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Living a fruitful life is one of my long term goals. I don’t want to fizzle out in the end, or wither up, but I want to be fruitful even in to old age as it says in Psalms 92. We can be fruitful for the long term, because the seed that was planted at salvation continues to grow and produce fruit. We are still a work in progress. We are still under construction. The seed is still growing in us! He who began a good work in us, will perform it! (Phil 1:6) We should be more and more fruitful the longer we serve the Lord. Here’s a poem I wrote to remind you of that!

We shall be, like a tree, planted by the water
A fruitful vine, all the time, tended by the Father
Producing well, fruit baskets filled, mirroring our Savior
Just like Him, His seed within, walking in His favor

How full is your fruit basket? Is it filled with the fruit of the Spirit? This fruit is luscious, tasty, delicious and most of all beneficial to all. Are you believing for and expecting the right fruit in your life? The right seed has been planted –there is no need for crop failure. Let’s see the right harvest! Christ in you….the hope of glory.

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Intro: Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. All through this month, we will be talking about living fruitfully. Fruitful living happens as we let the fruit of the Spirit operate in our life. Since we are part of the vine, we should be fruitful! Throughout the Bible you may have noticed that God is serious about fruit. He started earth’s productivity by telling Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. In Psalms 92, we are told how to flourish, and that is to be planted in the house of the Lord, or in a local, Christian Bible believing Church. Here is your dailyeword.

Wrong thinking leads to wrong believing, which leads to wrong actions. Amazingly, the converse is true! Right thinking leads to right believing, and right believing leads to right actions. My prayer is that we will all think right, believe right and act right! This month we are talking about the fruitfulness, and you can’t talk about being fruitful without talking about the fruit of the spirit. Fruitfulness is a demonstration that a vine or tree is alive and productive. Just like a tree without fruit is unproductive, faith without actions is unproductive too. Let’s use our faith to become more fruitful for the kingdom of God.
The word fruitful is derived from the Greek word for seed. We were born again of incorruptible seed, and that seed has the potential for us to become like Christ. When we believe the seed will produce, we begin to see all of the seed’s potential actualized in our lives.
First John 3:2 says that when Jesus appears, we shall be like him. Most of the time, that verse is interpreted to mean when Christ reappears at the second coming, we shall be like Him. Ultimately that is a reality! But the word appear means to manifest or be revealed. Jesus has already appeared and been made manifest, and NOW is the time for us to be like Him! The seed has actualizing it’s potential, and the fruit of the Spirit can be made manifest in us. Even though it may not be perfected in us yet, the seed of great potential is on the inside of us. Even if it is not revealed on the outside yet, it does not mean that the truth won’t be manifested shortly! That’s encouraging!

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Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. I would love to be known for an immaculate home, like the Prov 31 woman, but I would rather garden than dust! If you live in the country like we do, dust is a protective covering! It is hard to keep things looking ship shape. What does ship shape look like? As we talk about being fruitful, I’m sure there are those of you who are hearing your mom or dad’s voices ringing in your ears……Clean up this messy bedroom, were you born in a barn? I guess the only one that would really apply to is Jesus(!), who was actually born in a barn, but for some reason, I doubt if he had a messy bedroom! I guess the scripture that comes to mind when talking about organization and living in an environment where there is peace and tranquility is the one found in Corinthians that talks about everything being done decently and in order in the church. I think God is pleased when things are done decently and in order in the home too. I image God defines ship-shape as decently and in order. For those of you who might have a boat that you can live on, ship shape is necessary because of the limited space available and the movement of the water. Everything has to have a place, or it would be a mess. That applies if you’ve traveled in an RV as well. One quick turn, or one swift wave, and everything would be all over the place. Well, thankfully, our homes don’t get shaken up like that, but we can still have a place for everything and everything in its place. Order is a good thing. It makes life easier. So can we order our lives, and our homes to be orderly? Like the woman in Proverbs 31, tbe fruit of our hands can bring order and beauty to our personal spaces. I think that is what God would like. He is the best steward of all, and he desires the same for us. Let’s demonstrate fruitfulness by having our homes be ship shape!

