Below is part of a letter of encouragement that I sent to a friend a few months ago.  The letter is based on John 15:1-17.  I thought I would share it here in hopes that it also encourages you to rest in Christ and allow Him to be your life source.

It was originally written to one person, but I have updated it to be written to the Bride of Christ since it is now going out to a larger audience.

My Bride, I want you to know that I am the real and living grapevine, and my Father is the caretaker who watches over everything and puts everything into the perfect place at the perfect time. You are a branch in Me. You are part of Me. You live inside of Me. You are nourished by Me. I carry the living water to you and all the other branches in Me. All you have to do is rest in me. The living water is already flowing to you and through you.

Drink deeply my dear Bride. Don’t get too caught up in this world around you, how good you are living, or whether or not you are pleasing Me. My Father is always at work cutting out the branches in you that aren’t producing fruit to make room for the new branches that I am sprouting. Let go of the old and cling to the new!  Focus on Me and these other concerns will be dealt with through My Life in you.

The new branches that are of Me will produce more fruit than you could ever imagine. In fact, the Father has always been pruning you as you learn of Me. This is how you experience more and more of Me, by letting my Father prune. The more you depend on Me for everything, the more I will grow in you. Only divine life produces real, living, eternal fruit. As long as you continue in Me, I will bear fruit in You.

Yes, I am the authentic, eternal vine; you each are a very special branch in Me. Everyone who draws life from Me will produce abundant fruit. Realize, though, that you cannot draw life from yourself, nor can you produce any fruit on your own. You are only branches; I am the vine, the source. The life comes from Me and flows out to everyone and everything. Those that will not drink from My living water will eventually wither and die because they have no true life in themselves.

When you are consumed with My living water, you will see things just as I see and hear them because we will truly be one vine together. It will be easy for Me to give whatever you ask because you are asking from My perspective! My branches are the ones who partake of Me and manifest and express my own nature. And this is my nature: to love you exactly like My Father has loved Me. When My nature is flowing through and out of you, you will always be doing what I desire, just as I always do what My Father desires.

Don’t get down on yourself! I’m telling you all of this because it is truly joyful to those who abide in Me. My desires for you are filled with joy and are not burdensome. I simply want you to love each other the same way I have shown you love by laying My life down for you. There really is nothing greater in the universe than this! This is the most powerful thing of all! This is like a nuclear bomb in the heavenly realms, and it shames all those that stand against Me in the natural and the spiritual world! And you will do this completely naturally when you are abiding in Me and drawing from My living waters.

People will say, “Look, there is a friend of God!” As my dear Bride, I have opened up to you all of my secrets. You used to be slaves to this world, but now you know what will conquer this world: My life and My love, which is completely different from what passes for love in the world. Maybe you think that you chose Me. Actually, I chose You long, long, ago, and have hungered and thirsted to know you fully as a cherished branch in Me, and to see the fruit grow that you have already been chosen to produce. Remember, when you are one with Me, you will long for and fulfill My desires and the desires of My Father, which is that you love each other.

Follow the Life!

*****

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