Welcome to Fruitful Fridays!
As my wife began The Restored Orchard and shared her vision with me, I was excited at the opportunity to support her in her endeavors. One thing that we both agree on is that when a husband and wife can study God’s word together, it brings them closer. With that being said, I jumped at the opportunity to be able to partner with her in spreading the gospel, and from there “Fruitful Fridays” was created. I will be dropping in to share what the Lord gives me. My prayer is that a different perspective will be able to specifically minister to men of God.
This week we will continue where we left in the story of Jonah and how his decisions affected those around him. By Jonah going the opposite direction of Nineveh, his disobedience prolonged a whole country’s deliverance. Jonah is disobedient to the Lord’s command in chapter 1 of the book of Jonah. We later find out in Chapter 3 that the people of Nineveh repented from their sinful ways, mourned, and fasted. The bible says “from the greatest to the least” meaning that from the King down to the least significant person in the country, everyone was on one accord with fasting and repenting. This changed God’s mind and he didn’t destroy the city. Although this story happened in only a few days’ time, we have to realize that the people of the city’s lives were hanging in the balance. When God tells you to do something or say something, do exactly that. So often we get in the way of, not only our blessing, but someone else’s blessing because we decided we knew better than God.
A quick story: I was at a gas station one day a couple years back and a gentleman approached me asking for some money. I usually look out ahead of time for people asking for money because I generally do not keep cash on me and I feel bad telling someone no. I won’t get into whether we should believe them or if they will use the money in a dishonest manner because I believe if the Lord puts it on my heart to give, and I respond in obedience, then I have done my part. This day I actually had cash! It was about 34 or 35 dollars. I’m sure of that because I had a 20 dollar bill a 10 and some 1’s. The Lord told me to give the man the 20. In my reasoning, I figured the 10 and 1’s would be good enough, but I was convicted as I reached for my wallet. I heard the Lord say again, “give him the 20.” I followed instructions and the man was overjoyed and said that he could tell I was a man of faith and wanted to know what church I went to. In that moment, I was able to, not only bless someone, but to have a short conversation about who God is to me and how he can be everything that the man needed.
We don’t always know exactly why God leads us in certain directions and honestly, its often not for us to know but I challenge you that when God speaks, listen. Your obedience will bless you and those connected to you.
