March 19| Based on John 15:8 | Rooted Deep
š John 15:8
āThis is to my Fatherās glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.ā
What If Fruitfulness Isnāt What You Think? š
What if I told you that the fruit your life bears has almost nothing to do with your religious performance?
So many Christians measure their spiritual fruitfulness by their church attendance, Bible knowledge, or how many spiritual disciplines they manage to check off their list each day.
Yet Jesus suggests something radically different - that bearing fruit isnāt about religious striving but about staying deeply connected to Him.
The most fruitful believers I know arenāt necessarily the most visibly āreligiousā ones. Today, weāre going to walk through what it really means to ābear much fruitā according to Jesus, explore the three gardens where discipleship blooms, and discover how seasons of apparent barrenness might actually be preparing you for unprecedented growth.
As someone who spent years performing magic on stage, I know what itās like to create an illusion of something without its substance. My journey with Carter and Alina has taught me that authentic growth canāt be faked - it requires genuine connection.
The Illusion of Fruitfulness š
When Jesus spoke about bearing fruit in John 15:8, He said:
š āThis is to my Fatherās glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.ā
Notice the order here - bearing fruit doesnāt make you a disciple;
being a disciple naturally leads to bearing fruit.
Think about an apple tree. It doesnāt strain to produce apples. It doesnāt wake up in the morning with an apple-producing to-do list. It simply remains connected to its roots, drinks in water and nutrients, and in due season, apples appear.
I remember teaching Carter magic tricks when he was younger. He would sometimes get frustrated, trying to force the sleight of hand. š£ļø āDad, itās not working!ā heād say, his little hands fumbling with the cards. Iād remind him, āStop trying so hard. Let your hands remember the movement.ā When he relaxed and trusted the process, the trick would flow naturally.
Christianity works the same way. Weāve turned bearing fruit into a performance when itās meant to be the natural outcome of abiding in Christ.
The pressure to perform spiritually often produces the opposite of what God intends -
š„ anxiety rather than peace,
š„ judgment rather than love,
š„ exhaustion rather than joy.
The Three Gardens of Discipleship šæ
Iāve come to see discipleship as a journey through three gardens, each teaching us something essential about bearing fruit.
1ļøā£ The Garden of Eden - Connection Comes First
The place of original connection. Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve walked with God in perfect communion.
This reminds us that fruitfulness begins with relationship, not religious activity.
Your first calling isnāt to do things for God but to be with Him.
When Iām fully present with Alina during our daddy-daughter dates, something beautiful happens.
She opens up, not because Iāve manipulated her into sharing, but because she feels safe and loved. Our connection creates the space for genuine sharing. Your relationship with God works similarly.
2ļøā£ The Garden of Gethsemane - Surrender Unlocks Power
The place of surrender. Jesus prayed, š āNot my will, but yours be done.ā
Fruitfulness requires letting go of our agendas, our timing, our definitions of success.
The fruit God wants to produce through you might look different than what you imagined.
As a magician, I learned that sometimes the most powerful moments in a performance came not from executing my plan perfectly, but from surrendering to the unexpected and finding a more authentic connection with the audience.
3ļøā£ The Garden of Resurrection - Life After Death The place where new life emerges from apparent death.
The most abundant fruit often grows from seasons that felt like failure.
Those periods where you felt God was absent?
They might have been the very times your roots were growing deeper.
But we canāt stop here, thoughāthereās more to see...
The Marks of True Fruitfulness š
So what does genuine spiritual fruit look like?
In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit as
š ālove, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.ā
Notice something important - he calls it āfruitā (singular), not āfruits.ā
These qualities grow together as a unified harvest in a life connected to Christ.
You donāt get to pick which ones you want to display.
A life abiding in Jesus naturally begins to manifest all of them.
And hereās where it gets interesting - true fruit isnāt manufactured; itās grown.
You can tie plastic apples to a dead tree and from a distance, it might look fruitful.
But up close, the illusion falls apart.
No one is nourished by fake fruit.
Iāve seen this in my own journey.
During the busiest seasons of my magic career,
I could perform spirituality convincingly.
I knew the right words, the right behaviors.
But inside, I was disconnected, bearing no real fruit.
It wasnāt until I stopped performing and started abiding that authentic growth began.
The Cyclical Nature of Fruitfulness š
Hereās something else that changed my perspective: fruitfulness happens in seasons.
An apple tree doesnāt bear fruit year-round.
It experiences spring blossoms, summer growth, fall harvest, and winter dormancy.
Your spiritual life follows similar patterns.
šø There will be vibrant seasons of visible fruit-bearing.
āļø There will also be winters where nothing seems to be happening.
Both are necessary parts of the growth cycle.
During one particularly difficult winter season in my faith,
I felt like I was producing nothing of value.
My prayers seemed hollow, my service mechanical. I confessed this to a mentor who simply smiled and said,
š£ļø āAdam, even in winter, the tree is gathering strength for spring. Donāt mistake dormancy for death.ā That winter season, which felt like failure, was actually preparing me for an unprecedented season of growth and influence. The roots were stretching deeper, even when I couldnāt see it.
The greatest evidence that youāre a disciple isnāt your religious activity but the fruit your life naturally produces when connected to Christ.
And that fruit nourishes others far more effectively than any performance ever could.
The path to genuine fruitfulness isnāt found in striving harder but in abiding more deeply.
Like a branch connected to the vine, your role isnāt to manufacture fruit but to remain in such intimate connection with Jesus that fruit canāt help but appear.
Remember those three gardens:
š Eden reminds us that connection precedes production.
š Gethsemane teaches us that surrender precedes power.
š Resurrection shows us that periods of apparent death often precede the most abundant life.
Iād love to have you join our 30-day prayer challenge
where we dig into scripture, connect with God, and build a habit that sticks.
š Click the link below to get your free FaithLabz download and start todayā
looking forward to seeing you there!
Once again, Iām Adam Wilber and as always my friendā¦ Onward.
An Invitation to go Deeperā¦.
If todayās message spoke to you, join the FaithLabz 30-Day Prayer Challenge and strengthen your connection with Godās unshakable love. You are never aloneāletās grow together!
