The other day, I had this unusual craving for some type of fruit that I could not exactly place my taste bud on. So I got to the store and I knew for sure it was honey dew I wanted. Now the challenge was selecting one that would be juicy because I am not exactly great at recognizing the great juicy one just from looking at the outside. I did a little touching and feeling here and there and I prayed to the Lord. “Father Lord, “let this thing be juicy and sweet” I said. I took my fruit in my hand hopeful for the best.
Lord! you cannot imagine my excitement when I put my knife through the honey dew and It went smoothly through. As I put each piece in my mouth I kept screaming to myself, “dassit !!!! dassit!!!” Every single bite was hitting the spot and I could not contain my excitement that night, I was so excited about it that I finished the whole thing that night in less than an hour. I pray I am as blessed like that every time I buy fruits.
This happened about two weeks ago but this last week had me pondering on a number of things as related to the sweet fruit. I thought about how the sweet honeydew became what it was. It just did not appear on the shelf of the store where I picked it off from. It started off as a seed buried under well nourished soil. More so, I thought about apostle Paul’s exhortation about walking in the spirit in Galatians 5:16-25. He shared insight with us about the kind of fruit that the Holy spirit produces. He wrote, “the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”. You would agree with me that these qualities describe the ideal person that you would probably always want in your corner. My meditation on this verse birthed an image in my mind’s eye. A picture of a tree rooted in God’s word sprouted up with fruits hanging off the branches is what I pictured in my mind. I mean John 15 tells us how Jesus is the true vine and anyone who wants to bear fruit must abide in Him and Him in us. That also gives me an image of a plant with fruit bearing branches sprouting off it. And every fruit that sprouts from these branches must possess these qualities – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Dear Christian, can you confidently say that you possess all of these qualities just as our father in heaven would want? How would a stranger describe you after an interaction with you? If we are anything short of these qualities, then we are not representing our father in heaven accurately and we have to do something about it. Imagine if the whole world has christians with all of these qualities, it would be so great! we would literally have heaven on earth the day this happens.
I am writing to you dearest christians and even myself to self examine our lives to see exactly where we are. What kind of fruit do our lives bear? does the fruit possess all nine qualities? If you have answered no to one of the questions, this is how we can rectify that.
Sow the seed of the word of God: In Mark chapter 4, Jesus Christ shared the parable of the seeds that were sown in different terrains and what became of them. He then further explained to His disciples that the seeds He mentioned in the parable was a symbol of the word of God and what happens to it. For example when the word of God is planted on the fertile heart of an individual who allows it to take deep roots, this word yields fruit, Jesus said.- Mark 4:20. Therefore, in order to bear any great fruit at all, it all starts with ingesting the word of God. By ingesting, I mean reading, studying, hearing the word of God or any other means the word of God can gain entrance into your life. The word of God has the ability to correct and shape our lives into the image of Christ.
Receive the Holy Spirit: The production of the great fruit with those nine qualities as described by apostle Paul starts off with the Holy Spirit because He does all the work in us. I’d like to think of the Holy Spirit as the fertilizer who gives the word of God life in our lives. The Holy Spirit is also able to communicate the exact mind of God to us as we study the word of God. The Holy Spirit is able to teach us God’s word and how we should apply it to our lives. The role of the Holy spirit in our lives as believers cannot be over-emphasized and this is why Jesus admonished His disciples of old and of new to tarry in order to receive the Holy spirit.
Commune with the Holy Spirit: It is not enough to just receive the Holy Spirit, it is expedient for us to commune with Him. We should always make time to fellowship with Him so that He could help our weaknesses. To commune with the Holy Spirit is as easy as asking Him questions all through the day and also pay attention and acknowledge Him when He responds to your question.
Allow Him to Prune You: Every juicy, sweet or nutritious fruit that we have ever eaten has gone through some form of pruning and so as believers who want to be sweet and exude the fruit with the nine qualities we must allow ourselves to be pruned. And this pruning may sometimes not be the sweetest process but it brings out the best in us. What things is He telling you to let go off? Listen to Him today and let go
Allow Him to Cultivate and tend to your life: Just as the farmer prunes his plant, he also adds fertilizer, water and other ingredients that allows the fruit to blossom healthy. In the same way, as the Holy Spirit prunes us, He gives room for the Lord to fill us up with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Guard Your Heart: This last week reinforced this portion for me yet again! It is expedient for us as believers to guard our hearts; filter the things that we allow to pass through the gates of our lives. To the glory of God, I have become a changed woman who isn’t easily angered like I used to in the past. I have a default neutral demeanor or a playful one, it depends on whoever I am relating with per time. But this week, this person annoyed me so bad!!! Like the silly thing this person did disorganized my whole schedule, set me back on my planned schedule. I was mad to say the least and I slept in that anger which I should not have. Although, I didn’t not pour out this anger on this person, I could not shake it off my skin.
That was the greatest mistake I made that week, because I gave the devil a foothold from that night. From that night up until the next two days,I slipped into a foul and dirty mood. I became easily triggered, easily irritated, my patience with people began to run thin. This is not the Abimbola that has become a new creature! It was a bad two days but thank God for my communion with the Holy Spirit. He led me to a series of sermon by pastor Mildred-kingsley Okonkwo and that was the beginning of my deliverance brethren. Guard your hearts brethren, do not give the devil any foothold at all. Imagine if I had continued down down hill of a bitter young woman, that would be all people around me would see. And then tag all Christians as bitter.
Please dear Christians, let us represent our Jesus well, let us bear juicy, sweet fruit for the world to know, see and taste that the Lord is good.