Is _______ Growing? I Can’t See It!

Maybe you haven’t asked this question in this particular way, but you may have asked something like:

• I’m obeying what You asked me to do, LORD. Why is this happening?
• I’m obeying you. I’ve stepped out and am following where You’ve led me. But is this REALLY is the path You have for me? I’m not seeing what I thought You’d bring from this.
• If You told me to go this way, LORD, why do I feel like I’m going solo?

Have you been there? I have…a number of times. Even in writing this blog, I’ve been there! I’ve wondered how He’ll use each post He’s led me to write, the blog as a whole, and even my obedience. Will He grow fruit now or further down the road?

We’ve been studying the book of Ruth at church. I love that book. I’ve deeply studied it other times in the past, and I’m still gleaning (no pun intended) truths that apply to my life today.

I was asking the LORD for direction in my alone time with Him this week. He specifically led me to a pod cast by Kelly Minter on His faithfulness. He so faithfully tied together these messages with the themes of Ruth, and, truth be told, they’re an excellent reminder for me.

While I’d love for all of you to take in the entire pod cast episode, I know you may not have over a half an hour to listen to it. So, to save you time, I’m listing some of her notes, some things that stood out to me, and what God’s revealed to me. I believe we all want whatever we’re doing to matter and point others to the One Who gave us our lives.

“You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. And I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative], He may give to you.”

Jesus (John 15:16 AB)

It Was God’s Intent from the Beginning That You Bear Fruit

In, Genesis 1:28, God blesses Adam and Eve, THEN He commands them to “be fruitful and multiply.” Isn’t it interesting that we oftentimes equate being fruitful with God’s blessing? Notice that His blessing (or benefit) was on Adam and Eve BEFORE he commanded them to do something. God’s blessing could be the ability to do something. His blessing doesn’t lie solely in the outcome. He blesses us with Himself, too: He’s chosen us and set us apart for a purpose (John 15:16), which He will, obviously, enable us (through His power) to do!

God didn’t just give Adam and Eve the command to “be fruitful and multiply”; this command was repeated with Noah, Abraham, Israel (Jacob), and us (spiritually, in the New Testament). Note, again, in Genesis 9:1, that God blessed–or benefited–Noah and his sons BEFORE He give them this command. This command in Genesis, obviously, refers to having kiddos and populating the Earth, but it also has spiritual implications, too. We’re all to grow kids (even if they’re spiritual kids we’re mentoring) who’d “walk in the way of the LORD, who would love the LORD, and…enjoy [His] presence.”

God’s Fruit Can Only Be Borne God’s Way

Our Fruitfulness is Based on God’s Faithfulness (Not Our Ability to Make It So)

“I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.”

God Speaking to Abraham (Genesis 17:6-7 NKJV)

“I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”

God Speaking to Abraham about Abraham’s Wife, Sarah (Genesis 17:16 NKJV)

“…Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.”

Jacob Recounting God’s Spoken Promise to Him (Genesis 48:4 NKJV)

God’s the One who causes growth in and through our lives! Growth may happen in the unlikeliest of places or circumstances, and it may look different than what we imagined, even on a different time scale.

Like Abraham and Sarah, we may see circumstances stacking up “against us” and feel the need to take matters into our own hands to “help God out,” but this only tends to make a mess of things. So many times, too, we do what Abraham did and, basically, ask God to bless our way…our plan, but then we hear God say, as He responded to Abraham, “No…”

“We cannot bear our own, spiritual fruit! We have to participate with God, and we have to do it the way that the LORD wants it done…[which is] rarely what we think and better than what we can imagine.”

Bearing Fruit is a Process, and Processes Take Time

Abram (later renamed Abraham by the LORD) was 75 years old when he left the land the LORD told him to leave, saying “I will make you into a great nation; I will bless you…All the families on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:2-4 NLT).” He was 99 when the LORD told him He would make him fruitful through Isaac, son of Sarah (Genesis 17). That’s 24 years between the two conversations, and Sarah wasn’t pregnant yet with Isaac! And THEN, Isaac didn’t marry Rebekah until he was 40 (Genesis 25:20) and was 60 when she gave birth to Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:26)! Twenty years had gone by!

There are definitely areas in my life, too, where I’m in the waiting between the commission and the fruit.

Some days feel like a famine, and some days feel full of great growth. In the midst of every day, even if “famines” or “losses” abound, let’s remind ourselves that God is faithful, fix our eyes on Him, remember His promises/commission, and trust Him!

If you have time, dive in by clicking on the link below for Kelly’s full episode.