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Fruit bombs, secondhand kindness, and the fruitcake of the Spirit
Have you ever seen a healthy apple tree or lemon tree or an orange tree produce so much more fruit than its branches can handle? I’m talking about a tree that will actually stunt its own growth by unintentionally harming itself simply because its own branches will break under the sheer weight of all the fruit it is producing. If a person doesn’t come in there and harvest the fruit, then that’s exactly what will happen. At least eventually. “The fruit tree with no one to eat from its branches becomes the image of a dying tree” That’s also what can happen to any Christian who is deep in the…
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Prayer is fellowship with God
What if God’s plan unfolds and we don’t have the strength to endure? What if, instead of praying for someone to be delivered from their hardships, we instead pray for them to have the strength to endure? For example, can you imagine someone saying they will not pray for you to be delivered from your hardships? Stick with me on this. I know it sounds harsh, but much of the growth I’ve had in my life directly resulted from endurance of hardships. It needs to be communicated with tactfulness and gentleness, or not said at all. The point being made from the pray-“er” to the pray-“ee” is that the prayer…