When the Master Comes Expecting Fruit
When Jesus approached the fig tree, He expected to find fruit. The tree was in the right place and season to produce, yet it was not prepared to yield. Jesus knew it should be bearing fruit because, at creation, He had already declared that there would be seasons for it to produce.
The challenge arises when the Master comes expecting fruit, but in the season you were meant to prepare, you were not yielded to Him. The Bible says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed” (2 Timothy 2:15). God always sends His word before time so that it can position you to access the blessings He has prepared for you.
For example, if God knows you will need finances tomorrow, He will send a word today to prepare you for tomorrow’s harvest. For a minister, He sends people into your life today for you to teach the Word, mentor, and groom, so that tomorrow, when you have a need, those same people can stand with you. For a clothing brand, He sends an idea today so that you can design the clothes, source the fabric, and gather the materials, so that when people need them tomorrow—or when you need the money—you will have access to them.
God always sends an idea before the time of harvest, but many never yield to His push or His nudges, and therefore they fail to produce. The tragedy comes when, like the unprepared fig tree, you fail to understand that a season of expectation is coming.
In another instance, Jesus came to a fig tree three times because He expected fruit. God is patient—He sends His word to build us so that when He demands fruit, we can produce. Yet many people never prepare to produce; they hear the Word but do not receive it.
God expects growth. “By now you ought to be teachers” (Hebrews 5:12), yet many remain babes because they did not use their hidden seasons to grow. God always prepares you before the harvest. If you are not faithful in the season of planting and training, you will not bear fruit in the season of harvest.
I have often taught that God does not test man in the way we think—He weighs man. Like a scale, the promise is on one side and you are on the other. For Him to release the promise, your weight in maturity, faith, and obedience must match the weight of the blessing.
Before Israel entered the Promised Land, God weighed their faith. Unbelief and fear disqualified them because there was no balance. In the same way, God will train you, weigh you, and then release the blessing.
My prayer is that you yield to the process, grow in the hidden seasons, and bear fruit when the Master comes expecting it. In the season when Jesus comes expecting a harvest—or when you yourself are expecting one—you will have access to it only if, in the season of preparation, you yielded to the process.
The challenge for many is that when God sends a word in advance, they do not act on it. Consider the fig tree: Jesus had spoken about times and seasons of fruitfulness, expecting that when He returned, it would bear fruit. Yet the fig tree failed to respond to the word given before the time of harvest, and when the moment came, it was unprepared.
My prayer is that you will heed God’s word in your preparation season, so that when the harvest comes, you will be ready to partake of it. God bless you.
