How to have Full Joy

John 15 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. It teaches us what we need to do to glorify God. We glorify God when we bear much fruit, which we can only do if we abide in Christ. Then, if we abide in Christ, we will abide in His love, and He will give us His joy. His desire is for us to have full joy in our lives. See why this chapter is so important?

Jesus affirmed the truth of these things. (John 15:11) He told His disciples and us that He had spoken these things to them that His joy would remain in them, and that their joy might be full. Therefore, we need to take Jesus at His word and examine what He said in John 15:1-10. It is not too difficult to understand, but it is a challenge live it out on a daily basis. However, it is possible if we obey what He says and allow the Spirit to empower us.

The first thing Jesus said was that if we, as believers, do not bear fruit, He takes us away. (John 15:2) That doesn't mean that we are no longer His disciples. That word means to pick up, to take away from the ground and the dirt. A branch that is in the dirt can't get the sunlight needed to bear fruit. God picks us up and cleans us off, if we will confess our sins. Then, we bear fruit. Once we bear fruit He prunes us so we will bear more fruit. That means He shows us we need to remove the things from our lives that don't bear fruit and do God's will more, so we bear more fruit.

Finally, after being cleansed and pruned, we can bear much fruit, if we abide in Christ. (John 15:5) We must stay close to Jesus all of the time, obeying Him and His Word. Without Him we can do nothing, but with Him, we can bear much fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, (Galatians 5:22,23) and the fruit of seeing other people become followers of Jesus. If we do all of these things consistently, we will have the joy of Jesus, and it will be full joy.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read John 16-18.