Every time I send out a message, its always something God has taught me or continues to teach me all the time. It's something we need to share with others and we are not expected to keep silent, because when God gives us knowledge and revelation of His Word, He is going to require an account from us and ask us if we bothered to share His Word to others or did we just keep this to ourselves (Luke 12:48)? When I think of one area in particular, I always like to see myself have a bigger ministry or for God to extend my borders. However, what God is revealing to me is not so much what size of ministry did we attain, but He is going to ask us a much different question. I believe He is going to ask each one of us, how much fruit did we bear (Gal 5:22,23) which He will ask if we cultivated love, joy, peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility) and self-control? He is not going to be concerned about the size of our ministry or any of our "so-called" accomplishments, but He is going to care how we treated one another. Therefore, if someone is very knowledgeable and can recite many scriptures, but is critical towards others or acts unbecoming at home behind closed doors, do you suppose God is pleased with that person or will He be more pleased with someone who may just live a simple life, but shows the kindness of God to each one in the grocery store, at work or at home? The one who is found to be bearing fruit will be more pleasing to God than the other who is more concerned about "doing more" or "accomplishing more" for the Lord.
I find when I have ever been frustrated in the past, it was often because I was not focusing on what is important which is bearing fruit and I was simply being ambitious in my "so-called" Godly endeavor. It reminds me of someone who is impatient with other people just so they can buy the book on "Godly love". It's that type of person who is focused on being ambitious, without being mindful of what is truly important. We need to take moments during the day long enough to reflect by asking ourselves "what type of fruit we are bearing?" A person is known by others by their fruit, not by what they know or don't know. People need to see the character of Christ in us. They don't care how much scripture we know or how much theology we may have. They will recognize Christ in us by our fruit (Matt 7:20) by seeing how we treat each other. You would be amazed how others are watching how we live. If we are not bearing fruit, be certain that the Lord will prune us much. If we do bear some fruit, we may not have to be pruned near as much, but we will continue to be pruned so we can be more fruitful. So, it comes down to the fact that we are "pruned if we do and pruned if we don't". We may ask ourselves "why"? God in His mercy wants His people to not just bear fruit, but to go beyond and bear fruit a hundred-fold in order that He may reward us greatly. When Jesus was teaching about the Sower sowing seed, He mentions lastly about the one with a soft heart bearing amount of fruit to different degrees. Some 30, some 60 and others were able to bear fruit by having a hundred-fold return. I believe the difference between some bearing little (30 fold) or more fruit(60 or 100 fold) depends on what type of heart we have and how hungry we are for Him to work in our lives and through us. Also, I believe the difference between some Christians bearing little and others bearing much is the amount of humility. An example is when we are taught to forgive. Do we just go and listen to sermons of forgiveness and not see any evidence of that in our lives or do we humble ourselves and choose to obey His Word? Too many Christians who should know better are far more educated compared to the level of their obedience towards Christ. Unfortunately, I must confess this for myself more times than I care to. Are we living the examples of the love walk found in 1 Cor 13:4-8, or do we just have head knowledge and little fruit by not living the Word? This is a challenge God puts before myself also and we need to examine ourselves.
I believe in order for us to have our heart softened, we need to go through trials ourselves or see someone who is close to us that are going through trials and be with them as they go through times of suffering. We often wonder why people have to go through such pain? Unfortunately, we often critically question God "why"? It is to keep our heart softened. I read a good illustration just recently from the Daily Bread booklet, that a group was formed to help encourage each other who were unemployed and struggling. They formed a bond between them in a prayer group and found ways to work together, pray for one another and form a network to help each other put a resume together and prepare themselves to go out and effectively find work. When one or several people did eventually find work, instead of them coming back to the group to help their cohorts whom they formed a bond earlier, they simply left the group and did nothing to encourage them and never heard from them again. It reminds me when we are living a life of ease, it's easy for us to forget other peoples needs or even get to the point that we may forget our need of God (Prov 30:7,8). It's often through suffering that we tend to become more useful by being Gods arms and His hands to others. This is why we need to see suffering and trials in a much different way as God sees it. Those of us who are being used of God had gone through much suffering. The devil would like you to believe a lie and think that you are the only ones bearing a greater cross than others ever did which is what causes people to become bitter instead of better!
When we end up being merciful to one another, God had to allow us to get to the place where we cried out to receive His mercy in the first place. Knowing this, it is extremely important that we understand how awesome and beautiful God is towards us because He knows what is best for us and wants to bless us to develop His Character, even if it is through suffering. When I remember singing "lest I forget Gethsemene, lest I forgot Your agony, lest I forget Your love for me, lead me to Calvary"...which is the place You chose to hang on the Cross in my place and bear the curse on my behalf (Gal 3:13), I am able to reflect on the truth of His awesome Love, Grace and mercy towards me. When we meditate on this and see His awesome beauty towards us, we will effectively allow the power of Christ to abide in us and allow us to abide in the power, love and wisdom of Him and His Word. How we handle His Word will be to the degree and the effectiveness of how much of His power works through us which is what needs to take place in us to fulfill what is really important to God by bearing much fruit (John 15:1-16). With Gods help, let's not forget to abide in His wonderful presence and allow Him to show His love and His goodness through you to others. When you humbly accept this, I believe God will be able to work far greater works through you than you could ever imagine.
I do hope you will visit my Blog to see other helpful messages that I believe will encourage you.In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name. (Ps 91:14 Amplified Version)
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