Be fruitful!
15th of May
I know that I have written about this in other subjects, but I have chosen to write about this as a theme in itself.
We can go to Genesis 1:28. There we can read: “Be fruitful or bear much fruit!” God mentions both fishes and birds and everything else that moves on the earth. He talks about plants and trees and He says to the humans that they should multiply and become many. God is for life and growth and death and stagnation are not His will. We might quickly move to Matt.21:18. We read there that Jesus became hungry and He wanted to eat some figs, but He could only find some leaves on the tree. Then He said: “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” The fig tree withered away immediately. This Scripture proves the power of the words coming from Jesus, but it also says that Jesus wants life and fruit. Barrenness is without any use. In this case Jesus cursed the tree and it died. In Matt.3:10 we read that every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. It was John the Baptist who said this. He also said to the Pharisees and Sadducees that they should bear fruits worthy of repentance.(v.8)
In the natural we find lot of different trees and bushes and they bear different kind of fruits. If nobody plucks them, they rot and fall down. Fruit is created for eating unless they are poisonous. Everything that has life, has the possibility of bearing fruit.
Jesus says in John 15: 1+2: “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 bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Jesus continues to say that we can do nothing without Him. I quote verse 7+8: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done to you. By this My Father is glorified, that you may bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” The Lord is here comparing us with branches on a tree, branches that are getting life and power from the stem. Jesus is the tree. I have earlier written that if something is blocking the connection between the stem and the branch, the branch will die in lack of life and power. I presume that you understand that I talk about us as the children of God and I am talking about spiritual death. If we consciously live in sin or refuse to forgive, we are making a blockage. Maybe we have stopped to read the Bible and we do not pray. That is naturally narrowing the passage from the stem to the branch. If we consciously refuse to live by the Word of God, we are actually turning our back to God and refuse to receive His power.
We read in the last Word that our Father is glorified when we bear a lot of fruits. It can never
be too much. The more fruits, the more honor to God. You might wonder what kind of
fruits God wants. We can read in Gal.5:22+23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against
such there is no law.” The seed of these fruits are in our spirit and we can therefore bear these
fruits daily. I know that all of us have areas where these fruits do not occur too often,
but if we have some fruits, God will come and prune us since He wants to see more fruits. It
might not seem so pleasant to be pruned, but it is very necessary. You might wonder how God
prunes you. He might do it in different ways from person to person, but He usually points at
sin. He might ask you to be more together with Him. Maybe He misses your prayer times. He
might want to blow away the dust on your Bible. He might remind you to contact a person to
whom you could testify and be of encouragement. Maybe He wants you to practice Mark 16
where it says that you should lay hands on the sick and drive out demons. Some people
isolate themselves from other Christians and maybe God wants you to go to a church where
you can receive and to give. The local church is supposed to be our spiritual home and it
should also be a delivery room for new born babies. A church without new spiritual children
bear very little fruit. Where there is life, there is growth.
I want you to look up in your Bible in Matt.7 and read from verse 13 to 20. Jesus speaks
about false prophets and they should be known by their fruits. It says in verse 17 that every
good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. It is not the gifts of the Spirit that
brings us to Heaven, but the fruits. If we bear no fruit, we will be cut down. I do not want
you to misunderstand and believe that we come to Heaven because of our deeds. No, we
come there because of Jesus and His grace, but as Christians we are planted on a good tree,
and it should be natural to produce good fruits. In Eph.5:9 it says: “For the fruit of the Spirit
is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” In Phil.1:11 it says that we should be filled
with fruits of righteousness. Our good fruits come as a result of our life with Jesus. He is
our righteousness and our truth.
We as Christians can also bear bad fruits. We can bear fruits from our flesh. These fruits have
the seeds of death in them. We can read from Rom.7:5: “For when we were in the flesh, the
sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to
death. ” Gal. 5:19-21 describes the fruits of the flesh. That is all from witchcraft to jealousy.
It says that those who do this shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I believe that God
forgives us when we repent and want His help to live according to the Spirit.
The devil is really producing evil fruits. We can see that all over the world. The devil has
come to kill, steal and murder and he is called the father of lies. The sad thing is that so many
eat from his fruits and they continue to produce lies, murder, violence and terror. The devil
breed evil fruits that create fear all over the world. I do not think we doubt which fruits
we want to produce.
The Word of God is described in the Bible as seed. In Luke 8 we read that some seed fell by
the wayside, some on the rock and some among thorns. Finally we read that some came into
good ground. In verse 14 Jesus explains that those that fell among thorns are those who, when
they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life, and they bring
no fruit to maturity. We can produce unripe fruit, but that is not good for eating. We read in
verse 15: “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word
with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” We must not forget that it
can take time before we see a result. In our country where we have four seasons, we must be
very patience. We might sow in the fall and during the winter we see nothing. In the spring
we can see some life, but the fruit might not come before the fall.
Our mouth can sow good or bad seed. If you have listened to many of the lies by the devil,
I recommend you to kill all the bad plants that are a result of these lies. Kill them with the
sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God. We can also use the name of Jesus.
Our mouth is also supposed to be used for praise and worship. We can read Heb.13:15
” Therefore by Him let us continually offer sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of
our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
I EARNESTLY DESIRE A PEOPLE WHO PRODUCES GOOD FRUITS BOTH BY
WORDS AND DEEDS, ETERNAL FRUITS THAT BRING JOY TO OTHERS AND
HONOR TO THE FATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mother Else