Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Have you ever been with someone very close to you who is about to die, someone who loves you and wants to leave you with..." (more)
Key Phrases: mature pruning, Holy Spirit

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

No one said it would be easy. In the first installment of his BreakThrough series, Dr. Bruce H. Wilkinson urged Christians to find the abundant life through following a simple prayer. In Secrets of the Vine, his follow-up to the bestselling The Prayer of Jabez, the president of Walk thru the Bible Ministries explores compelling images from Bible verse John 15 in support of his message that asking for God's blessings may result in suffering and difficult circumstances. Through Jesus' symbolic portrayal of himself as the vine, the Father as vinedresser, and his followers as the branches, Wilkinson believes that Christians can better understand God's methods for ensuring personal fulfillment, and find a closer walk with him.

Grapes need pruning--and so do Christians, Wilkinson writes. God's "pruning" is painful, but Wilkinson argues that this pruning away of "self" is necessary to gain desirable results. He notes, "Pruning will intensify as God's shears cut closer to the core of who you are." Wilkinson urges Christians not to confuse "pruning" with "discipline," and offers a helpful chart to distinguish between the two. He discusses four levels of fruit bearing, from "no fruit" to "much fruit," and the connection between God's pruning and an abundant harvest.

Wilkinson's warm, personable writing style helps him come across as a confidant and mentor. Even though he admits, "I assure you that I possess no special knowledge in these matters," millions of readers seem to think he does. He lays down the challenge: "If you don't know and apply Jesus's vineyard teachings, you'll never experience the abundant life you long for. There is simply no other way." Christians aspiring to maturity in their spiritual lives will likely sit up and take notice. --Cindy Crosby

From Publishers Weekly

That They Might Have Books More AbundantlyIn The Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson took a single passage of Scripture and expounded on it so powerfully that Multnomah has just gone back to press for a total ofgulpfour million copies in print. The publisher is hoping that history will repeat itself with Wilkinson's follow-up, Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance. Here, Wilkinson takes on John 15 and divulges three secrets of "bearing fruit" more abundantly for Christ. Wilkinson has that special talent for making readers feel that his books speak directly and personally to them. Multnomah plans an initial release of 250,000 copiesand after that, who knows?

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah; 1 edition (March 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576739759
• ISBN-13: 978-1576739754
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #407,653 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Prepare to Receive from The Prayer of Jabez, May 21, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

I enjoy hearing what others have to say about the Bible, especially those who have a knowledge of Hebrew. They can gather meanings that are not apparent to me from the plain words in the English translation. I was delighted to find that The Secrets of the Vine focuses on one of the most puzzling Bible stories I have ever read, and expanded my knowledge of what that story means. Through a combination of this new understanding and reflecting on The Prayer of Jabez, I have come to appreciate new choices concerning my relationship to God. That's a great gift, and I feel deeply moved by the experience. I think you will be, too.

After the Last Supper, Jesus took His disciples outside to visit a vineyard in order to teach a lesson. Obviously, this was a most important lesson because it came as the last ordinary conversation they could have together in person. The story is told in John 15.

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." John 15:1

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away . . . ."

". . . and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."

"I am the vine, you are the branches."

"He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit."

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit."

Bruce Wilkinson does a good job of explaining about viticulture as a way of expanding the meaning of these passages. The vine itself is the bulky gnarly trunk that comes up from the ground and is kept pruned into just a few branches. The branches are tied up to keep them in the air. If they are not tied up, they fall to the ground where dirt and disease will keep them from bearing fruit. The branches must be cut back in order that the vine will produce fruit rather than leaves and new growth. The older the vine gets, the more it has to be cut back to be productive. But the older it gets, the better the grapes can be.

If you have fallen off the wires, God will tie you back up so that you can once again bear fruit. Once there, He will keep you pruned.

The book argues then that much of the time we will feel like we are being disciplined (in a loving way) when we sin or pruned (to become more productive) when we are doing God's work. The book describes how to tell when you are receiving the one versus the other. Both may be painful, but each provides a different lesson.

What I got from this interpretation is that we should focus on how we can better do God's will. Mr. Wilkinson makes a fine point when he says that "we don't really believe God likes us." I often find it hard to imagine why God would be willing to put up with our tiny and incomplete lives. When we overcome that feeling though, we can realize that God wants us to strengthen our relationship with Him first to "deepen the quality of my devoted time with God" and then to "broaden my devoted time" until it is "all the time."

A particular point that was revealing to me was that this means we should spend more time abiding with God and less time doing works. Most of us try to do more and more works. The final pruning causes us to bear more fruit. "If your life bears a lot of fruit, God will invite you to abide more deeply with Him."

I also see this as an invocation to narrow our focus onto God, so that His will permeates our thoughts and actions more thoroughly. Obviously, one action taken through God's will accomplishes much more than all of our actions taken without His will.

As a test of the validity of these thoughts, I was pleased to see that they made my experiences with the prayer of Jabez more vivid and moving. Thinking about this Bible lesson from John 15 also served to expand and sharpen my mental and visual focus. I took these experiences to mean that these messages were redirecting my life. I am very grateful for the experience.

After you have read and prayed upon what you learn from this book, may you find ways to abide more and more deeply with God. God bless you!

83 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Secrets of Intimacy with God, July 30, 2001

By	David Robinson (Cannon Beach, OR United States) - See all my reviews

"Secrets of the Vine" offers readers another uplifting dose of Bruce Wilkinson's positive preaching. You come away from "Secrets" and "Jabez" invigorated by God's grand vision for your life, desiring to do more for God and be more in God. This is a wonderful gift Wilkinson offers to readers, both Christian and others.