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Abound more and more, in the fruit of righteousness is what it says in Phil 1:9-11. Sometime little things can make a big impression. The same is true in the opposite direction. Sometimes little things make a big negative impression. We can’t ignore little things or hope that nobody notices. How does that apply to being fruitful? Usually we’ll give ourselves a lot more grace than we give anyone else. I think the reason we do that is because we know our intentions. For example, we know that we tried to make it on time, but we had unexpected traffic, or a sick child. But because we don’t always believe the best in others, we just think that if they had just planned better they could be on time, even though they might have had the same issues we faced. When we might have been late a time or two we think to ourselves that it is beyond our control and couldn’t be helped. Another little thing is the mentality that prevails when we’re volunteering. We may think that we’d do our best if we were getting paid, but “Hey, this is free labor, so you get what you pay for”. Another little thing is the attitude of mediocrity that says “I’ve served my time, now it is someone else’s turn”. If we all felt like that, nothing would get done for the kingdom. To combat these “little foxes” that can steal, we need to remember that even when others aren’t watching, God is. He sees the big picture and not only sees your actions, but He knows your heart. If we want to represent the church on the earth as a place of quality and excellence, it is up to us as individual members to act like it is our responsibility.
When we take ownership not only of our own actions, but of our attitudes, we can move from mediocrity to a place of fruitfulness and really glorify God, not only in word, but in deed as well. Is there someplace in your life where you can see a need to rise above mediocrity and be fruitful? Why not do it today!

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Sports are a great learning tool for life. The lessons we learn include not giving up, perfecting our skills, having a good attitude in the midst of a down turn, and even smiling in the face of adversity. Whatever the sport is, the object is to continue getting better. If it is baseball, you keep swinging till you get it right and make contact with the ball. In the big baseball game of life, we know who the final winner is. Sometimes we may feel like we’ve lost the inning, but we don’t stop at three strikes. We keep on going. In fact, I love what I heard one minister say once. “My bat, my ball, my yard and my win.” I love that kind of tenacity. Sometimes there are set backs. They happen. Sometimes we strike out. Sometimes we can’t get on the field because it is raining, or snowing, or windy. But we don’t let the win slip from our hands. Don’t let fear sideline you from life. We can bear fruit for God in every area of life! Like it says in Romans 7:4, we should bring forth fruit for God. Renew your mind to all the promises that God has about you overcoming. When we walk in faith, instead of fear, we will reach our destination. In the midst of the journey, it is important to continue loving the game. Everyday we need to enjoy the journey. Keep on looking for jewels that God places in your path. Keep on finding joy in the small moments of life. Don’t let fear hold you back from your very best life! Not only on this side of glory. The greatest win of all is coming…..eternity in heaven. So remember, Jesus said that His desire was the God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let’s bear fruit in our sphere of influence today.

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One thing I’ve noticed about human nature is that we get committed to something when it directly affects us. For example, when sickness attacks our body, we begin reading healing scriptures. When we have a financial shortage, we read get serious about tithing and reading the Word about finances. If we really want to be Spirit led believers, we should spend time, attention and energy on the importance of understanding the operation of the Spirit of God. We want to be attentive listeners. God wants us to check our heart, and then let Him flow through us. If we seriously want to live the fruitful life, it takes discipline and diligence. It takes reprioritizing our life. It takes simplifying our life. It takes saying no to the good, so you can say yes to the best. God’s best is fruitful living. We can be fruitful to multiply just as it says in Gen 1:28. We could live filled with fear and never accomplish what God has for us, or we could live full of faith and courage. Then we could say yes when God asks us to do what seems hard or maybe even impossible. Why is that so important? Because God called us to be fruitful. Living above natural human existence, living in the presence of God, living a life that is led by the spirit of God, takes courage! Let’s live above fear! That is living your best life, and that is how we can be fruitful for life!

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Phil 4:17 says that God desires that fruit that abound to your account.
We are talking about fruitfulness, and it applies in the home as well. We hear about it all the time, how we should drive greener cars, live in greener homes, how we should reduce, reuse, and recycle, and all of those things are great. Along with making our lives more green, I think the best thing about fruitfulness in the home is it simplifies our life. When we have less stuff cluttering up our world, we can concentrate better, we spend less time looking for stuff, and we can enjoy the blessings that God has given us when they are well cared for. So for those of you who have it all together in this area…..bless you! For those of us who are working at it, congratulations. It is a big step in the right direction. For those of you who aren’t convinced that your life would be better through being more fruitful, I hope this week’s encouraging words will push you toward being convinced!
I think the biggest issue with doing anything new is getting started! We usually have 2 big pushes for decluttering at our house, and it is the end of summer and the week between Christmas and New Years. With a large household and lots of activities, and animals, and many differing hobbies, you can just imagine the amount of stuff one family can accumulate. The big day when it all starts usually is the messiest. When you take everything out and begin the process, thing aren’t so pretty. It gets a whole lot worse before it gets better. What is really funny is that as I am writing this, we are going through clothes to recycle at our church’s clothing sale. The hallway where the laundry room is has a menagerie of clothing ready to be packed up and taken away. The drawers are all getting reorganized, and closets are considerably less full. It is a great feeling. But starting the process and even deciding on a time each year, or even monthly to find things to give away, is pivotal in making fruitfulness a lifestyle.
So my encouragement for you is, whether it is your home, your physical body, your spiritual life, or even your garden where you wish to be more fruitful, get started! Make the first step, and then begin the process that can be a wonderful change for your entire life, our planet and even benefit lots of others who are less blessed than you. Be encouraged today, you can start being more fruitful and more generous now!

