The Fruit Test

Good Day to you !  I trust you also are having a wonderful and productive day.  Today is a bright sunny day here along the Danube River.  I just learned yesterday the name of the river is the Danu.  Apparently only English speaking people change the name to Danube.  Yesterday we had a marvelous day.  In the morning we went to a refugee relief center and had a delightful time imparting hope to the refugees and encouraging and strengthening the regular staff people who work there and some other short term research and support people.  We left there to have lunch with a very bright young prophet from Nigeria.  We were able to encourage him and expand his understanding of the Church and his calling in it.

We left our lunch with enough time for a short rest before we spent the evening with 3 friends who were here from Poland.  It was such fun to watch Holy Spirit at work answering their questions and encouraging them.  After a long dinner with them and some ice cream for dessert we were all quite ready to head for our beds and a good night of rest.

This morning I have finally been able to get the Video series we made in Zakopane sorted and labeled so it can be prepared for your use.  In addition I also ate a lovely breakfast and did some laundry.  I even slipped in some time to catch up reading on Facebook.  I have noticed several times recently when friends have been telling me about grand plans for things they are sure it is God's will for them to do.  And, of course, I am not in the business of arguing with what you believe God has told you.     If God said to do a thing I have only to say, " BE OBEDIENT ! "

I was in Bujumbura, Burundi, some years ago. I was to speak to a local congregation. As we sat on the platform. I could not help but notice a beautiful carved oak pulpit in the middle of the front of the platform. It was a gorgeous piece of furniture. But as I looked at it, Holy Spirit said to me, "Do not stand in the pulpit when you speak. Go down to that spot on the floor."

As the music program went on, I noticed the pastor leafing through his Bible trying to find some particular passage. When Pastor got up he went to his pulpit opened his Bible and began to speak. He was speaking in Kirundi. the local language, which I do not understand. After he had been speaking for about 10 minutes I leaned over and asked my interpreter what he was talking about. My interpreter said that he was introducing me. At the end of this introduction he stepped back and with a grand gesture waved me to stand in the middle of his great beautiful pulpit.

I knew enough about African culture to know turning and walking away from his pulpit would have been seen as an insult to the pastor. But God told me to speak from down on the floor. What should I do? What would you do? Many of my friends have answered this saying "Obey God".

I asked them which God I should obey -- the one who told me go down on the floor or the one who told me to love my brother as Jesus has loved me? What should I do? What would you do?

I knew exactly what God's will was as far as my speaking was concerned. I also knew exactly what God's will was as far as my brother was concerned. How do I choose?  Which way do I go? When do I go down on the floor? What do I do about my brother?  Many times when we know God's will precisely and correctly, we face confusing situations about how or when to walk in his will.

I have found a very simple mechanism God has given me to help with these decisions. I call it "The Fruit Test". In Galatians chapter 5 we are told about the nine fruit of the Spirit. (See Scripture below) These nine fruit of Holy Spirit are an accurate description of the character of Jesus.  It should seem obvious that to do what we believe to be God's will outside the character of Jesus is not what God desires or expects from us. Our Father is continually training us up to become more and more like the character of Jesus.  So this character summarized in the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Thus, we can begin to process our decision making fruit by fruit:

• If I go down on the floor right now will it be an act of LOVE ?  No, then now is not God's time for me to go down.  Going down now has failed the most fundamental test.
• If I go down on the floor right now can I do it with JOY ? Sure.  Can I do it without disrupting someone else's JOY ? No, then now is not God's time.
• If I go down on the floor right now can I do it with PEACE ?   Can I do it without disrupting someone else's PEACE ? No, then now is not God's time.
• With PATIENCE ?
• With KINDNESS ?
• With GOODNESS ?
• With FAITHFULNESS ?
• With GENTLENESS ?
• And, also very important, with SELF-CONTROL ?

This simple test is a quick and easy way to determine God's timing.  It will also often help us to determine God's method for doing what He has asked us to do.  Occasionally it will also help us realize that we completely mis-understood God's instruction to us.

So with this test in mind, what do you think I did as I approached the pulpit in Bujumbura ?

I prayed, "Lord, I heard your instructions and I want to be obedient.  But, Lord if you still want me to go down on the floor to speak, I need you to provide a way that I can do so without hurting my brother." And with that prayer I stepped into the middle of that pulpit and began to speak.

I had completed less than 2 sentences when my interpreter turned to me and said, "Excuse me, Sir.  Some people in the back cannot quite hear.  Would you be willing to go down there to speak ?" With that he pointed to the exact same spot Holy Spirit had pointed to when He told me where to speak.

Some of my friends become impatient to do God's will.  Some are so set on God's will that they are ready to go in debt to do it.  They will walk away from having self control over their finances.  Some fill the area around them with strife because they are so loudly insistent about the "will of God".  None of these ways follow His character.

If you follow God's character, He is quite able to manage your circumstances.  His timing is always perfect.

His, thus Yours,

  Stuart

Galatians 5: 16 - 25. (NASB)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.