Proverbs 22:19

We should be teaching everyone to trust in the Lord and not in us.

That you may claim your interest in Him, and not me.

That He may increase, and we may decrease.

This is unity.

This is peace.
John 15:5

In order to bear the kind of fruit that will have a lasting effect, I believe that we absolutely must be abiding/remaining in Christ and He in us. Then, and only then, is the fruit born out of us supernatural and ever lasting. Otherwise, what we bear is temporary at best. Maybe it feels good at the moment, but has no real, long-lasting effect, because we are not grafted in to the true Vine with its life-transforming sap coursing through our being.

Abiding people die, yet their fruit outlasts their mortal shell.

Abiding ministries may “close,” but their fruit keeps feeding others long after the organization has folded.

Abiding in Me is indispensable, for, as you know, as of yourselves you can do nothing to maintain or act out the heavenly life.

-Andrew Murray