Matthew 7:17-20 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a corrupt tree bears evil fruit. A good tree cannot produce evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. So then you will know them by their fruits.
In Israel, it’s amazing how many trees are being planted all the time. In fact, the green line that you hear about so much in the news isn’t an actual drawn borderline, but it is a visible line you can only see from the air. It’s where Israelis stopped planting trees.
Now suppose I wanted to plant a fig tree — would I go searching for lemon seeds? Of course not! And even if I planted a fig tree next to a lemon tree, it would still only produce figs, no matter how close it was planted to the lemon tree.
So in our lives, though we may be surrounded with sourness, even planted in a “lemon grove”, we are “fig trees” — and the sweetness of our fruit will remain, because we were planted by the Lord Himself, to produce good fruit under all conditions. There is no question that if we are planted in Him the good fruit we bear will come forth in both good times and bad times.
Life is filled with ups and downs, unforeseen circumstances that send our lives in strange loops we weren’t expecting — nevertheless, we were fashioned to be fruit bearers…unconditionally. You may say ” George, you don’t understand, you have no idea what’s happening in my life right now!” You’re right, I don’t — but I do know the Lord who laid down his life unconditionally for you — and that He did it so He could abide in you and you in Him — guess what for…
If life is overwhelming you, then it’s time to reach down deep and draw nourishment from the Root of our lives — Yeshua the Messiah. The sap of His Life will produce… MUCH! GOOD! FRUIT!…despite the lemons!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The word “midst”, in the Greek, is ‘meros’ which literally means “the middle”. In the ‘meros’ of the throne in heaven is the Lamb of God. The very focus of heaven — the center of attention — is the Lamb of God!
Judges 6 begins with an angel talking to Gideon saying, “thou mighty man of valor!” However, in this passage Gideon isn’t feeling very valiant — he’s consumed with his circumstances — how poor his family is and how he’s the least of his fathers’ house. He doesn’t feel he’s done anything worthy of being called valiant, yet the angel still addresses him “mighty man of valor!”
Every time I turn on the news it seems the new buzzword is – CHANGE! So how can we just shift gears and change? Let’s learn a lesson about basic automotive mechanics. Generally a car has between 4 and 5 gears. The first gear maximizes power in exchange for speed. As you move through the gears, you can continue to go faster, yet without using any more power, and before you know it – you have to look at the speedometer – cause nobody wants a speeding ticket!
One thing I absolutely love about Israel is that fruit grows everywhere in abundance. Delicious citrus fruit, mango, pomegranate, grapes, cactus fruit, avocado — and much much more! It’s common to see people people pick and eat it as they walk by. And it doesn’t taste like your average western fruit either. It seems to be especially sweet. It must be because God has blessed the land it’s grown upon!
Sometimes it’s very difficult to rejoice in trials – especially when the trials affect ministry! Last week, one of our servers had a database server collapse, but after several days of work, the server is now back online. Although the damage was minimal, the time needed to spend researching the issue and then rebuilding the databases took days.
Reading the gospels I find myself considering and identifying with the very human experiences and emotions of the Apostles, especially as the pace and intensity of the events of their lives with Yeshua were unprecedented. I have to wonder if the pace and intensity of the days of our lives can compete with theirs. Witnessing His miracles, His authoritative and concise way of teaching, His inevitable rejection, torture and crucifixion, His astounding exuberant resurrection, and eventual returning flight to Heaven from whence He came…all this must have had a rather relentless effect upon those who walked in any way closely with Him. Would it be fair to compare our present day scientific and technical accomplishments, political gymnastics, information explosion, pandemics, media magic, and the plethora of personal events, encounters and challenges, with their apostolic roller coaster ride?
Peter and John have just miraculously healed a man who was lame from his mother’s womb and Jerusalem is wonderstruck. God’s goodness and power turn a cripple into a living leaping testimony. We too come to the Lord as spiritual cripples, and He offers us a life of abundant joy as a testimony to Him. This life was purchased at an inestimably high price as recounted in verse 15 above: the death of the Prince of Life. The Hebrew, “Sar Ha-Chayim” actually expresses “life” in the plural, i.e. “lives” (chayim). This plural expression for life points to the literally millions of souls who have been redeemed by the death of Yeshua, but also, to the abundant life He provides for us.