Information and pictures from: http://www.graftedgrapevines.com/ggv3_planting.html Picture of graft from "10,000 Questions and Answers About Gardening" by Reader's Digest.
Definition from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abide
Vine and Branches by: Frances M. McCrory-Meservy 1992
Jesus said, "I am the vine and you are the branches."
Exposed parts of a vine loses water. If the roots can't replace the water, the plant dies. When you first get new vines, place them in water for one to two days before planting.
Scripture says water represents the Holy Spirit. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. Therefore He is continually watered with the Holy Spirit.
For best results cover the entire vine with soil. Plant in early spring in moist loose soil. New shoots emerging from covered vines will push through loose soil. After they start to sprout, pull soil away from the new shoot. Covering the whole plant with soil will also prevent injury to shoots if the temperature drops below freezing.
This is why we get best results if we plant seed in fertile soil instead of hard ground, shallow ground or thorny ground. The good soil covers us and protects baby Christians while they are being discipled. It's not called a cold, cruel world for nothing.
So a person (branch) should be immersed in the Holy Spirit (via the sap from the vine) when they are first taken out of the world. Most people who fall in love with Jesus are so joyful you can hardly stand them. They are bubbling over because God has saturated them with the Holy Spirit to keep them alive.
Roots of the vine go deep to access a source of water so it is continually making sap for the vine. The Holy Spirit is the sap that flows through Jesus and feeds the vine.
It takes 3 to 4 years to train the branches.
Ergo baby Christians need to be discipled 3 to 4 years before they are mature. During this time they are pruned and trained to go on an arbor, fence, wall or trellis so they will be easy to gather fruit from. A Christian should take the person under wing to disciple them; but God does the pruning.
Allow the vine to grow the first season without pruning.
The first time it goes dormant (late fall) prune it back to 2 or 3 buds.
When growth resumes, remove all but the ball shaped, strongest single shoot. Stake the single shoot and allow it to develop side shoots. Remove suckers shoots that are close to the base and pinch off all other low growing shoots.
The second summer prune back all growth except two of the strongest growing branches. Tie the chosen shoots along a trellis wire so they will grow in opposite directions. When they grow to 18 inches and then pinch back the tips.
The third summer rub off all suckers from the lower half of the trunk. Remove all shoots from the bottom of the arms. Tie the strong branches to an upper training wire. They will grow twisted if they are not trained. Remove some clusters early so they do not crowd together and slow formation of the vine.
The vine should have it's permanent shape by the end of the 3rd year.
After that they are only pruned to improve fruit production. If at the end of the 4th year it has not produced fruit, cut it down and burn it. You will be wasting your time trying to save it.
A vine should be at least one year old to be grafted. Grafted vines should have the union located even with the loose soil. The graft will grow about 2 inches above the settled soil later.
Jesus said the Jews were cut off and the Gentiles grafted in.
Since the graft has to be just above the soil next to the root, there is no room for more than one graft.
The Jews were removed because of unbelief - Believing something other than what the Bible says. Badge/Scion of Unbelief is: "yeah, but and what if." Jesus is the (Godly, Jewish) root stock. Gentiles are the other variety that is grafted in. The Holy Spirit is the sap that keeps us alive and the water that bears fruit (love) in and through us.
Abide: to wait for : await; to endure without yielding; withstand; to bear patiently; to accept without objection <will abide your decision>intransitive verb; to remain stable or fixed in a state; to continue in a place; sojourn where we live, stay, reside
Jesus said we are made clean by the washing of His words. That means we should stay in God's word so that we will continually be made clean. We are from a wonderful era in that we have God's word available to us wherever we are - whenever we need or want it. If we are not in His word, it is our fault and not His. We are not talking about listening to a preacher tell us what God's word says. We are talking about picking up the Bible and letting the Holy Spirit teach us. If you can't read, it's available on tape or CD. That's how we develop a relationship with Jesus.
When we just go to Church we are treating our pastor like Moses. God told Moses what He wanted to people to know because the people were afraid to talk to God personally. Since God allows us our free will, He allowed the arrangement. Without the personal relationship the people did not have staying power and drifted away from God. That is why the relationship is so important.
In other words we are to stay and grow in the Holy Spirit and in turn the Holy Spirit will continue to grow in us. As we continue in God's word and in a relationship with Jesus, we bear more fruit because the Holy Spirit is growing in us.
There are Seven Spirits of God. We are talking about two of them. Oil is one of the Holy Spirits that is called the anointing that teaches us and makes us powerful and able to do what God wants us to do. Water is another one of the Holy Spirits that lives in us and produces love through us so we can love all people and God. We have Sap (oil/anointing) that feeds us from the root (Jesus). The root drinks from the water (love of God) and the water keeps the sap flowing to nourish the plant (us). Oil on and in us with water flowing through us and mixing with the oil so we are more like God. That's how we are in Him and He is in us. It's a very intimate relationship.
John 15:1-12 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "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. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, 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, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
John 6:56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
John 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
John 14:20 "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
John 17:20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Rom 11:17-23 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
Exo 20:18-19 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."