God Promises Fruitfulness, Now Act Accordingly

I have come to the last entry in my concordance with regard to fruitfulness, which means I will be moving to another word to study in God’s Word. Today I have the honor of learning to act accordingly. God made the promises that He would make me fruitful thanks to my reverence, obedience, and fear of Him. Now it is up to me to follow through and live out my end of the promise and He will certainly live out His end.

“¹¹And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.” – Ezekiel 36:11 (ESV)

The above is from Ezekiel’s prophesy to the Mountain of Israel. Ezekiel foretold the fruitfulness that will befall us. I am grateful for having God’s Word to read and review and learn from. I know what is to be going on with me and my life and relationship with God. I will fear, be reverent, and be obedient to Him and in turn, He will make me fruitful and multiply.

The thing I have to remember is that God’s promise of fruitfulness is contingent on my acting accordingly. I will not receive the blessings and then have the opportunity to worship Him. I worship Him and then He provides. I have to do the work, knowing that God will do His part according to His promise. This all starts with my giving of my life to the LORD by accepting His gift of salvation. And once I have accepted salvation, I am driven to continue in awe of the LORD.

The LORD has promised to provide for me. He will make me fruitful and will bless me as I wander this world. It is up to me to act according to those ways in demonstration of my love and reliance on Him.

What are you doing to act accordingly? Are you expecting God to do His part and then you do yours? What if you were to do your part and be in fear, be reverent, and be obedient of/to the LORD and KNOW the He will fulfill His promise of fruitfulness?

Fear the LORD and be Fruitful

This morning I was led to a simple but impacting passage in Psalm. I was reminded that I am blessed with fear of the LORD.

“Fear: profound reverence and awe especially toward God” – Merriam-Webster Online

Fear in the case that I am speaking is as defined just above. It is the awe inspiring reverence toward God. In my fear of the LORD, I am fully devoted to Him and all that He is. In return for my reverence and devotion, the LORD blesses me and my house.

“¹Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,

who walks in his ways!

²You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots

around your table.

⁴Behold, thus shall the man be blessed

who fears the LORD.”

— Psalm 128:1-4 (ESV)

I have to look carefully at the words and meaning of them as I study. I want to ensure that I am on the right thought pattern. It is not said that everyone who fears the LORD will be rich or well off or without challenges. It says that they will be blessed. Being fruitful does not necessarily mean massive procreation or other worldly visuals of “success”. Being blessed and fruitful is being content in knowing that the LORD has provided and will continue to do so even when things seem grim.

Fear of the LORD brings blessing and fruitfulness. I have to remember to fear the LORD and that in doing so, I will be blessed and made fruitful.

What are you doing to gain blessings? Are you out there trying to earn it through your works? What if you just turned to God and demonstrated fear for Him and allowed him to provide and in turn you content with God’s provision and that provision turns to blessing and fruitfulness?

God Changes Us Then Makes Us Fruitful

I recently wrote about God making us fruitful. Now that is correct, there is a bit more to it. God does not just make us fruitful, before that He changes us. When I look at the three men God made fruitful in my previous writing, He first changed them. Adam was created, Noah had his life and world turned upside down, and Abram had his name changed by God. All of these where significant changes to the men and then, after the change, God made them fruitful. This continues this morning with Jacob as God changed his name to Israel and then made him fruitful.

‘¹⁰And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.’ So he called his name Israel. ¹¹And God said to him, ‘I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.’” – Genesis 35:10-11 (ESV)

Now, I want to be careful that changing your name does not get it done in the eyes of God. It is not about the name you have. It is your heart that is where the change takes place and you are then made fruitful. These men all were changed in their lives and at that point they demonstrated to God that they indeed were different. It was not a momentary thing, but something that came about over time. They were truly changed.

Doesn’t that happen with us as well. I know that I have changed a number of times over my years. I was saved, I got married, I had children, I have been studying God’s Word more intently, I have grown content. All of these have certainly made me different over the years. And that is the thing, it has taken years for these changes in me to be realized. It all did not happen in an instant. And neither did the changes for the men discussed above.

I am not saying that God has revealed to me the change and has said I would be fruitful, at least that I am aware (with me it take a sledge hammer to the head). What I am saying is that before we can be fruitful, we have to be changed. We have to do away with the old self and take on the new self and allow God to do the work in our lives to bring us around to the change manifestation. Once we are changed, we will then be made fruitful by God.

What change have you realized in your life? Were you expecting to be fruitful without making or experiencing change? What if you leaned on God, allow Him to change you and then accepted the idea that He will make you fruitful?

