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By their fruit you will recognize them…
Matthew 7:16


Our Last day in ministry:
Harvesting fruit in the orchards of Firladeni, Moldova

I could have never pictured what my last day of ministry might look like when I started the World Race 11 months ago. Through
what could seem like a mundane, medial task of physical labor was the
sweetest gift from God. We picked fruit from the trees and ground of
this Moldovan orchard for 8 hours…..

About half way through the day, God lead me to a specific tree, a tree he set aside for me to encounter. One that He would use to speak to my heart…..This tree was the littlest tree I had seen in the orchard all day. There was no fruit on the branches, it was withered and almost looked dead. I nearly walked right past it, and then something caught my eye. I saw one red apple hiding under the grass.  I knelt down to push back the grass to uncover the largest pile of apples i had seen all day- the biggest, most flawless, beautiful apples in the field, and tons of them! As I scratched my head I thought to myself…. “How is it possible that fruit like this could come from this tree!?”

In that moment this verse came alive….

16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

    21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven. 22
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform
many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Matthew 16-23

God reminded me of one of the most valuable lessons i learned this year… It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, it doesn’t matter if you call yourself a Christian, it doesn’t matter what you are striving to do or how you are trying to perform- Even if you call on the name of the Lord….if you don’t have a relationship with the Lord; don’t even know who He is in your life….. There will be no fruit.  When we follow the will of our Father and desire to know Him, we are motivated by the very nature of Gods love to live a life in a way that will bear much fruit.  Your fruit will reflect the state of your heart for the Lord.  I had to look to the sky and chuckle at how creative God was this day in speaking to me… He spoke of how proud he was of us in the orchard that day… He spoke of the large harvest of fruit that would come from this year ….  His words are exciting and true.  Thank you God for choosing us this year to serve your kingdom in such an incredible way.