Whether it’s something as simple as a pop quiz or something as severe as Hurricane Katrina, none of us like the feeling of being unprepared. Being unprepared makes whatever challenge we are facing in life more difficult. Life has surprises for which we are not forwarned but it also has predictable seasons yet often, we are still not prepared. So many of us live life just catching up but God wants to bless us and in order for Him to do so, we have to be prepared.

God is committed to the fruitfulness of our future and He is asking us to be committed also. There’s a fruitfulness that God has planned for each of us; He wants us to live out what He created us to be. This may or may not include having a lot of money or fame but rather passions or gifts that He instilled in us, which if used effectively, will yield fruitfulness and blessings. God wants to bless us so we will be fruitful. Luke 12 says that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Your treasure is to become what God has created you to be:

“‘By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples’” (John 15:8).

We all want God’s blessings and to be fruitful but we have a tendency not to be prepared for it.  In a parable, Jesus spoke about several different types of soil (representing preparedness) in this way:

“‘And other [seed] fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty’” (Matt. 13:8).

In this parable, Jesus talks about how some pieces of ground were prepared for fruitfulness and some were not. The difference in the soils was whether it was prepared or plowed under.  Here, Jesus tells us that the rewards “good soil” (soil that is well prepared) is much fruitfulness.  On the other hand, lack of preparedness – not just fields and gardens but our hearts and lives – can yield negative consequences. Israel is an example of that in Psalms:

“And not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God” (Ps. 78:8).

In order to be ready for fruitfulness, we need to prepare and preparation is not always easy. It involves work. Just as a farmer has to plow a field, fertilizer it and repeat this process three times before starting a new crop, we often need to undergo an equally painstaking process to prepare our hearts to receive God’s blessing.  And just as a farmer knows that it is a mistake to sow good seeds in thorny, unprepared field, God will not sow good seed in a “field” (heart or life) that has not been prepared.

So often do we pray, “Dear God, I want a fruitful life! Please bless me.” But He can’t because we are not properly prepared. Before He can bless us, we need to be prepared. So, the first step in preparing for fruitfulness is:

1.    IDENTIFY THORNS IN YOUR LIFE.

Thorns can be habits that we’ve had a long time and have allowed to become part of our personality, e.g., a bad attitude, a habitual problem, problems with our spouse. Thorns can also be attitudes that push people away, e.g., arrogance, callousness, disinterest in others.  Where it’s God’s role to bless us, it’s our role to be prepared for His blessings but He will not sow amongst thorns:  “For thus says the Lord...’Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns’” (Jer. 4:3).

He will do His part if we do ours. What He wants is for us to have a heart that is pure—one that does not hide or cover up things.

“To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15).

“Pure” comes from the Greek word catharos or catharsis which means to sit with someone who is objective to process a thought or an act. The idea is to resolve a problem by talking it out and working through it, not just allowing something that is wrong to be accepted without any question. With respect to having a pure heart, the idea is for us to be willing to filter everything (all of our thoughts and actions) under the light of the Holy Spirit before making decisions or taking action. You can say, “Lord, what do you think about this?” and listen for His response.  By talking things out with the Holy Spirit, we can learn to let go of things that we were once too emotionally involved in to let go.  When we are willing to let go and don’t insist on our way, we become purified.

The Bible is full of people who made decisions, either without asking God or in defiance of Him, which caused God to have to step in.  For example, God showed up as an angel with a flaming sword to block the path of Balaam, a prophet in the Old Testament who was going the wrong way. God had to intercede with a storm when Jonah, another prophet, tried to flee from the presence of the Lord rather than go to the City of Ninevah as God had instructed. Then there is Jacob, one of the fathers of our faith, who wrestled all night with an angel and ended up limping back to camp with a dislocated hip the next morning because he was struggling with God about an issue.

In all cases, God loved these men too much to let them stray or take a path that would not greatly alter their future; however, this type of intervention required us to Him permission to do so. If you do, He is faithful to not let you stray too far from your path.  If you are on the wrong path, He will grab you and shake you until He has your attention. He loves you that much that He will step in and ensure you remain on the right path so that you will yield the fruitfulness He intended.

