The AXE is laid to the root !!

(Matthew 3:10 ESV)

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

That was the message the Lord gave me to preach as an 18 year old boy. And I faithfully obeyed it. I preached it at every opportunity I got. From the youth meetings to the church services, every where the Lord gave me an audience I shared it. A month back when I was in my prayer time the Lord reminded me of it and asked me to teach it again. That's the reason I am writing this blog. As a matter of fact I am not good at writing, I never was! If this blogs benefit your spiritual man, it's just cause the word of God is alive (Heb 4:12) and the word is our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1). He is alive, Jesus still lives! He's the source of all power! He is the Word!! And that's why the word is like a double edged sword. Even as you read this, if you expect to gain some knowledge, you might as well as shut it down and go do something else. Cause the one writing this is hardly even educated. But if you are expecting the Holy Spirit to speak to you  and teach you through the word of God, go ahead with prayer. I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you and reveal to you his heart for our generation.

I had been preparing in prayer to start writing this blog for sometime now. Today afternoon as I was just studying some Greek terminologies used in the scripture on this subject, I suddenly fell asleep. And I saw this dream of a colorful serpent trying to follow me. I tried escaping from it by going into another room and shutting the door behind me, it still managed to come in after me, through some cracks and holes. I managed to somehow hit the snake a couple of times. And after sometime I realized the snake is no longer following me. And went back to check the entire house to see where it is. And what I saw just stunned me! Every room that I had gone to while escaping from the snake, where I had tried hitting the snake, there were weird blood stains all over the place. So much so that the entire house was looking weird and non-inhabitable. I woke up immediately, it was an hour since I had fallen asleep. And since I am not someone who is usually given into dreams and visions, I asked the Lord what does this thing mean. And he revealed it as the fact that the devil is trying to attack my character. Trying to spoil my life and ministry! Not necessarily harming me but just harming my character. I asked the Lord, how is that dangerous to me? And the Lord said, "Your character is the way in which you exhibit or fail to exhibit the fruit of the spirit. And if you don’t produce fruit for a long time, I will pluck you off my garden. Now arise and share this!" I was shocked to my bones to hear that, that's the reason I am making efforts to write this down for you and as the Lord allows to preach, teach or share this everywhere I go.

Let me quote Ray William "The destiny of every Christian is to be a worshipper and the destiny of every worshipper is to be like HIM" . Our ultimate purpose in life is not just to go to church, be involved in the ministry, make all the noise about everything in the world. Its more than that. It is too grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. (Eph 4:15) We are looking forward for the second coming of Jesus Christ not just because we will get to go to heaven but mainly because we will get to see him and when we see him, we will become like him (1 John 3:2). And that's the point that we miss today. We have too many Christians around with hardly anyone of them resembling the life or personality of our Lord Jesus Christ. The primary reason the Lord chose us to be his children is that we may be found holy in his sight. (Eph 1:4)  We define holiness, in the things we wear and what we eat and what we do! God said "For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy." (Lev 11:44) Our standard of holiness is not supposed to be a set of denominational rules and regulations. Our standard for holiness is God himself! Why is God holy? Is it because of the dress he wears or because he doesn’t lie or steal ? Beloved, Please do not mistake holiness for purity. Purity is just a small part of holiness. God is holy not because of what he does, he is holy because that's the very essence of his personality. John says God is love! (1 John 4:16) He doesn’t love because it is the right thing to do. God loves because his very being is the unconditional agape Love. That's what the Holy Spirit does in us when he inhabits us. He changes our very being. How do we know that? Jesus said "you shall know the tree by the fruit"  (Matt 12:33)  Now, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Gal 5:22)

Let me make one more point here, the fruit of the spirit unlike the gifts of the spirit, cannot be imparted from one person to another. Each have to cultivate it in his garden of life. Like someone going regularly to the gym you will have to regularly workout to bring out the muscles of mature Christian living in your life. Use every opportunity that comes your way to exhibit fruit of the spirit, i.e. to exhibit the character of Christ. Quoting Rick Warren from Purpose Driven Life. "God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you're tempted to express the exact opposite quality! Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity."  So if you are committing yourself to develop your character according to Jesus' , you can be sure that trials and temptations are on its way!! I will recommend the book Purpose Driven Life as a must read for every Christian seeking to live a life that honors God.

Isn’t it high time that we change the focus from what we do to who we are? Isn't it time to change from the inside out? Just changing your cabinet cover or buying a new monitor or keyboard for your computer will not fix the corrupt software issues you are facing. You will have to call upon a software guy who can come and reinstall the inside of that computer. Would you like to call upon the Holy Spirit to come and change you from within? Making a completely new being of you. "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  The axe is already at the root! I am not trying to threaten you, I am just trying to be straightforward!