Thank you Father for never leaving me nor forsaking me.
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
And God blessed(empowered) them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:27,28
1. God created man
2. God blessed man
3. God said, Be fruitful...
Being fruitful and multiplying are two different things because if they were not, only one of them would have needed to be mentioned.
Multiplication can be the result of being fruitful.
To multiply is to increase in number, to become many, to enlarge.
To be fruitful is to grow and bring forth.
To bring forth what?
The character of our Father in heaven.
To imitate Him as dearly beloved children.
The glory of God.
To be fruitful is how we are able to replenish a thing.
We serve a fruitful God.
Remember in Mark chapter 11 when Jesus was hungry and He saw the fig tree?Jesus saw the leaves on the tree from a distance and went to that tree to take of it's fruit.
Jesus walked as a man in this earth He was the anointing and His earthly body required food and rest. So we see that even the super on Christ's natural didn't exclude Him from having to replenish His natural through food and sleep.
The Father takes care of strengthening the spiritual body when we commune with Him in prayer and praise.
The Father also works through each of us to be able to help strengthen one another through encouragement and help.
Helping one another is a two way street.
If you are married you know this, you know that a woman is not just a help meet, she is also one who may be in need of help from time to time.
This is what edification and exhortation is for.
For the replenishing and building up of the body.
The King James Version says:
And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find any thing thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
(A man sees a woman from afar off and he approaches that sister to see if there is anything to this tree.)
Another version says, ... because it was not the season for figs.
When we think of a season we think of the natural four seasons that we are all accustomed to.
Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall or we think in times of Seed and Harvest.
We may think of a season of fame, maturation, completion or level of breakthrough.
As the Lord Jesus looked at that tree he was looking for something to strengthen His physical body, but when He looked at that tree and found nothing on that tree but leaves, he was said it wasn't ready because it wasn't the season.
I say to you that the season of fruitfulness in each of our lives is not dependant on a change in the weather or a specific amount of time.
Because you can be a woman for fifty years and still not be ready to be a wife.
I don't know why the Lord is using marriage this morning, don't be offended it ain't me.
Listen because fruitfulness applies to every area of our lives.
Our time of fruitfulness is totally up to us.
Our leaves will wither if we allow them to, they will dry up at the root.
Our ability to be people that have what it takes to replenish others rests in our understanding God's Word and plan for us and our own desire to bear fruit.
To Be fruitful.
If we are fruitful, we will multiply.
What happens when people try and get water from an empty well?
Either they realize that this tree doesn't have what I need and move on or they die of thirst.
I look at us (In Christ) as being that tree that is planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Let me explain.
What is this fruit?
What is that blessing that God gave man in the beginning?
The fruits of His Spirit.
Galatians 5:22,23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
These are the things that lead men to repentance.
Romans 8:1 teaches us that:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are In Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
So faith is a very important characteristic of God because without it it is impossible to please God but faith is not the only characteristic of God.
Because if we don't have faith working with love, patience and the rest of these traits of God it may bless us but it will rarely be a real lasting blessing to others.
You can have great faith and do more damage to other people than you even realize.
If we live in the flesh what will be the fruit of our labour?
Ephesians 5:9,10
...(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
The attitude of faith is not arrogant or indignant, it's simply confident.
I was looking at Revelation 22:1,2 where John described the vision that the Lord had given him.
John recorded it saying:
1 And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
She yielded her fruit every month.
She gave it up because she had it.
She gave those things of God that edified the body, that nourished them and put them in a place where they weren't limping.
The tree didn't beat the nations down but provided what was necessary for the healing of the nations.
If you are diagnosed with cancer or any sickness, you may not have smoked, you may not have done anything that puts you at a high risk for disease. So the doctors job is to gather information in order to help you to overcome what is attacking you body.
The blood of Jesus works and the blood of Jesus is also plead over godly physicians to help educate and treat you while you heal. When you go to see a physician the physician is not going to say "It's your fault that you are siting here on this table" his job is to lift you up like Jesus did that woman caught in the act of adultery and ask her "who is it that condemns you?"
Because if sure ain't God.
I deal with people every day and they are hurting and scared folks and eve though their actions played a large part in why they may have had the stroke, we don't go in there hospital rooms and begin to blame them for being sick.
Our stroke team goes in and shows them how we are going to do whatever we can and use whatever resources that we have to try and find out how the stroke came about and then do what we can to help them heal and prevent another attack on their brain.
He sent Jesus Christ to heal your broken heart, to dry your eyes, to lift you up out of whatever you are in.
How can we know when we are in the midst of our season?
But who will approach you?
The season is when someone looks to us for those characteristic fruits of our Father and we can accommodate.
They are looking for something to sustain them and to replenish them and nourish and strengthen them.
Have you heard it said "We may be the only God that people ever come in contact with"?
That folks may be at the end of their rope and about to give up or are confused, scared or tired, looking for shade and they come in contact with your tree.
No guilt here, I don't operate on guilt, I just want to take a look at bearing fruit.
This is why Psalm 1 says,
Blessed is the man that will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly/fleshy, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful(inflated and contemptuous).
(People shouldn't feel comfortable speaking nasty about other folks in your presence.)
"Mirror Moment"
But his delight is in the law/Word of the LORD; and in His law/ Word does he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper/increase, multiply, enlarge/be great in number.
So Lolita is saying to you,
Beloved I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.
And my heartfelt earnest prayer is that we all may learn to walk worthy of the LORD Jesus Christ, pleasing God and being fruitful in every work.
Amen
Love Y'all
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