So, What Kind of Fruit-Tree Are YOU?

Dear Femi, I can’t believe I forgot your birthday. It is really not a matter of “out of sight is out of mind” because you were very much on my mind on that day but I just did not remember it was “the birthday”. I hope you know that you are very special to me. Let me use this opportunity to wish you a happy birthday in arrears.

Femi is someone that became my friend not long ago but has come to mean so much to me more recently. He is not perfect but I look at how much has happened in His life since we became friends, which is really just a few months ago, and when I measure it against the transformation in my own life within that period of time, I just know I need to work on my submission to God. Like we say in Nigeria, “He is work in Progress” just like anyone of us but he makes me worry about the measure of my ‘progression’. God is looking for a people that will submit to Him (i.e. submit to the Holy Spirit) and walk away from the flesh. It is to the extent that we walk away from the flesh that we make progress in our walk with God.

Romans 2: 29NLT “No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather it is a change of heart produced by God’s spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, and not from people.”

Unlike me who forgot Femi’s birthday, God never forgets anyone of us and remembers the details of our lives. Not only are our names engraved on the palms of His hands, His eyes consistently watch over us so that He can show Himself  strong on the behalf of anyone of us needing help. The same way the bible tells us that He looks watching to see if we are being fruitful. He looks to see if we have fruits of the spirit. It is as we yield to the Spirit of God that the Holy Spirit inside of us begins to increase and blossom like a tree then eventually begins to produce fruit. When we invite Jesus into our lives, God plants His seed (the Holy Spirit) in us. The seed can either die or become fruitful. Is the tree producing fruit in you? The measure of our Christianity (Christ likeness) is not in how spiritual we look or how many times we go to church or the office we hold in church or what denomination we belong to; it is in the extent to which we bear fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5: 22-25NLT “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

There is always an outward manifestation of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God In a man cannot be hidden. What fruits do you bear and are you increasing in your fruit bearing. It is time to make a realistic assessment.

God's Word is Sure. Focus On It. Always. Deliberately.

God speaks in an interesting way. It is actually tough sometimes for us to follow Him because His manner of speech appears to be greatly influenced by what He sees i.e. the end from the beginning. He knows the end of every problem even before the problem begins because anyway, the end was already written before the problem started to manifest in the physical.

So whilst the red sea was still before the children of Israel, a huge expanse of water, He says for them to go forward. I can imagine some thoughts that must have crossed their minds.

Exodus 14: 15nlt “then the Lord said to Moses, “why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!”

Whilst Jericho was still fenced up to heaven, God said for the children of Israel to go and possess the land because He has given it to them. Even Jesus said Lazarus would not die but he died.

John 11: 4nlt “when Jesus heard that, he said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby”

Who would have thought that Lazarus would die after such a definite statement from Jesus but He lived in the end. After considering this and several other instances, I would like to say that we should focus on the word of God. As the Bible tells us the word of God cannot lie. It is impossible for God to lie. As long as He has said it, He has done it.

Numbers 23: 19nlt “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so He does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?”

Sometimes we may have to take that step forward for the spoken word of God to manifest. Clearly, if we wait for the sea to part before we go forward, it may never part. The miracle of the parting of the red is particularly interesting because I believe that as they moved forward the waters moved. The entire breathe of the river had not parted before the children of Israel moved forward because it took all night for the water to part fully, meanwhile the bible also says they went through the water in the night and the journey was almost complete by the dawning of the day. So it was in the process of time.

Knowing this does not make it much easier for me to believe God but it strengthens my resolve to do everything possible to keep my focus on the word of God and to jettison any knowledge that contradicts the word of God. I have decided that wisdom for me is guarding my heart, ears and mouth diligently. We have to be deliberate about increasing our faith.

God's Extravagant Love Allows U-Turns.

How wonderful the love of God is. Can anybody really love like God? It is indeed true that He does not want any of us to perish so He is very patient with us. This love is so unlike the love of any other. He just loves us and I thank Him for that.

This love is expressed in the story of the prodigal son. The son decided to be silly so he left home. As far as he was concerned, he had come to the point in his life when he did not need any form of support and/or control. After having enjoyed the goodness of this father for so long, He decided to leave and amazingly, he left with all of his inheritance. I would have thought that a man that wants to stay away from His father would have amassed his own wealth. Worse still, he knew his father needed the help he provided by working with him but he was too preoccupied with self to care about the pain he caused other people.

The father loved him enough to truly give him his inheritance and he left. He forgot to connect with the invisible inheritance (spiritual gift from the father) but was well connected to what he had and could touch – money. Of course as it is with money, it ran out. Money does have wings and it flies especially when God is not with you. It does not matter how much of it one has, it still can fly. After suffering for a while, the bible says:

Luke 15: 17 – 19 NLT “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself…..I will go home to my father and say, “father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant”

It is the goodness and love of God that brings us back to our senses. It is not the easiest thing to come back to one’s senses. The devil does not want us to come back to our senses neither does the flesh because it is somewhat humiliating. It takes the grace of a loving God for one to return to one’s senses. If we can come back to our senses and then return to the point where we took the wrong turn, then we are blessed.

Let us be encouraged to make that turn around that turns our lives around truly for good. It is never too late to make that turnaround and return to God. Coming to one’s senses usually provokes repentance and restitution where necessary. It may be tough but it has the power to put us back on the right path with God and for our lives. You may have lost some things because there will surely be consequences for your action but there will still be something left for you.

God in His love took Him back with all he had done and loved Him as if he had never done anything. What manner of love is this?

1 John 3: 1a NLT “See how very much our father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!”

The Perfect Love of God

Do you know that I just realized that I have challenges with believing God for a personal miracle /blessing? I found that when I am trusting God for things for other people my faith is unshakable but when it becomes personal something happens. It never occurred to me that it meant I did not believe God to do things for me. I always thought that it was just a matter of having “plan B” but what it actually translates to is “just in case God does not come through then I can….” Worse still in a sober manner, I would say to myself “well, He doesn’t have to do it anyway, He is God whether or not He does it and I will still love”. I wonder why my thought was not “He will do it anyway because He loves me, He is God of all flesh and nothing shall be impossible or difficult for Him. Is there anyone who like me wants to make excuses for God just in case He fails?

There is also the group of people who like to be realistic. They like to always think of the worst case scenario just so that if it happens anyway you won’t feel bad? These groups of people argue that it is foolery not to think of the worst that can happen but let me ask you a question – what is wrong with thinking of the best that can happen. Why do I want to meditate on the worst case scenario when I can meditate on the best case scenario? They say this is being realistic and that you have to accept reality but I have found that there is something more real than reality and that is the word of God. I want to encourage us to focus on that truth as we go on in this walk with God otherwise we are like the man that has not received Christ in His life as His personal Lord and Saviour and consequently without hope.

I thought deeply about all the various scenarios and I found that underlying all these thoughts is fear - the fear or uncertainty that God may fail you. I don’t encourage us to trust in man because man is flesh and is likely to fail but the God of man cannot fail and can cause any man to do what He wants done for us. The love that we share with God through Christ is perfect.

1 John 4: 18NLT “such love has no fear, because perfect love expels fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love”

We need to learn to trust the love that God has for us. We need to build on that love and trust that He will keep us from the worst scenarios and where we have to go through what appears like a worst case scenario, it is because He is taking us to a large place. Interestingly, He will go through the entire experience with us because of His love for us and also ensure that we come through it. Let us make a deliberate effort to build on our faith.

Love believes the best, is hopeful and it never fails.