Spiritual habits are daily choices that draw us closer to God, anchor us in His presence, and shape us into the image of Jesus. The truth is, we all have habits that shape our lives—things we do every day without even thinking about them. Some habits help us, while others hold us back. That’s why we want to build habits that keep us in step with God’s Word and His Spirit.

This is part three of our series on Spiritual Habits, and today I want to talk about remaining in His love. Just like physical exercise, sometimes God allows difficult situations into our lives to stretch and challenge us so we can grow. When you exercise a muscle, it has to face resistance in order to get stronger. In the same way, you can’t grow in anything without facing obstacles that force you to adapt and overcome.

That’s why I want to talk about remaining in Him. God is always closest to you in the middle of trials, so take refuge in His Word. If you remain in Him and He remains in you, He will give you everything you need to live a life full of fruitfulness.

Today we’re going to be in John 15:1–10. In this passage, we hear some of the final words of Jesus to His disciples, and final words always carry weight. For example, if I was going to say something to my wife, and if I knew it was the last time I would ever speak to her, I would choose my words very carefully. I would make sure they carried meaning.

That’s what’s happening here. Jesus is nearing the end of His ministry, and He is imparting His final teachings to His disciples. He’s depending on them to establish the New Testament church. These weren’t just people who showed up for a service or sang in the choir. They were chosen to be the foundation of the church, so Jesus wanted to give them principles and practical truths that would reflect everything He gave His life for.

If you give your life for something, you want those who follow you to be a clear reflection of it. And so Jesus begins with these words:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” (John 15:1).

When Jesus calls His Father the gardener, He shows us how God relates to Him as the vine and to us as the branches. None of this is accidental. No matter how you were born, what circumstances you came from, or whether people planned for you or not, God says you are not a mistake. You didn’t arrive here by chance. He intended for you to be here. To God, you are not an accident. He predestined, predetermined, and preordained your life.

When Jesus says, “My Father is the gardener,” He means you have been planted. God placed you here on purpose. And then Jesus continues with these words:

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2).

In other words, Jesus is saying that to stay with Him, you can’t just be around Him—you have to be in Him. You must be grafted in, truly connected. He says every branch in Him that bears no fruit will be cut off by the Father, the gardener.

That means you don’t have to go around cutting people off because only the gardener knows what He’s doing. Some people in your life may not be genuine, some in the church may not be truly connected, but it’s not your job to decide who stays and who goes. You might unintentionally cut off someone God is still working on. They could be under attack, sick, or suffering, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real. Only God knows the difference, and He alone does the pruning.

So often we think it’s our job to cut people out of our lives, but that’s a mistake. That work belongs to the Father. He knows who to remove and who to keep. Jesus said,

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2).

Notice the second part—Jesus says even if you are fruitful, you still go through pruning. That means there will be cutting away and trimming in your life. The problem is we often look for someone to blame when that happens. If someone leaves us or hurts us, we want to explain it, to intellectualize God’s providence. But providence can’t be explained away. It simply is what it is. Jesus makes it clear:

“Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2).

The truth is, everybody gets cut. Some branches are cut off completely, while others are trimmed back. But no one escapes the pruning process. Both experience cutting, but for different purposes—one to remove, the other to increase.

If you’re going to grow, it will be through pruning. Growth happens because you’ve been cut back, stretched, and refined. And here’s the reality— worshiping doesn’t make you grow, praising doesn’t make you grow, rejoicing doesn’t make you grow. Growth comes through pruning.

What really causes growth is enduring pruning and discipline—being cut back and cut down. Growth comes through enduring those painful seasons of life. It’s not the good times that make you grow; it’s the hard times. That is why the apostle Paul said,

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:3–5).

It’s the painful times, the lonely times, the frustrating times, the tearful times—those are the seasons that shape you and cause real growth. And here’s what God says: if you are already growing and doing well, His reward is pruning. He won’t let you stay where you are. He will cut you back so that you can bear even more fruit.

You need to understand that fruitfulness is never all God and none of you, or all you and none of God. It’s a partnership. You can’t just sit back, do nothing, fruitfulness requires your involvement. You must be connected to Him. God doesn’t produce fruit in your life apart from you—He does it through you. Fruitfulness is the result of your union with God, and the fruit that comes is your fruit.

Many believers miss this. They spend their whole lives praying, asking God to do things, without realizing that God is actually waiting on them. He requires something from you in order for you to be fruitful.

Yes, pruning is painful. You may be grieving, hurting, brokenhearted, confused, or even angry at God. But hear this: He would not cut you back if He didn’t have more for you. Every time He removes something, it’s so that more fruit can come.

Are you receiving this? We’re talking about what it truly takes to be fruitful. It requires submission to the pruning process. Everyone wants to say yes to success and conquering, but not to the cutting away. Yet God says you cannot be a conqueror if you cannot endure the pruning.

Let’s go deeper. Jesus said in verse three,

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (John 15:3).

In other words, His Word washes us. It washes away guilt, anger, resentment, pride, and frustration. You are clean because of the Word He has spoken over you. God gives us a spiritual bath through teaching and preaching. By His Word, He purges our spirit and cleanses us on the inside. You are clean through the Word He has spoken.

We’re getting to the heart of this now. In verse four, Jesus says,

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:4).

Jesus repeats it again and again: remain, remain, remain, remain. He’s driving the point home.

“Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

In other words, be steadfast and unmovable. Get planted and stay there.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t mention stability and remaining until after He talks about cutting and pruning. He knows it’s easy to stay connected when everything is going well, when life is blossoming—the bills are paid, doors are opening, and everything seems to fall into place. But He calls us to remain when we are confused, disappointed, hurt, overlooked, or feel like others are passing us by.

