Today's thought - 21 August 2026 (By this my Father is glorified)

 

“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:8 NKJV).

I want to come back to what we were discussing yesterday. The whole concept of “Abide”. I personally believe that this message is very important for us in our day to day lives and how we address the challenges we face.

Yesterday I made a statement: “The taller the tree the deeper the roots”. My friend pointed out to me that trees grow in two directions. They grow up towards the sun, but they also grow down in their root system. You see for the tree to grow upwards it needs to grow downwards first. A strong root makes for a strong tree. Now to bring that into human context. If we want to grow in life, we need to make sure our roots are planted in good soil and watered continuously so that the part of us that is visible can grow outward and upward. In other words, what we do in the darkness (our prayer room) will be visible in the light. What the heart is full of will be visible in our daily lives.

Where does the tree get good soil and where does the water come from? I am glad you asked. The good soil is our willingness to hear and apply the Word of God that we read. The water we get is to do this every day, go to homecell and church. Here we are watered by our fellowship with God and with other believers so that our lives can become fruitful.

Now this is the most important part: “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” (John 15:5 NKJV).

It is in our time that we spend with the Lord and how we apply the Word of God into our lives that we abide in Jesus. Our Pastor said this morning that your Bible is actually a bag of seed and this seed needs to be sowed in your life and those in your circle of influence so that your will bear fruit and have a great harvest.

It is in our obedience and our faith that we will see a great harvest. As Paul writes in Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith”.

We walk by faith in complete surrender and trust so that God can shift things in our lives so that when He abides in us, that the result will be much more fruit than what we can think or imagine.

To summarise. It is how we connect with our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives that He can work through us for the benefit of all and for the glory of God. More of Him and less of us. It is removing ourselves from the equation and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us so that we will prosper and bear more fruit.

Have an awesome day, my friend.