General:
- Glory to God in the Highest (published: Tabor Voice, Nov-Dec 2002; Divine Light, Dec 2003)
- Living in the Will of God (published: Tabor Voice, Jan-Feb 2003)
- What we should do this Lent (published: The Examiner, March 2003)
- Lost your reputation? Rejoice! (published: Divine Light, July 2004)
- The Potter & His Clay - A Spiritual Analogy
- Death on an Easter Sunday
- How Jesus saved us from the fire next door
- God isn't deaf
- Get on a Barnabus trip
- A Year Older and a lot less Wise (Part 1 of the Birthday Trilogy)
- He sang to me (Part 2 of the Birthday Trilogy)
- The Value of Intercession (Part 3 of the Birthday Trilogy)
- Do you want a FREE GIFT that can never be taken from you?! (Dec 2003 / Jan 2004)
- Love is in the air... (February 2004)
- Was it worth it all? (March 2004)
- I Confess... (April 2004)
- The Beautiful Blessing of Christian Fellowship! (May 2004)
- Power Evangelize! (June 2004)
- 'Best Friends' till the end (July 2004)
- Family Matters (August 2004)
- Do you know WHY you believe? (September 2004)
- You're going to be let down (October 2004)
- Praying with the Holy Pope (November 2004)
- Hang in there (December 2004) (published: Divine Light, Jan 2005)
- Just like that. And you're gone (January 2005)
- The Divine Lover of My Soul (February 2005)
- Is it ever "too late" to do right? (March 2005)
- To Emmaus, or back again? The choice is yours! (April 2005) (published:Divine Truth, April 2007)
- Bear Much Fruit (May 2005) (published: Divine Light, July 2005)
- Holiness and the Heart of Love (June 2005)
- Spiritual Boot Camp (July 2005)
- Abundant Life! (August 2005)
- Unanswered Prayers? (September 2005)
- Trust in the Lord! (October 2005)
- Persevere! (December 2005)
- New Resolutions this New Year (January 2006)
- 'Having it All' = Having Jesus (February 2006)
- He Understands (April 2006)
- My Invisible Tattoo (September 2006)
- Cardinal Justin Rigali ~ "Glorify God in Your Body" (October 2006)
- A Fattened Calf for me (December 2006)
- How to come out of a Spiritual Downward Spiral - Part 1 (January 2007)
- Jesus is Alive. Need Proof? ( October 2007)
- Biblical Catholics (November 2007)
- Religion or Spirituality? (September 2008)
- Lessons from the strange race between the Tortoise and the Hare (October 2008)
- How to react when Spiritual Leaders fall / backslide: (November 2008)
May 2005
Bear Much Fruit
The Gospel of St. John contains the passage where Jesus calls Himself the "True Vine". (John 15)
Shortly after this we hear our Lord telling us two beautiful things - the first, an assurance of His love for us "You did not choose Me, but I chose you..." and the second, a mission for us to follow: "...and I appointed you that you should go forth and bear fruit." ( John 15:16 )
There are several different categories people (who are here compared to branches) fall under:
a. The branches that bear no fruit.
b. The branches that bear some fruit.
c. The branches that bear more fruit.
d. And finally, the branch that bears much fruit!
What is this "fruit" that we are called to bear then? In Matthew 7 :16, Jesus tells us "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" "Fruit" is nothing but the outward expression of the inward nature.
What Jesus was telling us then is in essence that the nature of Christ (Who dwells within us in the person of the Holy Spirit) should be expressed outwardly.
We are called to bear all the fruit - and to bear them in abundance. Should we love all people then? Yes! And how much? Completely and unconditionally, like God loves us!
Easy to say, not so easy to do!
But remember if Jesus expects all of us to bear fruit, it cannot be as impossible as it may sound.
The CCC teaches us: By this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit . He Who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear "the fruit of the Spirit: . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."[129]
"We live by the Spirit"; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we "walk by the Spirit."[130]
Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God "Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory.[131]
As we have just seen above we can achieve this seemingly impossible task of acquiring the nature of Jesus Christ by being filled with His Holy Spirit.
When we are told to "die to self" and "put on the nature of Christ" it sounds a daunting task. In reality it is as simple as asking the Holy Spirit to fill you daily - that you may do as He desires (rather than as you may have wanted). Change and transformation may (& probably will) not be instant, but it will be long lasting, if based on the Holy Spirit.
It is only the Holy Spirit Who can change our inward nature. So for example, if we have been struggling with impatience all our lives, the Holy Spirit can change us into patient people.
Keep in mind then, that this is not something that we can do if we feel like it - it is something that the Lord has expressly commanded us to do.
In fact if we do not do this we will face terrible repercussions; "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away..." (John 15:2)
This website is called Glorify God. When I started it, God inspired me using 1 Corinthians 10:31 as a base "whatever you do, do it for the glory of God".
Today I can see, in order to do anything "for the glory of God", we must be filled with His Holy Spirit. When we are, we will start bearing the fruit of the Spirit, which will transform our nature (& entire lives) into that of Jesus. This is what glorifies God!
Jesus Himself says this "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples." (John 15:8)
From the above we can clearly see:
* We are called to bear much fruit
* This is only possible when we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit
* The Holy Spirit in us will enable us to bear these fruit, which will transform our nature more & more into the nature of Jesus
* This is what will glorify God.
Blessings on you, that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit & bear much fruit in your lives,
May 2005