God was committed to the futures of those men and He is committed to our futures today, but in order for Him to step in, we need to give Him permission. So, as a second step, I challenge you to:

2.    MAKE A LIFELONG COMMITMENT TO HIS WAYS.

We have one life to live on this earth. Do we really want to miss out on what God has planned for us? Balaam, Jacob and Jonah made lifelong commitments to God’s ways and He was with them every step of the way. We also need to commit ourselves to His ways and God will commit to our future. To give Him permission over your life, just say, “Lord, do whatever is necessary to keep me true to You. I don’t want to be outside of the will of God. I’d rather be in a whale’s belly, heading straight for You, than to be anywhere else, going the wrong way.” Therefore, I encourage you to:

·        ASK FOR A PURE HEART.

In other words, ask for a heart that is willing to process all of your decisions with the Lord. In your life, marriage, schooling, jobs, you will have opportunities, both good and not so good. You will have decisions to make. You may even be strapped with the pain of having to choose. You might want to bail out buy you need to stop and say, “Lord, I’m not going to impulsively do this. I’ve asked for a pure heart which means I’m going to process this with You. I don’t want to jump into anything without You. What should I do?”

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Ps. 139:23-24).

If you ask God for a pure heart, it means you want to process everything with a heart of integrity. To do this, it means you must also ask for consequences to change your direction if needed.

·        ASK FOR CONSEQUENCES.

Although consequences sound scary, without consequences, there’s no reason to change.  Asking for a pure heart and consequences grants God the right to step into our path and stop us if we’re going the wrong way.  When we allow God to have His way in our life – give Him permission to even to intercept us if need be – rather than being an impediment, it gives us the freedom and confidence to move forward trusting that He will stop us from doing the wrong thing or going the wrong way.  Permission for God means freedom for us…to move forward in confidence rather being paralyzed with fear of or worry about doing the wrong thing.

“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil” (Ecc. 8:11).

Thank God when we get caught! Otherwise, what would stop us? One of the bravest prayers we can pray is, “Lord, I ask for consequences. If I go off of Your path, please stop me.”  There will be times of temptation in everyone’s life which can lead us astray but if we partner with God as we make our choices in life, we can be confident we are on the right path with His help.  Then third, and lastly…

3.    MAKE WISE BUT FIRM DECISIONS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

What this means is to make the hard, but right, choices and decisions to follow God’s path of righteousness.  If this means making changes in lifestyle, friends, scheduling and time, do it...even if it is hard and requires sacrifice…

“He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God” (Psa. 50:23).

“Who may worship in Your sanctuary, Lord? And who may enter Your presence on Your holy hill?...[Those who] honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts” (Psa. 15:1,4).

One of the most painful lessons in my life was also one of the most powerful. I know that God stepped in and said, “Wayne, I love you too much to let you go that way. I see what you cannot. If you make this decision, it will actually alter your future. You’ve given me your life as a commitment, so I’m going to step in. You are right to process this with Me. You are preparing your life for fruitfulness. I will come in and help you.”

The same is true for each of us. If you say, “Lord, I invite You in. I’m going to do the best I can in my marriage, family, job, relationships, life but if I ever start to stray, grab me.” And the Lord says, “Good.  I will.  And, I will bring you to what I want you to be.”

God is committed to our fruitfulness.  He wants to bless us but it is our job to prepare the “soil”, our lives, for His blessings.  To prepare, we need to identify and get rid of the thorns in our lives which prevent God from sowing good seed.  In addition, we need to make a lifelong commitment to His ways including asking for a pure heart and consequences to keep us on the right path.   Then lastly, we need to make wise but firm decisions for righteousness.  If we do these things, God will bless us beyond our imaginations.  And in the end, we’ll be able to say how very grateful we are that God is in our lives.

Discussion Questions

1.      Have you ever been ready to make a decision that would alter your future in a negative way? Did anything stop you? Did God send a “storm?”

2.      God told Jonah to go Ninevah but Jonah was tired of ministry and chose instead to go to Tarshish. Have you had the experience of choosing a different way than what God was asking? If so, what was the result?

3.      Whenever someone does something in the Bible without asking God for counsel, problems arise. Why is that?

4.     How do we know if we are going the wrong way, unless we ask? Is something funny on the inside?