God Makes us Fruitful

It is not something that we do for ourselves, although it may be something that we believe we are in control of. I have a job and I earn money and that makes me fruitful. I have the common sense to be nice to people and multiply goodness to them and that makes me fruitful. I am the one who provides for my family and ensures that they have what they need to be successful and that makes me fruitful.

“⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.” – Genesis 17:6 (ESV)

God did not say to Abraham that he, Abraham, would make great nations. What He said was that He, God, would make Abraham into nations. God would make Abraham fruitful. God controls it all for me as well. My success. My fruitfulness. My growth. My provisions. All of it is granted by God. He makes/made me what I am.

Don’t get me wrong, I have work to do in order to realize all that God has made and promised for me. I have to follow His commands. I have to do His will. I have to ensure that I am always moving toward Him. And when I am, I will be blessed with fruitfulness all around me. God will ensure that He keeps His part of the covenant He made with me.

God makes us. From the beginning in day six to eternity He makes us. Not just our form, but our entire selves. He makes us even to be fruitful in the growing of His kingdom from here on earth to there in heaven. I am made fruitful by God and not of my own.

Where does your fruitfulness come from? Are really believe that you are in control of you being? What if you allowed God to continue as He did on the sixth day of creation, to make you all that you are and will become?

Be Fruitful to the World

“¹And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’” – Genesis 9:1 (ESV)

Upon Noah and his family exiting the ark following the flood, God gave him a task to “fill the earth”. And that is what was done. We know this by our simple existence here in this world as God’s flood of the earth removed all others from it and left it to Noah and his family.

Now, Noah and his family filled the earth that they knew, the one that was where they were. He did not send His sons to the “Americas” to fill here, but he and his family filled the world they were in obedience to God and knew that God would do the rest.

I have to remember that it is my duty to “fill the earth” beginning with the world I am in. I believe that is one reason that I identify with the church vision of where we as a family attend. We long to see “A gospel movement that reaches every person in the hill country and is carried to the ends of the earth.” We are not being fruitful in all the earth, just our little corner of it and then it is carried further, allowing for our filling of the earth. It all starts with doing the work where we are.

I do believe that too often we do not recognize and realize the impact we make or can make due to our want to do the big thing. I have to remember to be fruitful where I am and do the work of the LORD here. I have to allow for God to work through me where I am and not ignore the need right in my backyard because I see a “bigger” more “visible” need in the yard over there.

God calls on me to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. Even when calling on Noah, He called on him to start right where he was and do the work there. I am called to do the same, do the work in the world I am in.

What are you maybe not doing because you are looking to far away? Are you focused on making the big splash? What if you did the work where you are and filled the earth by starting in the world you are in?

Fruitful with and Multiply Good

This morning I have moved to the study of the word “fruitful” and what better place to start my study than where I was lead in Genesis chapter 1. With every step in God’s creation of the world, He recognized that it was good. He saw that light was good, land was good, vegetation was good, fish and animals and even man was good, very good. In all of His creation, God saw good.

This being the case, that all is good, I see also in God’s Word, that he wanted fruitfulness and multiplication. Although as I read, I can only think that there may be more being fruitful and multiplying than just extension of the species. I can think, as I mention in the title of my writing this morning of being fruitful and multiplying good.

Let’s dig in a bit. It is not in the nature of animals to be evil toward one another. Violence in the animal kingdom is meant for food and for dominion in the area (defense of that area). So the animal kingdom is made up of good and that good is spread throughout the species. With man, we hold the same as we are of the animal kingdom, only we are gifted free will from the Father.

As man, I am to spread (multiply) goodness throughout just as the other animals. The difference is that I have free will to do or not do the spreading. God has given me the option of doing so and it is up to me to be the example of Him and spread goodness. I was created good and am filled with good and it is my duty to spread that good throughout this world. God did it with His creation of the world and I am to continue His work as I live in this world.

“²⁸And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – Genesis 1:28 (ESV)

It is easy for me to sit here and believe that all of this was meant for me. Even reading God’s Word where He says that I, as man, am to have dominion over all living creatures. Yet it is not specifically mentioned to “fill the earth” with men and women. I feel as I am to “fill the earth” with good and multiply that good over all living creatures on this earth.

God created good with His creation of the world. It is my duty to be that good and spread it far and wide.

When you think of fruitful and multiply, what comes to your mind? Are you thinking of your being and you? What if you took the chance to take that which God created, goodness, and spread that far and wide?