Dear Friend, We are glad to connect with you once again in December. Similar to 2020, this year is eventful. New variants of COVID might come and go but our Lord is in control when we choose to hold on to Him. He can help our jobs and business to sustain through this difficult situation.
We will go through this month on what hinders our life from being fruitful to God. Before we go there, let’s understand what we mean by living a fruitful life for God.
What is a fruitful life?
One who leads a fruitful life does what God wants him to do. He aligns his priorities in life with the intent for which God has created him. Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
Our life loses its meaning, and purpose, and ends up becoming fruitless when we stop abiding in Christ. We stop fulfilling the purpose for which God has created us. Our heart feels worthless when we go far away from Christ. Many have written to us about the worthless feelings they go through. The root cause of our life’s worthlessness is that we lack a protector, a guardian, a counselor, and a comforter. No one can protect, guard, and counsel us as our heavenly father does.
Why we are not able to be fruitful?
As Jesus said, we will not be fruitful when we do not abide in Him. Why we are not able to abide in Jesus? Jesus explained this through a parable popularly known as “Parable of the Sower”. Jesus spoke about the sower who tries to plant seeds on his farm. He sprayed the seeds all over his farm. But some seeds fell on the footpath, some on the rocky land and some fell on the thorns. The seeds that fell on the footpath were eaten by birds. The seeds that fell on the rocky ground did not have enough soil to grow. The seed which fell among the thorns grew but they were crushed by thorny bushes and died. Other seeds fell on the fertile land, which grew and yielded fruits thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.
Jesus also explained the meaning of the parable. The sower is our God and the seed is God’s message. The message of God is given to every one of us and everyone is welcome to his presence. It’s an open invitation given to everyone in this world. The fruitfulness of the seed depends on the type of heart where the seed lands. We respond to God’s call in different ways depending on the nature of our hearts. But God can change the very nature of our hearts. According to Jesus, the following are the different kinds of hearts a human carries.
Ignorant Heart
All of us hear God’s message. The seeds that fell on the footpath were equivalent to the heart of someone who hears the message from God but satan comes and takes it away from them easily. There is no opportunity given for this seed to become a plant and produce fruit. The message and invitation given by God were not protected and cherished in the heart and hence were easily stolen by satan. Do we carelessly treat the invitation from God? Our ignorance will give a great advantage to satan to erase the call from our hearts. Let’s pray to Jesus to give a realizing heart. Let’s ask Jesus to give us a heart that cherishes his glorious call.
Undernourished Heart
The seeds that fell on the rocky sand heard the message of God. Accepts the message and even starts germinating. But when the sun came up, it dried up the plant because there was not enough soil and water for it to grow. The plant which started growing prematurely died without any nourishment. It has no chance of producing fruits after a good start. It happens in our lives too. Some of us accept the message of God. We were so happy when we heard it for the first time. We start holding on to God. We cherish it. But then the problems come into our life. Since we do not know how to hold on to Jesus, who is our nourishment and strength, our faith dies. We start slipping when we do not spend enough time on his word. Let’s be determined to water our hearts with continuous prayer and careful reading of the scriptures. Our heart needs continuous nourishment from the presence of God.
Wavering Heart
In the third scenario, Jesus describes the seeds that fell among the thorny bushes. The seed germinated. It even started becoming a small green plant. But they were choked by the thorns which surrounded them. The young tender plants died after a promising start. It never grew to become a fruitful plant. Jesus compares the heart of this person to the one who is choked in the cares, wealth, and pleasures of the world. These are the thorns in our lives that stop us from being fruitful. Our desires and pleasures never allow us to abide in Christ. It chokes the message God wants to plant in our hearts and stops us from living a fruitful life. Let’s carefully search our heart and identify the desires that seek and cares for the pleasures of this world. Jesus can help us come out of it.
Fruitful Heart
In the fourth scenario, Jesus talks about the seeds which fell on the fertile ground. The fertile ground cherished God’s message. It never allowed the birds to come up and pick it up. It received continuous nourishment from fertile soil. The plant grew and yielded fruit multiple times. Is our heart a fertile ground? Are we cherishing God’s message in our hearts? Is our heart free from the pleasures, and cares of this world? If the answers to the above question are yes then we can be fruitful in our life too. We will abide in Christ. We will not waver. Our life will be continuously nourished.
God’s message is given today to every one of our hearts. His precious invitation is open to all of us. It’s impossible to bear fruit with our human strength and self-determination. Our hearts can be disciplined only by the supernatural strength of God. Our eyes, tongues, and all the senses can be controlled by God, who has lived as a human on the earth and overcome all the temptations by himself. His name is Jesus. May Jesus remove every hindrance that stops us from being fruitful. Shall we ask Jesus to give a heart that bears fruit for his glory? Let’s pray. Please place your hand on your heart and ask Jesus to speak to you right now. Pray the below prayers in your own words. We are praying along with you.
Dear Jesus, thank you so much for speaking to me right now. I heard your invitation. Help me to cherish it and protect it so that no one will take it away from me. You are my God. Let me not be ignorant about your call. I want to be fruitful. I want to spend time in your presence and keep my heart continuously nourished. Discipline my life. Let my heart be truthful to you. Let me now keep chasing the nice things and pleasures of this world. I have only one life. Help me to live my life for you. Help me to be fruitful and abide in you. Please remove all the hindrance that stops my fruitful life. Forgive all my past mistakes. Free me from the pleasures and the obsessions in my life. Jesus, you alone can help me. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear friend, Jesus wants you to be fruitful. He wants to speak to you tenderly. The Bible says, “His (one who) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.“