How can we know where God is seeking to bring growth to our lives? God has given us principles to identify what He is after in us.
1 John 4:20-if someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
There is a key principle here, first the natural then the spiritual. The fruit I see in my life can reveal key things about what is happening spiritually. If I have trouble walking in patience toward my wife or son or co-worker it reveals something. Maybe I thought I walked in God’s love but the fruit in my life reveals I need to take a closer look.
Andrew Murray said, “It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God, but humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real”. Bad fruit in our lives is not to be a source of discouragement but encouragement, to reveal the path to growth and blessing!
What a great teaching. Bill Johnson always says, “Internal realities become external realities.” Reference the scripture in Hebrews where God said that Israel always “went astray” in their hearts. The words “went astray,” of course, could have been interpreted “to wander.” Therefore, the internal reality of a wandering heart produced the external reality of 40 years of desert wandering.