Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
I had a dream in which the Lord appeared as a corporate businessman. He was in the process of doing evaluations on us. I was given this scripture to interpret and understand the meaning of that part of the dream.
And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. 7 “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ 8 “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'” Luke 13:6-10
For three years the landowner came looking for fruit on the fig tree. I want to point out that three is a very significant number in God’s economy. Jesus ministered for three years. Jesus was in the grave for three days and He was resurrected on the third day. Jesus had an inner circle of three, Peter, James and John. Three things will endure, faith, hope and love. The kingdom of God consists of three things, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. God Himself has three parts, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are made up of three parts, body, soul and spirit. Heaven has three main rooms as illustrated by the tabernacle of Moses, the outer court, inner court and most holy place. Three things are in agreement on the earth, the blood, water and the Spirit. God has given us three things, love, power and a sound mind; and I could go on and on.
What I see in this is that God works in three-year cycles in our spiritual lives. He does three things during the three years; He plants, cultivates and prunes. He plants vision, calling, assignments and purpose in each of our hearts. He looks for growth and fruit each year, which is the evaluation that I saw Him doing in the dream. Toward the end of the three-year cycle is the time where He does final evaluations. We need to pay attention, as this is where our church and many of us individually are right now.
If He does not find fruit or when He is looking for an even greater harvest He will begin to dig around in our hearts and put in fertilizer. I have seen this pattern over and over in my own spiritual journey. God begins to do new things in my life and it always begins with Him digging around in my heart, removing things that do not belong there and putting things in that will cause fruit to grow in my life. This is a very critical and sometimes painful time, however, it is a crucial evaluation with the Lord as our future is being weighed. Our heart attitudes during this time must be one of surrender and humility in order to receive the new assignments, gifting, promotions, and anything else He has for us.
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2
This year has been a year of the most intense pruning that I have personally and corporately ever experienced. God has removed people, relationships, jobs, finances and ministry from our lives in order to bring forth a greater increase and further establish us, IF we will let Him have His way. God always takes away to establish, never to diminish (Heb. 10:9). Corporately, we have come to the end of a three-year cycle and God is doing evaluations right now on our hearts. He is digging and fertilizing for the coming three-year cycle in front of us.
Many Blessings, BW