Breaking Through

Luke 6:43-45

A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. (Luke 6:43-44)

JONATHAN GOFORTH WAS a Canadian missionary to China in the early 1900s, and he was frustrated about the spiritual health of some of his “cold and fruitless” mission stations. He planned to visit them to give them encouragement, a spark, some meaningful challenge that would help them grow. But in his spirit, he was unsettled, as if something unresolved was festering within him. He took his unsettledness to God.

Goforth soon realized that he had been harboring a bad attitude toward another missionary over a fault the man had committed and then tearfully confessed. Goforth had forgiven him already—outwardly. But the Spirit impressed on Goforth’s conscience his lack of brotherly love toward his fellow missionary, and the internal pressure began to build.

As Goforth was preaching at the church in his home station, the pressure reached a breaking point. While he was speaking to the congregation, who had no awareness of his struggle, he privately resolved to make things right after the meeting. Immediately, the tone of the service shifted. An unresponsive congregation suddenly became engaged and attentive. People wept in confession and prayer. The years had been marked by fruitless labor, but lives began to be transformed. When Goforth toured the mission stations he had been concerned about, they responded and began to grow. One simple decision to love a brother well had prompted an enormous breakthrough.

The internal life of a Christian is deeply connected to the external fruitfulness he or she experiences. It isn’t always an obvious correlation; some people have fruitful ministries for years while wrestling with significant private sins, and some have suffering ministries while living with a clean conscience before God. But over time, the inward life matters. You are already cleansed and qualified to serve Christ, yet the practical outworking of that service sometimes hinges on the ways in which his righteousness is manifesting within you. Resolve whatever issues you have with the Spirit of God. Gifts and blessings flow more freely to the world when he is freely flowing in us.

{Holy Spirit, I want nothing to interrupt your flow in and through me. Point out any unresolved issues. Hear my earnest confessions. Heal me from within. Bring me into fruitful breakthroughs. Amen.