For years, I only preached about twelve times a year. Most of the time I was cleaning the church on Saturday nights, straightening chairs, and vacuuming carpets. But God was teaching me to endure the seasons when my calling wasn’t celebrated, proving that I wasn’t serving Him for a stage or a spotlight. And that’s what Jesus is teaching—you cannot be fruitful unless you remain stable.

Then in verse five, Jesus says,

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Do you see the progression? We’ve moved from fruit, to more fruit, to much fruit—all in just a few verses. That increase only comes when we remain stable. You’ll never know what you could be if you quit. You’ll never see what you could have if you walk away. You’ll never lose weight if you quit. You’ll never own a house if you quit. You’ll never repair your credit, finish your degree, or complete any goal if you quit.

The enemy may whisper, “You’re not good enough, you’re not smart enough, you’re too old, or you’re too late.” But you’ll never accomplish what God has called you to if you give up.

Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” That means you didn’t get here by yourself. You can’t run your life by yourself. You can’t raise your kids, hold your marriage together, manage your job, or build your dreams on your own. Without Him, you can do nothing.

So the key is to stay more attached to the Giver than the gift, more attached to the Healer than the healing, more attached to the Blesser than the blessing. Don’t cling to what He gave you more than the One who gave it. That kind of humility is worship. That is prayer. That’s how you start your day: “Lord, without You I can do nothing. Give me wisdom. Guard my tongue. Guide my steps. And if I succeed, I’ll give You the glory, because without You I can do nothing.”

Remember, these are Jesus’ final words to His disciples before He leaves them physically. He says, “Without me you can do nothing.” But then He promises, “I will be with you through the Spirit.” That means you don’t have to make yourself grow. You don’t have to force fruitfulness. In fact, you don’t have the ability to make yourself taller, richer, or stronger. All you have to do is remain in Him. And if His words remain in you, He will handle the rest. This is a union you cannot ruin. If you stay, if you remain, God will make you fruitful.

And God knows when you’re ready. He knows when you’ve matured enough to handle blessing, when you’ve grown enough to be trusted, when a door can open without it destroying you. He knows when the pressure won’t break you, when the blessing won’t go to your head, when you can stand against the enemy, the haters, and the storms. God knows when to bless you.

Until then, your job is simple. Remain in Him. Just show up for the fight every day. If he says be there Wednesday night at 7 PM, then be there Wednesday night at 7 PM. Do what He told you to do. Jesus said, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”

Let’s delve deeper, because this is really getting interesting. In verse six, Jesus says,

“If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (John 15:6).

In other words, if you go off on your own, everything you have will eventually wither. Branches that are cut off are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. That’s why you want to stay as close to God as you can. Remain in His hands, because God is merciful, kind, gracious, and forgiving. He knows exactly where to prune and how to correct to maximize growth. And so, it is important to recognize that there is a vast difference between discipline and abuse. People may abuse you, but God will only discipline you. And so that is why you want to remain in His hands.

He takes it a step further in verse seven saying:

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7).

It’s simple—if you remain in Him and His words remain in you, then ask and it will be given. “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap” (Luke 6:38).

There are some of you who know what I’m talking about; you are mature, you’ve got enough of His Word in you that you can ask what you will.

You see, when God’s Word really takes root in you, it changes the way you pray. Without enough of His Word in you, your requests come from the flesh. But when His Word fills your heart, it transforms your desires, reshapes your priorities, and reorders what truly matters in your life. That’s when Jesus says, “I will give it to you.” If you remain in Him and His Word remains in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given.

I wish you believe that today. I dare you to grab hold of that verse and carry it in your heart all week: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7). When that Word gets inside you, it will transform how you think, how you live, how you react, and even what you want.

That’s what maturity does—it works something in you and through you. I feel like now I understand what Proverbs means when it says:

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21).

In other words, you can speak God’s Word, and mountains move. When you pray with faith, believing, you will receive. When the Word abides in you, the power of God flows through what you speak.

That makes me happy in verse seven—but then verse eight makes me ecstatic:

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8).

Can you imagine God being more excited than you when your prayers are answered? Jesus said the Father is glorified when you bear much fruit. That means God is happier than you are when your prayers come through—because your fruit brings Him glory. Can you feel that?

God delights in you. His heart is for you to live a fruitful life. He wants you to prosper in every area, to walk in supernatural increase, and to experience true abundance—not only in your finances, but in your health, your peace, your joy, and every other part of your life. That’s His desire for you. But before He places blessings in your hands, He first wants to develop stability in your life.

Today we’re talking about fruitfulness, and stability is the foundation that makes it possible. The Bible says that it is those who are:

“Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” (Psalm 92:13–14).

And so, I’m praying that you come to the point in your life where you are satisfied simply to remain. Planted when the wind blows, planted when it doesn’t, planted in rain, planted in the sunshine, planted in the flood and in the drought. Because if you can remain planted, God will make you fruitful.

Let me encourage you to remain in him, because if you can stay there long enough, He will bring fruit into your life. And so, just keep doing what you’re supposed to do, remaining in Him and letting His Word remain in you. Jesus said,

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (John 15:9–10).

As I close today, I want to encourage you with this simple but powerful truth—remain in His love. Keep your heart anchored in the Word. Stay in love with your God. Stay in love with your faith. Stay in love with your family. Hold steady, no matter what comes. I know life gets hard. I know people will stretch your patience. But don’t give up—just remain. If you stay, God will honor it. He will reward your faithfulness, pour out His blessing, and surround you with His peace.

Graphics, notes, and commentary from LifeChurch, Ministry Pass, PC Study Bible, Preaching Library, and Sermon Central. Scripture from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.