"The branch cannot bear fruit of itself" (John 15: 4).
How did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to Jesus and cast yourself on His great atonement and rested on His finished righteousness. Do you remember those early days? Have you declined since then? If you have, we charge you to remember that time of love. Repent and do your first works. Be involved in those activities which draw you nearest to Christ, because it is from Him that all your fruits proceed. Any holy excercise which will bring you to Him will help you to bear fruit. The sun is, no doubt, a great worker in creating fruit among the trees of His garden of grace. When have you been the most fruitless? Has it not been when you lived farthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you slackened in prayer, when you departed from the simplicity of your faith, or when your graces engrossed your attention instead of your Lord? Have you forgotten where your strength dwells? We are taught, by past experience, that the more simply we depend on the grace of God in Christ and wait on the Holy Spirit, the more we will bring forth fruit. Trust Jesus for fruit as well as for life!