Written by His
Grace,
Kevin K.
O’Connor
Main thought: to examine what God and
what we should be looking for in our lives
By their Fruit you will know
them
Matthew
7:19-21 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize
them. 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven.
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. (Whole Chapter: In context: )
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (Whole
Chapter: In context: )
Notice how God looks at us
and how we can know who are His. It’s not by the multitude of our activities,
words, or the amount of knowledge we’ve accumulated that reflects our walk with
Him, but it’s the fruit. God is getting ready to bring in His harvest and He
will only be harvesting those who are bearing the fruit of His Spirit. Not
those who have become experts in the form of righteousness with the multitude
of their religious words or works, but those who have grown in intimacy with
Him. Notice Matthew 7:21 21"Not
everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Wait a minute!?
Here’s someone that recognizes Christ as Lord and confesses Him as Lord so why
don’t all who do such things enter into Glory? You
believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and
tremble! (Whole Chapter: In context: )
I believe some of the most
miserable creatures in torment through all eternity will be those who knew of
Him but did not know Him. How can anyone that has seen Christ and how He emptied
Himself out for them not surrender their pride before Him? Is it any wonder
that only eternal torment will be awaiting those who reject such Love and
Mercy? Also, is it any wonder that there are going to be some hard words of
correction to those who have heard His voice of Mercy and Forgiveness and then
have covered it with a multitude of their own works of righteousness? We learn
that through labor our lives become blessed, that through giving we feel
blessed, that through denying ourselves over the needs
of others we are blessed. But we need to realize that above all these things
and greater than all these things is the need we have to know God.
Of course there is a high
from doing things that result in a relationship with God even though we may not
know Him. We must not numb our need to know God with the byproducts of the
blessings that come from knowing Him. In other words, the truth of God’s Word
that says it’s more blessed to give than to receive is true. But if all we do
is live that truth without knowing the One from which that truth springs, than
we have cut ourselves short. If we hear the Truth of His Word that says don’t
forsake the assembling of ourselves together with other believers and don’t go
beyond that into relationship with Him than again we’re missing the mark.
It seems that we get so
wrapped up in what we can see and understand that we miss out on a relationship
with Christ. Of course, when we have a relationship with Christ there will be
manifestations of that relationship, But, we must not
allow our love to grow into a form or a ritual of those outward signs. Why is
it that when God’s Incredible Mercy reaches into our hearts and we experience
His deliverance from our blindness and then respond out of thankfulness for His
Love and Grace that we begin to focus on our outward responses and not on Him?
The greatest lights for
Christ will not be those who are gazing at the light Christ is producing in
their lives but are those who are ever more intently focusing on Christ’s
Beauty. Why do you think that Moses face shined so brilliantly? Because he had
been gazing into the beauty of God. Every person can have that kind of Joy and
Ecstasy flowing from their lives. It wasn’t meant to be limited only to Moses
but for everyone who will make (not take) the time to be with Him. Let’s
remember the days when we courted our spouse. Did we “take” time to be with
them, No! we “made” time. And, the greater our fire to
be with the one we loved, the more time we made.
The kingdom of God, which
is relationship with Him, is not to be had by the complacent or the couch
potato Christians, but it is to be had by those who will learn how to press in
and say I will not be denied. The
Father’s desire is to see His Son and His Son’s Bride united in Joy and Ecstasy,
do you really think that He will rapture those who are not awakening the flame
of love and passion for His Son? I don’t think so, but I do think those who
will not awaken their heart’s flame for Christ will have it made awake by the
trials that are coming upon this world because of its rejection of Jesus as
Lord of lords and King of kings.
