Matthew 7:16-20
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Galatians 5:19-23
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
I awoke to these words audibly surrounding my mind. The loudest portion of all this was, "You shall know them by their fruits."
Who? Who am I looking at? or for?
I tried to start internally, seeking to examine my own fruits, but I was lead out of myself. I thought of our church congregation, the online teachers, the bloggers, the facebookers, the youtubers, and my spirit did not seem to settle. I went "secular" and thought of my roller derby teammates. I thought of non-churchy friends and nothing.
Then, my mom's face entered into my mind, and I thought of the fruits produced by our relationship. They do not look like a golden delicious apple of love or a juicy, sweet tangerine of joy. They are putrid pears of strife and blackened bananas of wrath wrapped in brightly colored justification.
Abba Father,
Thank you for all you love and mercy. Thank you for extending your gift of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach Hachadesh. Thank you for leading me, and thank you for revealing to me those dead branches of pride. Give me the strength to move forward in humility and non judgement. Thank you for placing in me a heart of flesh and removing that wicked heart of stone. Speak to my mom and let her know you are with her. Reveal you love and mercy to her. Convict her to seek your face and your word. Heal this relationship and family. YWYH, I ask that satan's scales be removed from the eyes of the unbelievers. I rebuke his deception and his influence that they no longer be effective towards your lost sheep.
In Yeshua's (Jesus) Name, Amen.
