There are many believers today who are ignorant of their innate nature to be fruitful and to flourish.
We have all been created to be fruitful. God wants us to flourish.
In John 15:16, Jesus tells His disciples that He chose them to be fruitful.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
We have been handpicked by Jesus to be fruitful and to flourish.
In the book of Exodus, we are told that the children of Israel were not just fruitful, but they flourished and the land was full of them.
Exodus 1:7 from the Jubilee 200 translation says:
7 And the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
In short what this scripture is saying is that the children of Israel flourished in the land.
The word flourish means to grow, multiple, develop rapidly, to strive and be successful in whatever you do.
To be fruitful is to be fertile, prolific and effective.
From the onset of creation this was God’s blessing for the human race.
Genesis 1:27-28
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
When God finished creating His world, He said it was, “Very good.” Because God’s intention was for His creation to bear fruit and flourish.
God said after He created them, He said “Be fruitful and multiply”
These two words are meant to be active in the life of the believer. For us as Christian believers, “flourishing and fruitfulness” goes much deeper than the standard definitions. It’s not just “the good life”. It is meant to be the believer’s way of life.
Our Christian view of being fruitful and flourishing is completely different from the worldly view. The world views fruitfulness and flourishing in monetary, material and positional terms only.
However, as believers we must view fruitfulness and flourishing from the biblical view.
Every believer receives the Holy Spirit when they get saved, which restores our original relationship with the creator. This relationship is our guarantee to fruitfulness and to flourish.
In Psalm 92:12
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
We are the righteousness of God and this entitles you and I to flourish.
Our fruitfulness and flourishing must first and foremost be mission based and outward focused, motivated on spreading God’s glory in our community, city, nation, etc. The gift of God in our lives is meant to flourish, it is meant to be fruitful.
The parable of the talent gives us a very good insight into what God expects from us His disciples, He expects fruit from us.
Matthew 25:20-23
20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
We are all expected to flourish and be fruitful in everything that God has placed in our hands.
What do you have in your hands?
What have you been gifted with?
What is the call of God on your life?
God wants you to be fruitful and flourish.