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In our family, we have made the decision to put a cap on how much we will consume. Once we reach that limit, it is time to give something away. An easy way we have done that is when someone gets a new shirt, they give an old one away. We have a bin in the laundry room just for give a ways. It works with shoes, belts, toys, books, whatever. Often the space available limits how much you can have, and because Americans usually have space, we fill up every corner. Being from a European family, I love the companies that have found ways to make use of every single inch of space. Everything is smaller in Europe. I have a refrigerator and then an additional freezer. Most homes in Europe have a small refrigerator, and that is all. Their kitchens are very tiny. One thing small space makes us do is to reduce the amount of things we have. As westerners, we are consumers. Give me, give me, give me, more, more, more. Somewhere there is that unwritten rule that says he who dies with the most toys wins! Well, in a time when lots of people are struggling financially in the world, it is becoming evident that thinking that way can get you into deep trouble. We believe in abundance. We thank God for abundance, but God gives us seed, some to sow, and some to consume. It is important that we know the difference, and don’t eat the seed that was given to us to sow. Let’s be good stewards, and bless others in the process. That’s an abundant way to live, and that is one way to be fruitful in every good work.

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Intro: Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. All through this month, we will be talking about living fruitfully. Fruitful living happens as we let the fruit of the Spirit operate in our life. Since we are part of the vine, we should be fruitful! Throughout the Bible you may have noticed that God is serious about fruit. He started earth’s productivity by telling Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. In Psalms 92, we are told how to flourish, and that is to be planted in the house of the Lord, or in a local, Christian Bible believing Church. Here is your dailyeword.

To bear fruit, we have to abide in the vine as it says in John 15:4. One thing I have found that encourages me to be fruitful is to speak God’s Word out loud. I encourage you to let these words encourage you to live a fruitful life!
Jesus is Lord over my spirit, soul, and my body (Phil 2:9-11). I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13) The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.(Ps 23) My God supplies all my need according to Hs riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19) I do not fret or worry about anything. I cast my cares on the Lord. (Phil 4:6, I Peter 5:6,7) I am redeemed from the curse, and by His stripes, I am healed. My body functions the way God designed it to function. I honor God and bring glory to Him in my body. (Gal 3;13, Matt 8:17, I Peter 2:24, I Cor 6:20) I have the mind of Christ. (I Cor 2:16) I am a believer, not a doubter, I decide to walk by faith, live by faith and practice my faith. I hear God’s Word, and my faith grows. Jesus is the author and developer of my faith (Heb 4;14, Heb 11:6, Rom 10:17, Heb 12:2) Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (I John 4:4, Eph 2:6, Romans 8:2) I do not fear because God has given me a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind. God is on my side (2 Tim 1:7, Rom 8:31) I am God’s sheep and know His voice, any other voice I will not follow (John 10:27) I am God’s workmanship and a member of the body of Christ. I represent Him well! (I John 5:4,5 Eph 2:10, Phil 2:13) I let the Word dwell in me richly. He who began a good work in me will complete it (Col 3:16, Phil 1:6) I will accomplish what God has for me on this earth, because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and my prayers are powerful and effective. (II Cor 5:21, James 5:16).
God’s Word is alive in me, and His Word never comes back empty. God will finish what He has started in me, and I am fruitful in this life. No good thing will God withhold from me, because I walk uprightly. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. I will bear fruit for Him every day of my life.

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I Peter 1:23 says that we have been born again, not of a perishable seed, but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring Word of God —–which stands forever. The Greek word for fruit comes from the word KARPOS which means “from a seed.” Fruit is a result of a seed that actualized it’s potential. We are believers today, because the seed of God’s Word was planted in us, and we believed it and received it. That seed is supernaturally empowered. Once we receive the seed, our potential is multiplied exponentially. God’s DNA is in us, and when we put on the new self, with a new attitude (Eph 4:22-24), we can live way beyond ourselves. We are in Him, so now we can bear the fruit that God appointed for us. (John 15:6, Romans 7:4, Col 1:10)

A fruitful life can accomplish much more than living only on our own resources and energy. Let’s get the full value from the seed. Never devalue, ignore, or abort the seed. The potential is in the seed of the Word. Let’s get it on the inside of us so we can be fruitful now (Jeremiah 17:7,8) and for a lifetime ( Ps 92:13,14).

Are you overwhelmed by situations and circumstances around you? Don’t ever forget this. The seed of greatness is in you. You have amazing potential. The answer to your need is in the seed! God will do in you and through you, abundantly more than you could ever ask or think! You will be empowered to live supernaturally, and more fruitfully than ever before.

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