Abiding Fruit
(week 49/03)
Olubi Johnson
John 15:16-17 (NKJV ): You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.
Here, the Lord Jesus tells us that He wants us to bear fruit and that the fruit should remain or abide or be permanent.
What does this involve practically?
Firstly, we need to understand that the fruit He speaks of here is the fruit of the character of God: love, righteousness and justice.
This character fruit will then produce prayer fruit: the fruit of answered prayer.
For this fruit to remain means that you will exhibit these characteristics under all circumstances:
You remain loving, kind, patient and gentle under pressure.
You maintain rightdoing in the face of intense temptation.
You maintain justice even when it does not profit you.
Literally you become like God whose character does not change in the face of severe pressure and provocation:
Malachi 3:6 (NKJV): “For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
It is because God’s character does not change that we are not consumed when we grieve and provoke Him with our sins: we are to be the same in our dealings with all men.
To do this you must remain in communion with God constantly: pray without ceasing (1Thessalonians 5.17).
You must maintain regularly, as a daily habit, what I call:
Closet prayer (Matthew 6.6) : Your private prayers at home or in church prayer meetings: where you pray in tongues continuously and read, meditate and confess the Word without interruption.
Conversational or Communion prayer (Luke 21.36): your frequent communion with God: asking Him for mercy unto eternal life to be faithful in whatever maybe coming your way and praying quietly in tongues in between and in the middle of normal physical activities.
We see this concept of closet and communion prayer in
Ephesians 6:18: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (closet prayer), being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints(communion prayer)—
Closet prayer can be likened to a generator while communion prayer can be likened to a fuse box through which the power generated in closet prayer is released into your daily life conduct and circumstances.
Many times under pressure we, as it were, ‘blow a fuse’. When this happens simply confess your sin, repent ask the Holy Spirit for mercy unto eternal life and pray in tongues as much as possible to replace the ‘fuse’ and restore the flow of God’s power into your conduct.
Furthermore, if your ‘generator’ is ‘down’ (because of pressure of time you have not been able to do closet prayer) you can hook up to the generator of those in spiritual authority through being under their covering. In fact, this takes place automatically if your attitude towards them is right. However, you need to keep your ‘fuse box’: communion prayer, working so the power they are generating is flowing into your daily life conduct and circumstances.
So, the more you practice closet and communion prayer and stay under the covering of those in authority the more you will behave like God does under pressure and so have abiding fruit and consequently plenty of prayer fruit.
