GIVING EXPRESSION TO WHAT IS INTERNAL WHEN IT ALL LOOKS GONE EXTERNALLY

We have some cashew trees on a landed property. We got the report that fire invaded the land even after clearing the base of the tree and burnt some of the trees on the land. We were not happy about it- it was not a beautiful sight. There were trees there full of burnt leaves.

Some weeks later, I was on the land to inspect an ongoing work and behold, I began to see fruits come from the burnt trees. I was wondering how that could happen. It then occurred to me that it was the external that was burnt (leaves) and that the branches still have nutrients needed for fruitfulness flowing through them. It was a lovely sight to behold.

What will destroy the ability to be fruitful is not the pressure or the burning on the outside, it is the lack of life on the inside. Life breaks out from within. As long as the life on the inside is intact, fruitfulness will not be in doubt.

This happened to a farmer in the scriptures. His farm was impacted heavily externally but what killed it all was that he lost joy internally. Joy is a life producer in this kingdom.

The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
Joel 1:12 KJV

The moment life stops flowing within, everything else is impacted. The devil can do things around you but never allow him to do anything or touch anything within you. The aim of all he does around is to get access within.

The devil is not after the material, his ultimate focus is always the spiritual. His aim is not your job; his aim is your joy. The devil is annoyed when you still have joy though he has touched your job.

Check out some words and actions from the travails of Job:

His first response was worship: Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped Job 1:20 KJV

Check out these words from Job:

“For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground, Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant.
Job 14:7‭-‬9 NKJV

Look at these words of Job again:

My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me. My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body. For I know that my Redeemer lives…
Job 19:14‭, ‬17‭, ‬25 NKJV

Look at this action from Job: He prayed for His friends.

And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Look at the end of it all:

He got back the gift of Men, Means and Materials

Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning…
Job 42:10‭-‬12 NKJV

Hear me: The devil did not write the script. Do not let him cheat you. In the end, you won. In the end, you came out better and bigger. Hold on. Guard the life within. You need it to bring forth fruit. The fire has done its worst but God is about to bring out the best!

Do you get it?

temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa