a meditation on fruit
³He shall be like a tree…that brings forth its FRUIT in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall PROSPER.² Ps1:3
When God is in charge of the whole planting, tending and harvesting process, the fruit is life giving and eternal. When we jump ahead and in our own way, try to get to the fruit, or rush the tending process, we bear mishapen fruit that will not last. The church has done this often.
There is an ordering principle in this, with a promise of durability and prosperity on earth. Wisdom knows when God is planting, and when he is pruning, and when he is harvesting the fruits. There is a season for each. To know where God is at in His Own fruit bearing processes in us and in those around us, is essential both to move in wisdom, and to get to know God as we help one another where each is at. There is a time to plant, a time to heal, a time to tend, a time to harvest. Knowing where we are in the growth process is basic to moving with God.
³being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus..² Phil1:11
To be filled with fruit is a seasonal completion. He is forming His Fruits in us–ie growing His own fruit within us. And we are told to become filled with these fruits. In many ways we are the fruit of jesus, but in another way, He is the fruit in us. There is a growth process implied in the metaphore of fruit–a process of planting, prunning or caring for, and then having ripe full fruit.
The are many spiritual laws around fruit–for example, ³He who tends a fig tree will eat of its fruit, prov. 27:18, which means if one joins jesus in his tending process, one will be allowed to eat of the fruit which is grown.
³the FRUIT of the righteous is a tree of Life..² Proverbs 11:30. For when people eat of this fruit they are tasting jesus who is the tree of life. So we become a tree of life for others.
ŒIsrael will blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.² Isaiah 27:6
Jesus is cutting off branches in the church which bear no fruit. One branch being cut off is this tendency to work out of season with His Purposes.
The church has often been trying to harvest, when He is planting, or tending or prunning when He is only planting. This is basically pride, blindness and at worst, rebellion for it is saying that we know how to tend the world and ourselves rather than God. God grows fruit in a manner that when it is ripe it is also whole and others can eat it and be eating from the tree of Life, His Son. When we move out of his order, we are not only ineffective, but we actually rebell against His order, and therefore no longer reveal Him to the world.
If you look carefully at that first psalm, you enter the image of the growth process when completely controlled by God.
To meditate on God ways, and enter them extends us out into bringing forth fruit in its exact season. And when we allow God to do this, our leaves shall never wither!
Rick Joyner writes, ³There is a time to plant and a time to reap, but there will not be a reaping if we have missed the time to plant. The church has had a ³reaping mentality² which has caused it to overlook many of the planting seasons.² (pg29, the Harvest)
God wants us to be involved in His Harvesting process, but not only that part of the process. To bear eternal fruit, one must know the whole process of God¹s way of growing things into His Fulness. To know even and especially in our own lives if He is planting, tending, or harvesting is essential to be aligned with his Purposes in our lives. Then we can let Him grow his Son in us, and we will become trees of life for those around us. Fruit bearing is a process. If we are overly fruit focused, we miss His full revelation, and we grow premature fruit that does not bring life.
