15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
COMMENTS: Scripture gives us an abundance of parables and life examples and wise words of counsel to help us understand the importance of rooting our lives in God’s Word but also allow the Holy Spirit to grow roots in our minds and souls to guide and keep us rooted in His Word.
Today’s scripture gives us the example of importance of grape vines being rooted in good soil to access needed water and nourishment in order to flourish and bear much fruit. Likewise, our spiritual and eternal life nourishment can only begin and be sustained when we take root in Jesus. Jesus is our “go between” with the Father but also our connection to the source of eternal life. The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit Who abides in and guides the thoughts and minds and decisions of those who invite Him into their minds and souls and then stay connected to Him. The Holy Spirit is seamlessly connected to Jesus and to the Father. He is also of seamless in agreement with Jesus and the Father in thought and Will and Purpose and Plan.
God’s Will and Plan and Time Schedule are being fulfilled and implemented by the Father and Christ and the Holy Spirit seamlessly. They are together One God even though they each continue to be involved in different ways in completing that Will and Plan and Timing. When we focus on following the Holy Spirit’s counsel and opportunities, we also need to be aware and include Jesus in our thoughts and involvement as our Savior and Redeemer and Advocate to the Father. Our love and praise and worship goes to God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Yet the work and focus of the Holy Spirit is to be our One to one abiding Comforter and abiding Counselor who not only helps us stay focused but also to keep our mind and eyes and souls focused on Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That does not detract on our gratitude to the Holy Spirit but keeps us on purpose with how God chose to implement His Plan as a “Triune Plan” revealed through work of the Father and through the work of Christ and through the work of the Holy Spirit. To forget or ignore the work of the Holy Spirit only serves to miss out on a key and vital part and way God’s Will and Plan is implemented. To fail to plant some of our roots in Him for nourishment.
God also gives us enough details of Heaven, the eternal home He is preparing for us and enough details of the new body He is preparing us for so we can gain encouragement and hope to sustain us and keep us on track during trying and difficult and discouraging and even dangerous times that have been enduring and are being endured and will be endured by faithful followers and by those who will be faithful followers. By past and present and future faithful followers of Christ.
In a modern vineyard, there are three elements: the grapes, the vines, and the winedresser. When a wine wins an award, it is not the grape that is honored, nor is the vine dug up and rewarded. Rather, it is the vinedresser, who is praised for the quality of the grapes and wine produced .
Jesus drew a similar parallel in John 15 in His teaching on bearing fruit. He said His followers are branches that bear the fruit; He is the vine and the Father is the vine dresser (verse 1). His point is that when we as believers stay connected to the true Vine, Jesus, we will bear much fruit—or at least that is the plan. We stay connected by abiding in Jesus and allowing His words to abide in us (verse 7). The result is that the Father will be glorified when we abide in Jesus and bear much fruit. The glory is not ours; the glory is the Father’s (verse 8).
It is God’s will for us to bear much fruit in His Name—that is how we glorify the Father.
In short, good works are the fruit of saving faith.
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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