It’s funny how satan is continually trying to imitate God. Is it any wonder
why? What else can the creation do but try to imitate the One from which it
came. He even tries to imitate the trinity in the book of Revelation; Then I saw three evil[ 16:13 Greek unclean] spirits that looked like frogs;
they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out
of the mouth of the false prophet. (Whole Chapter: In context: ) Satan is not
the Great I AM and so he is continually trying to imitate the One from which
all things have their existence. He is even doing this in and around our lives
today. One of the greatest ways to destroy an enemy is to join up with him so
that you may destroy him from within. To do this, being a counterfeit is
necessary. Satan is today trying to destroy God’s work in this world by
appearing like one of His, when in fact he’s only out to work against God and
not for Him; "Watch out for false
prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious
wolves. (Whole Chapter: In context: )
So, how do we avoid these
counterfeits that are continually coming against those who desire to follow
after God? God Himself tells us how to know those that are truly His and those
who only appear to be, by their fruit. Notice God says by their fruit and not
by their works or activities. Why? Because satan can
imitate all of the outward actions of being a child of God, but he cannot “Be”
a child of God. In other words, satan tries to imitate
every fruit of the Holy Spirit but just is unable to due to the “nature” of his
heart. In every effort of satan to portray a fruit of
the Holy Spirit you will see a selfish motivation. When satan
tries to imitate love, it comes out as lust and greed. Satan can imitate every gift of the Holy
Spirit but he cannot imitate the Fruit because the fruit is from the heart and satan’s heart is very corrupt and self-serving. God’s heart
is self-sacrificing and giving and so the fruit of the Holy Spirit proclaims
it. Satan can imitate many mighty miracles; speaking in tongues, prophesying,
healing, etc… but he cannot imitate the heart of God.
Is it any wonder then why God says what He does in 1
Corinthians 13 1If I speak in the tongues[1] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only
a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of
prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith
that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give
all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[2] but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love
never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For
we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection
comes, the imperfect disappears. Notice what He says here. He doesn’t
just say Love does kind things (which of course it does) but that Love “is”
kind. God goes beyond the outward action to the heart of the action from where
the fruit of the Holy Spirit flows.
Satan cannot be who he is
not. He is not God although he tries to imitate Him. When we come into contact
with groups or individual people who confess Christ as Lord, we need to examine
their motives for their actions before we entrust ourselves to them; Behold, I send you forth
as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless
as doves. (Whole Chapter: In context: ). Satan knows
that we need fellowship/interaction with others, but he is also a master at
using our needs to get a foothold into our lives. We need to seek the Lord for
those that have the Holy Spirit reigning in their hearts and not those who just
have His words flowing from their mouths. We must not allow the needs we have
to drown out that small still voice of where we are to walk; My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me: (Whole Chapter: In context: .
So how do we become
sensitive to His voice and not the voices of this world and old nature that
continually cry out for attention? By getting real with Him (Jesus)! By
learning how to press in as Jacob of old who wrestled with God and would not
let go until He blessed him, by learning how to get desperate for the nearness
of our hearts to Him. Look back again at 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. (Whole Chapter: In context: ). First of all notice
where that tree is, “planted by streams of water”. Notice that God says planted.
That means those roots are not laying on top of the ground so that any big gust
could just blow it over but they have gone deep to take a good hold that it
will never be moved. We need to get our hearts away from feeding on the garbage
that this world gives us to live off of and learn how to sit at His feet and
listen to His Word, which is able to transform us into His image, not just
listening to Him, but doing what He speaks to us. But the man who looks
intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not
forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.
(Whole Chapter: In context: ) God’s Word will
not return to Him void but will accomplish His good work in us if we will
hunger and thirst for Him; Isaiah 55 11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but
will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. I
love that old Hymn “Standing on the Promises”. That’s where we need to plant
our hearts and our lives and not just our words or our actions so that when we
breathe our final breath we may have much fruit of the Holy Spirit to lay at
His feet with floods of Joy filling our hearts for all He did in our lives.
Behold, Jesus is returning soon! May He receive all of the Glory, Honor and
Praise for every fruit He has produced in our lives! And,
behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according
as his work shall be. (Whole Chapter: In context: )
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If you have comments or suggestions email me at rubornagain2@outlook.com