Testing Your Effectiveness

When Jesus instructed that someone could be known by their fruit (Matthew 7:16 & 20) He was referring to false prophets.

When He taught about pruning, He was referring to branches that were in Him (John 15:2). Branches that don’t produce fruit are removed, and branches that produce fruit are pruned, so that they produce more fruit.

In Acts 14:8-20, Luke described a fierce day in the lives of Barnabas and Paul. As they did work related to the Kingdom and the Church, the responses to it ranged from being worshiped as gods to being assaulted with the hope of murder.

Being observant of your fruit is wise. Being crushed by the fact that fruit from obedience to the King doesn’t seem to be what you expected might be a mistake.

Some of your missions are not expected by your Commander to have the outcomes that the world would measure as “optimum.” Some of His prunings come in ways that seem to be judgements rather than promotions.

I suggest that you examine yourself through a different test: answer the question, “Did I do what the Lord told me to do?” If the answer is “Yes,” then expect promotion. Perhaps in the form of pruning.

Then, be enCOURAGEd.