““Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!””
A businessman takes time routinely to examine how his business is going. A farmer goes to check his farmland to assess how his crops are growing. After a medical intervention, the doctor follows up with the patient to assess the recovery process.
We have come to almost the end of the year- 2024. Reflecting back, what can you say about your walk with God? If Jesus approaches you today, will he be able to say well done? Or go away for I don’t know you?
Mark 14:8-9 “8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
This woman prepared Jesus for his burial, the journey that has reconciled us to God. His disciples never got this revelation, although they were with him all the time. The verse states: “She has done what she could.” Her actions were recorded in her time. What has been recorded about you in your account in heaven? Some have their records flooded with the things of the flesh- gossip, jealousy, greed, wickedness, lies, etc. No wonder the Bible says John 3:5, “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” This is the spiritual transformation, the Holy Spirit must have a stamp of approval over you for you to Enter the kingdom of God. You must come to the place of revelation by the Holy Spirit to understand the kingdom process and business. In John 3:3, there is an emphasis on Seeing the kingdom, but here, it focuses on entering. Being born again is a step in the right direction but entering is the maintained spiritual momentum in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 13:6-9 “6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”
Calculate how many things God has done in your life this year. Ask yourself what you have achieved since the beginning of 2024. If you were considered a mango tree, and Jesus was passing by hungry, would he be able to harvest some mangoes? What stage of production are you at? These are questions that, as believers, we should ponder over and answer always. In Luke 13: 6-9, the owner of the fig tree felt he was wasting his time coming every year expecting a Harvest but getting the same result although he had made lots of investments. Like the caretaker of this vineyard, God will give us a chance, but there is a limit.
We are expected to produce, according to Luke 3:8, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham.”
Lack of productivity can lead to dangerous effects in the kingdom( that is why Jesus curses a fig tree). We are expected to produce fruits after salvation. What have you done for God? What is the plan forward? Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and seen a different person? Many church people deceive themselves with the fact that because they had at one time confessed Jesus or because they speak in tongues, they are in right standing with God. Galatians 6:3-5 “3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.”
Prayer points
1. Ask God for forgiveness wherever you have failed God.
2. Ask God for another chance. Like the caretaker said in Luke 13:8-9 “8 “Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” Remember, Apostle Peter rejected Jesus three times, but after he repented, he became a new man, and because of the digging and fertilization in the upper room, he came out bold to preach the gospel when 3000 were added to the church. The same God’s power has not changed.
3. Ask God for the grace to be at the right place at the right time. If you surround yourself with people who are churchgoers and care less about Kingdom work, you will always be like them.
4. How are you known by God? The word says he knows his own. You have an opportunity to change if you are not walking in the path that he has appointed for you. You can purge yourself and be used by God where he wants in 2025. Ask God for help. 2 Timothy 2:19-21: “19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ departs from iniquity. 20 But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of the earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”
5. We are called to go into the highways and bring people into the kingdom, bring them into the righteousness of God. Most often, we just sit in the church and imagine people coming in. How many souls did you bring into the Kingdom this year? How is this going to be different next year? Ask God for wisdom. Luke 14:23: “And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.”Proverbs 11:30 “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.”Daniel 12:3: “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
6. If you have discovered that 2024 was a wasted year, you want to pray that history will not repeat itself. Pray for the grace to make the best use of time and not be foolish but rather gain understanding of God will in which you have been called. Ephesians 5:16-17 “16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
7. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and expose any hidden agenda/ thoughts that are not of God. Ask for the Lord’s guidance as you take the next steps. Psalm 139:23-24: “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
8. Pray for the spirit of brokenness and humility if you are lacking in these areas. Isaiah 66:2: “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
9. Ask the help of the Holy Spirit for a deep dive into your spiritual walk in 2025. Repent and return back to God in the areas you fell short. Lamentation 3:40: “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!”
10. It can be difficult to hold on when times are tough. Ask God for the grace to hold fast onto hope in Christ. Hebrew 10:23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
11. The word of God is the Weapon that has been given to us to shield our minds from worldly things. Ask for daily help from the Holy Spirit to renew your mind in the word of God daily. Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
12. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you create a relationship with him so that from now into your entrance into 2025 you will always be let by him. John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
13. Ask God for the grace to see and understand his coming into your temple and the work he is doing within you. Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14. Pray that you will not be like the unproductive fig tree. Mark 11:12-25”12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”And his disciples heard him say it.”