine, you are the branches.  When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.  Separated, you can’t produce a thing.  Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.  But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.  This is how my Father shows who he is – when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.” 

Journaling Prompts

1.      Have you ever visited or seen a picture of a vineyard?  Describe what it looks like including the area surrounding the vineyard (is it hilly, flat, arid, green etc.)

2.      Are you a gardener?   What do you do to tend your garden? 

3.      Of the three statements of our vision – Be With, Become Like, Live like – which is reflected in the passage to you?

4.      How do we “make our home” in Jesus?  Describe your vision of the perfect “home” including how it makes you feel to be in that home (real or imaginary).   How does this look like your relationship with Jesus?

5.      What are the “grapes” that you see produced through your relationship with Jesus, the Vine?  In our church, community and the world?  Ask God to give you a desire to be a fruit-bearer.