FLOWERFUL FRUITS
A common spring saying . . . April showers bring May flowers.
In the April Newsletter, we presented “Showers of Blessings” that fall upon us as believers. We were reminded it is God who gives us the clean hands and pure heart enabling us to receive the showers of a blessed relationship with Him.
As we consider the thought “Flowerful Fruits”, we will ask and answer some questions. How do the “Showers of Blessings” affect us? What is produced from our receiving such great blessings? Do we have flowers because of the showers? What difference do our “Flowerful Fruits” have on others?
Another term the Bible uses for “flowers” in this context is the word “fruit”. Can we see fruit budding and growing in our lives because of the blessings?
The Apostle Paul prayed for the believers in Philippi. This is a prayer that could and should be prayed by every believer and for every believer. He prayed in Chapter 1 verse 11 of Philippians that the believers would be “filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.”
John’s Gospel in Chapter 15, reminds us any flowers of fruit in our lives will only come as we abide in Jesus Christ and allow Him to abide in us. We can produce nothing apart from Him. However, when we are directly connected to the “Showers of Blessings”, we will bring forth much fruit.
How will our fruit be shown forth? How will it be displayed? Just as you can look at the leaves on a tree, the fruit a vine produces, or the flowers a bush yields identifying the kind it is, you can look at individuals and “inspect” their fruit. Galations 5:22-23 provides a list of the fruits that should be visible in the life of every believer. They are listed as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These attitudes and actions should be predominate and visible as “Flowerful Fruits” of believers. The believers who have received the “Showers of Blessings” from Jesus Christ should display these attitudes and actions.
Proverbs 11:30 says “The fruit of righteousness is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” We do not have “Flowerful Fruits” to just look good for ourselves. We have them to show forth the excellence of the mercy of God toward us. We have them to display the Glory of our Great Redeemer. We have them to display that we are a receiver of the “Showers of Blessings”.
Let us each one receive the Showers of Blessings from God, be filled with the fruits of righteousness, abide in Jesus Christ that we bear much fruit, and be a tree of life pointing sinners to the Giver of all life.
Let the April Showers produce May Flowers in all of us!
To God Be The Glory Forever And Ever . . . Amen!
Additional Thoughts
As with everything that is godly and righteous, true fruit bearing begins on the inside, in the heart. A person who belongs to Jesus Christ and who is called by God and given God’s message will give evidence of good fruit both in his attitudes and his actions. ~John MacArthur
There is no fruit without life. ~Adrian Rogers
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” John 15:4-5