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“Abide
in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine,
ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” -John
15:4-5
Abide in Me. Let My goodness flow to you. Do you think that you may do
anything at all without Me? Can you in any way do a good work without Me?
Yea, though it may appear good outwardly, without Me you can do nothing as
you ought. For behold, I have not called you to do good works, I have
called you to do My works.
Where does fruit come from? How is it formed? I am a good and fruitful
apple tree, and I call you therefore to abide as a branch upon this tree.
Only My roots can pass the waters of My Spirit upward to you. It is My
fruit, though you bear it on your own branch. It is My goodness, traveling
up and through, and concentrating and materializing into fruit. It is My
Spirit flowing through your branch into the fruit of good works. It is not
so much the fruit itself, but what it is composed of: it must be by My
Spirit. How else will the world see My love? It Is not natural affection
that I wish to manifest, but divine love. It is not your fruit, but Mine.
Beloved, you cannot pick an apple from another tree and present to Me as
good fruit. I have called you to do My good works, and I have called you
to bear My fruit. To make good the outward appearance only, and to leave
the inward composition to your own power, and to draw energies from your
own tree is to bear corrupt fruit.
Again I say, abide in Me. Without Me you can do nothing. Without Me you
cannot bear the good fruits that I have called you to bear. It must be
drawn from My roots, and travel in the power of My Spirit, and traverse
finally into your abiding branch: only then will you truly do the works of
your Father.
Dear child, likewise is this true for the fruits of sin: waters are drawn
from the ground of that old land of sin - with the roots of your old life.
Your iniquity travels up your branches, and lo, an evil work is brought
forth from your own grounds. And just as you could not have imported a
foreign apple into My orchard and called it good, so too is man unable to
corrupt you through forcefulness of his own evil fruit; each man bears sin
of his own roots, and these are not shared with another.
Where does sin and corruption come from? Is it not from that old tree of
Adam? Murder, adultery, theft, lying: all these things are end-fruits from
the same dark roots. For lo, the fruit of immorality has a traceable
origin: for it draws first from the evil roots called LUST, and travels
upward into a branch called OPPORTUNITY, and proceeds down the stem of
TEMPTATION, where finally the dark waters and energies of sin materialize
into that disgusting fruit called IMMORALITY.
My dearly beloved child, think not that one may throw into your blessed
orchard an evil fruit without your consent. Man may not force you, from
his own fruits of corruption, to be defiled: was such a thing grown from
the roots of your own sin? Was it conceived and thought of in your own
mind? Or shall he, as by forcefulness, take an apple picked from his own
dark tree and attach it to your branch? Beloved, he cannot do this!
“There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile
him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the
man.” Mark 7:15
My precious one, if you have borne bad fruit, then repent, and I will
forgive. But if one has forced himself upon you, behold, it is not your
fruit! Where did such a thing come from? My child, I cannot forgive you a
sin that you have not committed, yet you may be continually weighted with
guilt and shame from your own self. My dear child, you are every bit clean
in this matter. Beloved, I do say again, I say with My arms firmly around
you in tender love: you are every bit clean!
Little one, I have called you to bear good fruit. Come here into My arms,
and I will protect you, and make you a very fruitful branch. Do not let a
few bad apples that have fallen unto your grounds ruin the whole orchard.
When you esteem such as part of your own tree, and from your own branch,
you sting yourself, and bring your mind into bondage. My love, these stray
fruits are not your own, and they cannot and need not be forgiven - for
they did not proceed from your own heart. Why do you integrate another's
evil into your own beauty? Beloved, cast these things forth: I will make
you whole! Let each man turn from his own sins.
Again, come to Me in all hope and faithfulness, and abide in Me. I will
make you a fruitful branch. My Spirit shall flow goodness into your
branches, and comfort you with an everlasting comfort. I shall bring forth
in you the abiding fruits of love, peace, and joy. Take courage My love,
and abide in Me, for I shall never be very far from you: lo, you are a
branch on My very tree! I have joined you unto Myself in love - we are
one.
“And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee
unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in
mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt
know the LORD. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith
the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; ...And I
will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had
not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou
art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.” -Hosea 2:19-21,
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