I am the true vine

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Jesus has several statements in the gospel of John that are called the "I am" statements of Jesus.  Jesus made some incredible claims about himself.  He claimed to be sent by the Father.  He claimed that Abraham, who lived hundreds of years before Jesus, saw his day and was glad.  Jesus claimed to be the bread of heaven and the light of the world.  He made this claim in John 15 to be the true vine.

Sometimes Israel was referred to as a vine.  In Isaiah 5:1-2 "I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard; My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.  He dug it up and clearned it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.  He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.  Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit."  Then, in verse 7 Isaiah clearly defines that the vineyard is the house of Israel and the men of Judah.  God says that he looked there for justice, but found bloodshed.  He looked for righteousness, but found distress.

Now, we are the people of God as believers in Christ.  We are the branches.  Jesus gives us this clear designation in John 15:1-5.  Then, he goes on to say what he expects from us.  He expects us to be "fruitful".  He says that we do this by "abiding in Him" and not through our own effort.  Our job is not to bear the fruit through our own effort or intelligence or good planning, but our job is to abide.  Our job is to stay attached if you will to the vine.

One of the way we do this is through prayer and surrender.  I must be willing to lay aside my own will and to take up my cross and follow Him.  I must be willing to surrender to Him will and ways and not my own.  I must be willing to trust Him when I don't see Him at work.  Believe me, there are plenty of times when it appears God is not at work.  But, God stillness does not mean he is not at work.

God desires your holiness more than your happiness.
God desires for you to grow up and trust Him.
God is willing for you to be uncomfortable in order to make this happen.
God is willing to wait as long as He needs to to get your attention.
God is willing to wait for us to learn to trust Him.  God is willing to be quiet and to wait for you.
He is waiting and watching over you today.  You wouldn't believe how much He loves you.

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