I have some major theological critiques of "Secrets" when placed beside the Greek text of John 15:1-17, the portion of John's Gospel from which Wilkinson draws his secrets of the vine.

1) Wilkinson empasizes a distinction throughout the book between "discipline" and "pruning". This distinction is not found in the Greek text of John 15. Raymond Brown, the great John scholar writes in his definitive commentary on John, "Verse 2 describes two different actions of the vinedresser. The first, that of cutting off branches that cannot bear fruit, takes place in February-March. Sometimes the vines are so completely cut back that one sees in the vineyards only the stalks bereft of branches. Later (August), when the vine has put forth leaves, comes the second stage of pruning, as the vinedresser pinches off the little shoots so that the main fruit-bearing branches get all the nourishment" (The Gospel According to John, Vol.II, pg.675). Both verbs describe pruning activities of the vinedresser.

2) The imperative (command) word in the Greek text is NOT "Bear Fruit!" Wilkinson places his major emphasis for our lives upon bearing more and more fruit, upon producing. This emphasis is not in the Greek. The word, "abide" or "remain" (Gk:menein) is found 10 times in the Greek. Fruit is found 7 times. Twice the word for abide is a command, "meinate"! Here is the true emphasis of Jesus' teaching: not upon production of more and more fruit (good works according to Wilkinson), but upon simply abiding in the Vine (intimacy with Christ) and having the Vine abide in us. You must read through 88 pages before this central teaching on abiding from John 15 is found in Wilkinson's writing. I would recommend readers to skip over pages 1-88 and go directly to "More with God" on page 89. Fruit is a by-product of remaining in Jesus and having Jesus remain in us, not the goal of our lives.

3) I don't know where the 4 baskets come from. They are not found in the Greek text of John 15. There is enough in John 15 to interpret without adding in more imagery to distract readers from Jesus' teaching.

4) Fruit for Wilkinson equals "good works", both outward and inward. The context of John does not favor this understanding of fruit. John's gospel emphasizes the fruit of Christlikeness, eternal life and being filled with grace and glory, NOT mere good works.

5) Even in Wilkinson's teaching on "Abiding" there are some disconcerting human-centered viewpoints which are not found in the Greek text of John 15. He writes on page 95, "In abiding, it's always our move!" No. Both Christ and Christian can move. In fact, Jesus emphasizes his choice and appointment towards the end of his parable when he says, "It was not you who chose me; it was I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will remain" (John 15:16). Wilkinson also offers a dangerous understanding of "abiding" on page 122 when he states, "If you are in a season of abiding..." Abiding is never a mere "season" in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ but the vital relationship which keeps us alive and growing. Wilkinson envisions three seasons in the believers' life: a season of discipline, a season of pruning and a season of abiding. This is a forced interpretation of the Greek text. Abiding is a lifelong, intimate, growing relationship with Jesus, the Word become flesh, full of grace and truth.

Apart from these textual concerns, I found "Secrets of the Vine" a refreshing, uplifting sermon on fruitful living in Christ. I'm delighted to see millions rediscovering the life-changing person of Jesus Christ through such writers as Bruce Wilkinson.

For two more books on the life-changing person of Christ and fruitful living for parents, look into "The Family Cloister: Benedictine Wisdom for the Home" (New York, Crossroad, 2000) and "The Christian Family Toolbox: 52 Benedictine Activities for the Home" (New York: Crossroad, 2001), both by David Robinson.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding our purpose in life..., June 18, 2001

By	Rebecca Johnson "SeasonedwithLove.com" (Washington State) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

In the first book: The Prayer of Jabez, Dr. Bruce H. Wilkinson explains how we can have an abundant life by knowing how to pray to God. In this second book of the BreakThrough Series, he takes the verses in John 15 and explores the four levels of "fruit bearing" in order to show you how God works in your life to answer your prayer.

This is the message Jesus gave to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. As he was about to defeat sin, he was explaining how his followers could also defeat sin and live an abundant life.

"The disciples knew grapes like an Englishman knows tea." pg. 59

So, it is no wonder the story of vines would have made complete sense to the disciples and be perhaps a bit of a secret to those of us who have never been taught how to grow grapes. Dr. Wilkinson brings the story alive as he tells of how the disciples followed Jesus to a vineyard. There he teaches them about how he is the true vine and his father is the vinedresser/husbandman (gardener). The fruit God desires of us is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When God works through you, others will see these qualities in your life and want to know who God is and perhaps become Christians themselves.

When a Christian does not bear any fruit, it is often thought that perhaps they are not a Christian after all. Jesus says that if a branch does not bear fruit he takes it away. Dr. Wilkinson delves into the Greek translation to bring more understanding to the words used. He brings a new meaning to the word "airo" and explains how it could mean "take up" instead of "cut off." This was enlightening in many regards and is an explanation of this verse as I have never heard it before. You will never read John 15 in the same way again! I recommend this book for pages 34-35 alone. There are also three main secrets of the vine that are revealed in this book.

The Bible has such beautiful messages for our souls and Dr. Wilkinson expands on that beauty and helps us to have a deeper understanding. I enjoyed reading this devotional even more than the first one. You will come away with a renewed sense of love for God and a deeper understanding of what your purpose is in this life.

"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy may might be full." John 15:11

I wish you joy and hope you will also look for The Prayer of Jabez, which is the first book in the series. I look forward to reading each book as they are published. If you enjoy reading companions to the Bible, The Complete Bible Handbook by John Bowker is one I have enjoyed reading. The New Open Bible Study Edition is also extreemly helpful if you want to study the Bible.

~The Rebecca Review