Root before Fruit - Milt Rodriguez

The Lord has been showing me interesting writings on His presence and His love in our lives for the last few weeks. I read a blog post from Milt Rodriguez who has become a favorite blogger for me. 

He wrote on “Root Must Come Before Fruit.”  See link
In his post he states, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4, 5

The Tree of Life

What the Lord is talking about here is not missions, evangelism, or social action. He is talking about Life! God’s life. Divine life. Where there is life, there will be fruit (at least eventually). We love to focus on the fruit, but it seems to me that God focuses on the life. That is, the life of His dear Son. He knows that if life is flowing in the tree, fruit will be produced naturally, organically.
There is a very important reason why the Lord used the metaphor of a tree (or vine). He wanted to convey the idea of internal life being expressed. There is life flowing inside of the tree! Please don’t get the idea that there is nothing happening inside of that tree. Where there is life, there is motion. The sap is flowing; the bark and the branches are growing. Leaves and flowers are developing. But the fruit comes last.”  End of Milt's quote http://miltrodriguez.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/root-before-fruit-2/

Prayer from A.W. Tozer from The Pursuit of God.
“O God, I have tasted thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O, God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my sould, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from the misty lowland when I have wondered so long.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

More on focusing on Christ and His life in the next few blogs. 
Grace and Peace