In many nations with tropical climates, crops, gardens, and trees bear fruit in every season. Don’t we all wish our lives would do the same? For most of us, however, we continually work to overcome many adversities to bear true and lasting fruit for God.
Canadian weather can hardly be compared to our neighbors to the south. Seasons fleet by as quickly as a butterfly dancing from flower to flower. Spring brings the welcome warmth, melting snow and ice into streams watering the once frigid soil. Farmers and gardeners alike rush to plant the tender seeds and sprouts. Just as long summer days shine promise, we battle an onslaught of bugs, disease, and adverse weather. All too soon days turn cool and nights long. The gathering of the harvest intensifies before frost destroys and snow covers the fields once again. Year after year and generation after generation, the cycle repeats.
One day, everything will change, however. In the new Earth a tree of life will span a river flowing from God’s throne, producing both in quality and quantity unheard of before.
“On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.“
Revelation 22:2
Blessing of Fruitfulness
In the beginning of creation God spoke a blessing over his children.
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:28
God designed blessing and fruitfulness to be inseparable. We cannot receive His blessing without our lives overflowing with fruitfulness. Neither can we pretend to be fruitful apart from His blessing.
The weighted boughs of any fruitful tree bend low toward the ground. What an apt illustration for each of us. In humility and submission to God’s will and ways, we, too, carry increasingly fruitful.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5
Time and again, we see this demonstrated through the people we find in Scripture. Those who sought the face of God, repented of their selfish ways, and trusted in Him, God blessed. He enabled them to bear fruit in every season. Unfortunately, many of them, like us, failed to listen to His Word or learn HIs lessons. As a result, they endured increased testing and trials.
Oh, how it must grieve the heart of God when we refuse accept the fruitfulness He makes available to us.
Never Fails
The prophet, Jeremiah, promises,
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8
No matter what season we are in, God promises fruitfulness. Maybe your “tree of life” is just blossoming. Maybe the first signs of fruit are beginning to appear. Oh, but maybe, you have your buckets and baskets ready — the harvest of your life hangs ripe and ready for picking.
May God encourage you, “There will be fruit in every season! No worries! Count on it! Anticipate it! Watch for it!” Fruitfulness is coming for everyone who remains in Him. God’s investment in you will never fail. Stand firm in your waiting.
“They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Psalm 92:14-15
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we did not choose You, but You chose us and appointed us so that we might go and bear fruit — fruit that will last — and so that whatever we ask in Your name the Father will give us (John 15:16). We have been called, anointed, and equipped to be fruitful representatives for Your Kingdom.
We produce fruit in keeping with repentance — lives radically changed and transformed by Your love and grace. It is for Your glory alone, that we enter each day with confidence, to bear fruit in every season of our lives — the proof of our intimate fellowship with You (John 15:8). Lord, we confess that in and of ourselves, we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Lord, we ask that we may live a life worthy of You and please You in every way: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).
We receive the blessing portioned to those who fear the Lord and walk in obedience to him. You will cause us to eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity come from You. Wives will be like a fruitful vines within our houses and children will be like olive shoots
around our tables. This will be the blessing for every man who fears the Lord (Psalm 128:1-4).
Oh Lord, may humility mark everything we do. May submission to Your will guide our steps. In You, alone, is the blessing of true and lasting fruitfulness.
Lord, even before we see the blossoms, before we see the evidence of fruitfulness or reap a harvest, we give You thanks and praise. We believe Your promises. Our lives will NOT be lived in vain. We are Yours. You have called us to more … to better … to higher levels of flourishing in Your Presence.
Blessed be Your Mighty Name, our Lord and our God. To You belongs the glory.
Amen
**********