Fruit Inspectors

~ Observant Servant

Stop me if you have heard this one.

“I’m not judging them. I’m just inspecting their fruit”
Have you had an encounter with these “fruit inspectors”?
Maybe they are watching how you worship or even how you pray. I had an encounter a few months ago where I was judged because I didn’t pray they way someone thought I should during corporate prayer. They ridiculed me asking me why I didn’t pray for/about the things they felt I should be praying about or for. And another where because I was struggling, it was insinuated that God was displeased with me. I couldn’t do anything right. It was so bad that I started feeling that God had turned His face from me. That I was a lost cause. It broke me.

So many Christians are so judgemental and not in a loving way at all. They are just straight up mean. And they do it while holding their Bible under the covering of “I’m a fruit inspector. Just doing the Lords work.”
Seriously?
I hear it all the time. The Bible tells us to judge others. We’re to hold our brothers and sister accountable.
Ok.. I get it.
Let’s see what the Bible says.

There are scriptures like Proverbs 31:9 that do say “Open thy mouth, judge righteously…” And we definitely should want our brothers and sisters in Christ to be growing and moving forward. There certainly is a time, a place, and a way to do that, that shows love and truth. The problem is that we don’t see much love and truth. The problem is we don’t fully understand the weight of Matthew 7 that says ‘ do not judge or you too will be judged for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged.

Understand what you are doing when you claim to be a “fruit inspector”. You are saying “God, I know all the ins and outs of this situation, I know every motive hidden or not, and I am just as qualified as you, God, to place judgement on them.” — When you do that, you are saying “God, now judge me.” Is that really what you wanted?

Romans 14:10 says so why do you condemn another believer? why do you look down on another believer? Remember that we will all stand before the judgement seat of God. Each of us will give a personal account to God. Then in verse 13 it says this: So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that wont cause another believer to stumble.
The truth is all this “fruit inspecting” we’re doing does way more damage than anything else. We are showing the world that even us as Christians cannot figure out how to get along. Jesus is love, joy, and peace huh? Let me see it in His followers.

Let me tell you some truth right here. If you really want to make a difference in the world for Jesus, start talking about what you’re for instead of focusing on what you are against. Can you judge other believers? Sure! Absolutely if you want to. But why would you want to? Remember John 3:17 “For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” If Jesus didn’t come here to condemn people, what makes us think it is our job? If you truly care about helping others grow and become a better person, love them to Jesus. It’s sad that other Christians, even pastors, bash other people under the cover of “righteous judgement”.

There’s nothing wrong at all with helping other people become who they should be in Christ but make sure we are doing it out of love with a pure heart. Not to make us feel better about ourselves. That is self righteousness. For we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That’s why we all have to depend on His righteousness.
And remember, if Jesus didn’t come to condemn them, then maybe you shouldn’t either.

Author: Kelly K. www.kellykministries.com

The Art of Surrender

~ Observant Servant

Someone on twitter posted a thread not too long ago that really touched my heart. They were sharing a story of how a friend’s dog had escaped the groomer and ran away. The woman searched all that day into the night for her dog. It wasn’t until the next evening that she spotted him in the far off distance. She started to call him, running toward him but as soon as he recognized her, instead of coming to her he dropped down on his belly whining and crying, afraid to go to her. When she got to him, she found him with his fur all muddy and matted and covered in briars. He was so happy to see her that he urinated all over himself. She gathered him up hugging him and telling him over and over how she loved him so much. She kept saying “you are mine, you are safe now, I never gave up looking for you. You will never get lost again. I am going to take you home and clean you up.”

  This reminds me of the love of Jesus. We are so afraid to run to God, so dirty and traumatized by the world, but He has never given up His seeking to save us and to bring us home.

There are many people who state that they will turn to God when they feel like they have got their lives in order. They think that they must clean up themselves before approaching Him. The problem with this is that we are trying to fix things ourselves. We are relying on our own will power and even when we have a moment of clarity when it comes to all the wrong we have done in our lives, we try to make it right by doing “good works”.  We think that we have to get our lives completely cleaned up but we don’t realize that the enemy has put stumbling blocks in our way that make our lives even more of a mess. The enemy then fills us with guilt and condemnation because he knows that if he can keep us in this mindset, then we will be lost forever. He wants to keep us miserable and does not want us to realize the saving grace of the cross.

“There is no one righteous, no, not even one”
Romans 3:10

 The fact of the matter is that there is no way that we could ever make ourselves worthy of God. There is no amount of “good” we could ever do to be deserving of salvation. It is only through the shed blood of Christ that we are saved. It is a gift from God and there is nothing we can do to earn it. It is a gift freely given to those who repent and believe.

 “ I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”
John 14:6

Jesus wants you to come to him as you are. You don’t have to clean yourself up first. Once you truly repent and surrender, he will take on that task himself. He alone can, and will, purify you. He will give you a new life in him. When you come to him and truly give up everything to him, crying for him to heal the pain in your heart and clean up the mess you have made of your life by making wrong decisions and sinning against him, he hears you. He will gather you in his arms, comforting and soothing your soul. He will show you the things in your life that are toxic to you and he will help you to get rid of them. Anything that is unhealthy he will remove and replace with something that is so much better.  

Stepping out in Faith

~ Observant Servant

A Lesson in Building trust in the Lord

In my first week of knowing the Lord, He asked me if I would work for Him.

I was astonished.

Me? Work for God?

I remember feeling overwhelmed that He would even ask. And that’s exactly what He did. He asked. He did not demand or command as is His right. He asked me.

I babbled “yes, of course! I will do whatever you want, Jesus”. I didn’t know what this job entailed. I just knew that the One who set me free, the One who just saved my life, my heart and my soul, desired me. Despite my past, despite all the sins I had just confessed and begged forgiveness for, (and the sins I could not remember for there were too many to count; but He forgave them ALL.) This – He wanted me to work for Him. After I agreed, He gave me my task.

“Go tell others about me, tell them what I have done.”

It has been over a year since He first spoke those words to me. During that time, whenever I had doubts about if He really wanted me to do this, or doubts in myself as to actually being able to do this, I would pray, asking for confirmation. The enemy was attacking me big time in this manner.

In His faithfulness, patience, endless mercy and grace, He always answered my prayers with His confirmation in various ways.

Four month’s into being a new believer, He led me to a small group that had the same passion to share the Gospel. Once I met them, I knew I had found my new family in Christ. Shortly after meeting them, the pastor sent me a video by Eric Ludy called The Gospel. In the video, I heard nearly the same conversation that I had with Jesus in my heart four months prior. I was blown away. He showed me in dreams that this was my calling and even later He began to show others in their dreams.

 Most recently the enemy caused me to doubt again, but God is so good. He led me to Jeremiah chapter one and gently reminded me of the ways he has orchestrated everything leading up to this point. He continues to lead me and provide for me even this very day. God is great. He is bountiful in His mercy and Grace. His patience is abundant.

I am blessed and honored that the Lord God has given me such a task. I will end this post with these few verses the Lord has put in my heart.

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. but truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” – Psalm 66:16-20

“But you, dress yourself for work, arise and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against kings of Judah, and it’s officials. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 1:17-19

                                                                    

“And  I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom for I have decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and my speech and message were not in plausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

                                                                                 

Learning to Pray

~ Observant Servant

Prayer for Beginners

In my personal prayer life, I have found that I always begin my prayers with a thankful heart. The Lord gives us so much to be thankful for from the time we wake up to the moment we go to bed. His grace is continuous. Sometimes I feel led to just pray a prayer of thanksgiving. The Lord knows what we need even before we ask. There are times when I will come to Him with a list of people and things to pray for and about and I don’t even get to the list because I just feel led to praise Him and thank Him during my prayer time.

Every day is a gift within a gift. It’s another chance to work for Him; another chance to get close to Him. Being thankful for everything He has done, everything He is doing, and everything He will do. He is so good that it is impossible to not find anything to be thankful for even in the direst of times.

 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” –Ephesians 6:18 KJV

  In the beginning of my walk (as a newly born again Christian) I found it a bit difficult to pray for myself. Praying for others came easily! I was surrounded by people who were unsaved. God had just revealed to me a portion of the depths of His love for us and the abundance of grace that He had to offer. I wanted everyone in my life to have that. I wanted them to experience the true feeling of what it was like to be set free. To be forgiven. To know, without a doubt, that their eternal life was secure in Christ. I would spend considerable amounts of time in prayer begging and pleading for God to intervene and soften the hearts of those around me so that they might also find the road to salvation. I would pray for everyone else first but when it came to praying for me personally, I felt hindered. I already had Jesus. What more could I possibly need?

I found it difficult to ask for even the smallest of things, let alone plead for myself and my desires. It was almost as if I felt guilty for taking up the time of my Creator to ask for anything so prayers for myself were cut short as possible. Eventually the Lord showed me that those feelings were lies from the enemy. Satan will do all he can to drive a wedge between us and the Father. I found the recognizing these feelings as actual spiritual attacks embolden me to pray for myself with the same effort as praying for others.

  It is important to pray intensely for others but remember to put forth that same earnest when praying for yourself. Think if you had a son, daughter or spouse who had a need or desire and they just barely mentioned it at all. What kind of relationship would that be? God wants us to bring our desires up in prayer. He wants to provide for us the way a Father does. It is who He is. It is His nature. Let the Spirit lead you in prayer. Move with Faith. Talk to Him every day, several times a day. The Lord never tires of hearing from us.