How to Bare Fruit.

Fruit is not something you can manufacture in your life. Fruit happens. Fruit produces because it has yielded to a process. Anytime you abandon a plant intended to bear fruit, you deaden the potential of all that it can become. Anytime you prematurely pick fruit, you cheapen the flavor, fullness, and wholeness of all that fruit can do.

You and I cannot manufacture the fruit of the Spirit, which according to Galatians 5:22-23 are:

• Love

• Joy

• Peace

• Longsuffering

• Kindness

• Goodness

• Faithfulness

• Gentleness

• Self-control

They are produced because of the process.

Some of us may walk with more grace in certain areas more than others. However, I genuinely believe that as followers of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, we are to display all of these in our character, dealings, and doings. When we are wholly yielded and submitted to the Spirit, they become a part of our new nature.

John 15 is one of my favorite chapters to read in this season.

I have been going through a process that started when we went into lockdown at the beginning of March 2020. The Lord has been stripping me down… again.

It is humbling to walk with God because when you think you have "mastered" anything, He shows you another level or layer of things to work through gracefully.

Busybody

I love to produce. I get great joy out of building businesses, creating websites, and writing. At the end of 2019, I prophesy and prayed that every month this year, that I would produce fruit. I have been walking in the grace and strength God has given me to be disciplined and consistent to do what He places on my heart each month.

Maybe you're like me, and you keep busy.

• Perhaps you are enthusiastic about working on the visions and dreams God has given you.

• Perhaps you desire to become the Proverbs 31 woman who was about her business and praised by her husband for her noble deeds.

It was a fun time for me in prayer when the Lord took me to the story of two sisters, Mary and Martha.

Martha was a busy woman!

At first glance, she looked like a Proverbs 31 woman. She was being hospitable by opening her house up to Jesus and His friends. She was cooking and preparing the home to host. She was juggling many tasks. (Read the full story)

Martha was the sous-chef, the executive chef, the hostess with the mostess, and her last name was probably Stewart because I imagine her home setup was to perfection. Martha's busyness, and trying to do it all, is the representation of the life of a woman.

Trying to juggle home and work duties.

Trying to cook more health means and stay in shape.

Trying to be a super mom and an understanding wife.

Trying to spend enough time with God and not blow her lid in traffic.

Trying to build a passion project and a side hustle while getting enough sleep.

Martha!

Martha!

Martha!

"You are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her."

Here's what I needed to see about Martha. Jesus was not shaming her for her robust and ambitious personality. He wasn't even scolding her to be like Mary. He was saying to her was, "I see you are working hard, and it's making you overwhelmed. Instead of continuing to do, why don't you come to sit with me and be [in my presence]."

Sometimes we think that if we have a million things filling our schedule, it equates to productivity. I have since been convicted of this, and am continuing to pivot in my approach to working.

I received from this story that fruit and fruitful activity are sweeter when it stays connected to the vine.

Sweet Fruit

Fruit takes a process to produce. It is not a fast or rushed process, but it takes its time. There is gentle care involved and reliance on the elements each day to help it grow and mature.

This is what we become when we allow ourselves to carve out time to BE when we lay down the temptation to do, and we practice the art of abiding.

One of the mindset shifts that I had to have when reading about Martha and Mary was recognizing that I had a belief that the more I do, the more I would produce.

However, that is contrary to so many things in scripture.

Psalm 1:1-3 says

"Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditate on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers."

John 15:4-8 says

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

I desire to see people take what God has given them and multiply it 30, 60, 100 times. My heart is for people to bear the fruit and evidence of a life fully surrendered to a good God. I recognize that we cannot do that without prioritizing spending time abiding in God's presence and allowing Him to produce the kind of sweet fruit in our lives.

For the busy woman on the hamster wheel of trying to do it all, I pray that today you be more like Mary and find a quiet, secret place for just you and Jesus to commune. May we not do so many things in His name, that He doesn't even know us. May we be fully known and connected to Him, so everything else we do flows and produces long-lasting sweet fruit.

Until next time,