Daily Dose of Hope
November 5, 2025
Scripture – John 15
Prayer: Almighty Father, You always know what is best for us. Thank you for that. We are sorry for the ways that we resist. Help us to want what you want for us. Help us to want to be patient, to want to be kind, to want to be obedient. Conform our will, Lord, In Your Name, Amen.
Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan. As most of you know, we are right in the middle of a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts. Today, we are deep diving into John 15.
The Scripture that we read from John 15 is incredibly powerful. Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
Jesus is talking to his followers about how to walk closely with him, essentially what it means to be a disciple. What is a disciple? A good working definition, for our purposes, is an apprentice, someone who wants to learn all they can from another person so they will do what they do and become like them. To be a disciple of Jesus, that means we have to actively learn about Jesus, know him, become like him.
And this Scripture gives us a really important clue as to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. A disciple remains in Jesus. Older translations use the term abide. To remain or abide in Jesus means not simply to have said yes to Jesus, but to have a connection with Jesus, we are in union with him, we stay with him, we rest in him. Let's think about this. The presence of Jesus is always with us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is always there, but we tend to move away from him. Jesus is saying here, remain in me. Stay close to me, stay connected to me, stay in conversation with me. How do we do this? Well, through prayer, reading Scripture, worship, and other spiritual disciplines. If we don't pray, if we don't read the Bible, if we don't worship, we will not feel connected to Jesus. We are not remaining in him and the result will be evident. We will feel dry, parched, alone, we will start to gradually make choices that don't represent who we are in Jesus, the world will begin to seep in, gradually, so gradually sometimes that we don't even notice.
I've used the teacup example before. If you drink tea (and use teabags), then you are either a dipper or a steeper. If you dip that teabag in the water, you go up and down and up and down and the tea never gets that strong. A lot of people are like that with faith. They are dippers. They dip into prayer and dip out of prayer. They dip into Bible study and dip out of Bible study. They dip into church and dip out of church. But Jesus wants us to be steepers. He wants us to steep in prayer, Bible study, and worship. He wants us to soak in his presence so we are like really strong tea.
Now, part of abiding is to acknowledge that we need Jesus and are totally dependent on Jesus. Think about this---the branch is totally dependent on the vine. Without the vine, the branch is useless, lifeless, powerless. Sap flows from the vine to the branch, supplying it with water, minerals, and nutrients that make it grow. And believers receive the "sap" of Christ's grace through our life-giving connection to him. Intentionally remaining in Jesus is recognizing that we can't do this life alone. We need Jesus. I need daily, sometimes hourly, times of prayer to abide with Jesus. How are you doing abiding in Jesus? (Use a scale of 1 to 10 right now to assess how well you abide in Christ, 1 being not at all and 10 being totally soaking him in all the time).
Let's take a look at the next part of the Scripture, John 15:5-8, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
So we can see the other characteristic of a true disciple is producing fruit. When we abide or remain in Jesus, then fruit should be the natural result. Resting in Jesus makes us changed people – our attitudes are different, our behavior is different, it's noticeable. We are more patient, more kind, more loving, more generous, more gentle; basically, we look more like Christ. We bear fruit not by squeezing it out of ourselves but because we are extensions of the vine, pruned by the gardener.
Think about a grapevine. I've never been very successful growing grapes in Florida but most of us have seen a grapevine at some point. They are typically grown on a trellis. They have to be pruned and trimmed by the gardener in order to produce new healthy branches that bear fruit. If you don't prune, then you are going to have a lot of leafy green but it won't produce new branches that bear fruit. It will look good but it won't produce anything. And the point is of course, not simply to look pretty on the trellis, but to actually produce some fruit.
Of course, our purpose is not simply to look good, to look Godly or righteous, but to ACTUALLY produce fruit. So, God may need to prune us to ensure that happens. I used to be afraid of God's pruning, but I've found in my own life that God prunes me because he loves me. He wants to remove those things in my life that are hindering my spiritual growth. This could mean bad habits, bad relationships, things that are toxic, generally anything that is getting in the way of me becoming the person God wants me to be. Sometimes God removes things directly (like he simply removes something from our life like a relationship or a job or you name it – think of something God removed and in retrospect, needed to remove from your life). Other times, God convicts us so that we will make the move to remove whatever it is that is creating a wedge in our relationship with him.
Think about your relationship with God right now. What has hindered you from bearing more fruit or bearing fruit at all? Fears and insecurities from your past? Selfishness? An unhealthy attachment to stuff? Unhealthy friendships, unhealthy behavior patterns? Complacency, being too comfortable, laziness, fatigue, lack of passion? Whatever it is, acknowledge it now. God wants better for you. He wants to walk closely with you. In fact, God wants HIS best for you. He wants you to live a fruitful, abundant life. Do you want that? Really, do you?
Let's spend some extended time in prayer, asking God to reveal himself to us right now.
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki
