Combating the Enemy of Fruitfulness

The Bible, often, uses the metaphor of fruit to describe the produce of our lives.

The ultimate measure of fruitfulness is a life surrendered to and patterned after Christ.

Fruit is the direct result of whatever controls our hearts (Matthew 15:19).

A fruitful Christian will produce the fruit of the Spirit of Christ ( (Galatians 5:22–23).

However, the enemy lurks and prowls working at hindering our fruitfulness.

We can't sit idly by, ignorant, lackadaisical or indifferent of the enemy's ploy to stultify us from bearing fruit.

We should contend with him. Resist his clandestine agenda.

We should realise we are in a struggle. We must be battle-ready at all times.

We should be proactive in identifying the strategy of the enemy.

His plot to whittle down the authenticity of the Gospel in our hearts.

Feeding our minds with alternative 'truths' (what looks like it, but it's not it at all) to fuel disobedience in our hearts.

Contending with the truth of God in our hearts to make us lose confidence in the efficacy of the Gospel.

Getting us preoccupied with religious activities that dissipate our life-energy and commitment to God.

A lot of motion, but no traction.

Getting us fixated on form and function but no fruition.

Having identified the enemy's tactics, we must ignite the spiritual strength in us to combat him.

We need to strengthen our union with Christ to draw strength from Him (Eph 6:10). As branches cling to the vine, we cling to Christ, drawing our very life from Him.

We are implored to clothe ourselves with the full armour of God, walking in truth, righteousness, faith, brandishing the spoken word against the wily thoughts of the enemy, as we bear witness to Christ in our testimony and lifestyle and affirm our salvation against the darts of doubt the enemy may shoot at us (Eph 11-13).

We stand firm in our union with Christ and engage the authority we have to resist the adversary.

As we ignite our God-given power against the unfruitful works of the enemy, we need to intensify our affront against him in prayers (Eph 6:18).

We pray in accordance with the dictates and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We pray at any time in any event, for every reason. No time or occasion is more expedient to pray than the other.

We pray alertly as we watch out for signals and directives from the Spirit. We pray for our fellow-saints, who are companions with us in the battle against the enemy of our fruitfulness.

We are in contention with the enemy of our fruitfulness, however, our arsenal isn’t humanistically designed, but it is divinely enabled to demolish that entire massively corrupt culture.

We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.

Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into fruitfulness and maturity.

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