The test of a disciple………….

“…….. he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].”  Psalm 1:3 AMP

What is the chief result of a disciple’s life?

The very same result that characterized the life of Christ-----He made things live!

The Nile is called the “breadbasket” of Egypt because it changes barren deadness into living greenness.  

God sends us disciples into a spiritually arid waste and expects us to leave it fertile and green.   Ezekiel’s river of blessing began at the altar and traveled down through brown deadness, but what a result!   Everywhere the river went, everything lived.  (Ezek. 47:9)

Have you ever noticed the sharp contrast of Hebrews 11?  Against a bleak background of death, those men and women of faith created life.   Look at Abraham: “From this one man, and he was as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky”  Heb. 11:12.

The deadness of Abraham’s body was the beginning of a miracle----by faith.  That is how Jesus lived!   He constantly touched “dead” people, spiritually as well as physically and made them live.

Greenness is the test of a disciple.  Is my path strewn with people whom I have touched into life? 

Worldly men can coerce others into conformity, but the man of God can ignite them into spontaneous, living obedience.  But only---------if the disciple himself is in direct touch with Him who is life. 

Do the signs of life follow me-----healed wounds, enlightened minds, selflessness, reborn souls, purified relationships, righteousness and an atmosphere charged with the glory of God?

Lord, my purpose in life is to make the “land live” but only as You, the Prince of Life, live out Your life in me!  Thank you for the awesome promise, “ I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life” Ezek. 37:14.

Lord, make the land around me live, also!