View source for 180:2 The Vine and the Branches

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180:2.1 Then [[Jesus]] stood up again and continued [[teaching]] his [[apostles]]: " I am the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vine true vine], and [[the Father|my Father]] is the husbandman. I am the vine, and you are the branches. And [[the Father]] requires of me only that you shall bear much [[Fruits of the Spirit|fruit]]. The vine is pruned only to increase the fruitfulness of its branches. Every branch coming out of me which bears no fruit, [[the Father]] will take away. Every branch which bears fruit, [[the Father]] will cleanse that it may bear more fruit. Already are you clean through the [[word]] I have [[spoken]], but you must continue to be clean. You must abide in me, and I in you; the branch will die if it is [[separated]] from the vine. As the branch cannot bear fruit except it abides in the vine, so neither can you yield the fruits of loving [[service]] except you abide in me. [[Remember]]: I am the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vine real vine], and you are the living branches. He who lives in me, and I in him, will bear much [[fruit of the spirit]] and [[experience]] the [[supreme]] [[joy]] of yielding this [[spiritual]] [[harvest]]. If you will [[maintain]] this living spiritual [[connection]] with me, you will bear [[abundant]] fruit. If you abide in me and my [[words]] live in you, you will be able to [[commune]] freely with me, and then can my [[Spirit of Truth|living spirit]] so infuse you that you may ask whatsoever my [[spirit]] wills and do all this with the [[assurance]] that [[the Father]] will grant us our [[petition]]. Herein is [[the Father]] [[glorified]]: that the vine has many living branches, and that every branch bears much fruit. And when the world sees these fruit-bearing branches—my [[friends]] who [[love]] one another, even as I have loved them—all men will know that you are truly my [[disciples]].[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gospel_of_John#Chapter_15]

180:2.2 " As [[the Father]] has loved me, so have I [[loved]] you. Live in my love even as I live in [[the Father]]'s love. If you do as I have taught you, you shall abide in my love even as I have kept [[the Father]]'s [[word]] and evermore abide in his [[love]]. "[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gospel_of_John#Chapter_15]

180:2.3 The [[Jews]] had long taught that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messianism the Messiah] would be " a stem arising out of the vine " of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davidic_line David's ancestors], and in [[commemoration]] of this olden teaching a large emblem of the grape and its attached vine decorated the entrance to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple Herod's temple]. [[The apostles]] all recalled these [[things]] while [[the Master]] talked to them this night in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenacle upper chamber].

180:2.4 But great [[sorrow]] later attended the mis[[interpretation]] of [[the Master]]'s [[inferences]] regarding [[prayer]]. There would have been little [[difficulty]] about these [[teachings]] if his exact [[words]] had been remembered and subsequently truthfully [[recorded]]. But as the record was made, believers [[eventually]] regarded [[prayer]] in [[Jesus]]' [[name]] as a sort of [[supreme]] [[magic]], [[thinking]] that they would [[receive]] from [[the Father]] anything they asked for. For [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christianity centuries] [[honest]] [[souls]] have continued to wreck their [[faith]] against this stumbling block. How long will it take the world of [[believers]] to [[understand]] that [[prayer]] is not a [[process]] of getting your way but rather a [[program]] of taking [[God]]'s way, an [[experience]] of [[learning]] how to [[recognize]] and [[execute]] [[the Father]]'s will? It is entirely true that, when your will has been truly [[aligned]] with his, you can ask anything [[conceived]] by that [[Free will|will]]-[[union]], and it will be granted. And such a will-union is [[effected]] by and through [[Jesus]] even as the life of the vine flows into and through the living branches.

180:2.5 When there exists this living [[connection]] between [[divinity]] and [[humanity]], if humanity should thoughtlessly and [[ignorantly]] [[pray]] for [[selfish]] [[Indolence|ease]] and vainglorious accomplishments, there could be only one [[divine]] answer: more and increased bearing of the [[fruits of the spirit]] on the stems of the living branches. When the branch of the vine is alive, there can be only one answer to all its [[petitions]]: increased grape bearing. In [[fact]], the branch exists only for, and can do nothing except, fruit bearing, yielding grapes. So does the true [[believer]] exist only for the [[purpose]] of bearing the [[fruits of the spirit]]: to [[love]] man as he himself has been loved by [[God]]—that we should love one another, even as [[Jesus]] has loved us.

180:2.6 And when [[the Father]]'s hand of [[discipline]] is laid upon the vine, it is done in [[love]], in order that the branches may bear much fruit. And a [[wise]] husbandman cuts away only the dead and fruitless branches.

180:2.7 [[Jesus]] had great [[difficulty]] in [[leading]] even his [[apostles]] to [[recognize]] that [[prayer]] is a [[function]] of [[spirit]]-[[born]] [[believers]] in the spirit-dominated [[the Kingdom|kingdom]].

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[[Category:Paper 180 - The Farewell Discourse]]
[[Category: Parables]]
[[Category: Progress]]
[[Category: Prayer]]