Winter 1981
Cry Out for Fruit
Ron Taylor
Pinecrest Board of Directors

A message to Pinecrest Students

I always look forward to the times I can come and share the Lord’s presence with you. On my last visit I was especially impressed by a word from the Lord that said to “Cry out for fruit.” This is a real indication of the times in which we are living. As we study the Scriptures, we see that we are to discern the times and know what the Lord is doing around us.

Sometimes we become so involved in the details of today and tomorrow we miss the overall picture. The importance of a homework assignment, of that bill due tomorrow, of fixing that car that won’t work, or of meeting some pressing need—all these can consume so much time that we notice, all of a sudden, that a month or possibly even a year has gone by and we have done little but put out small fires all around us. We are here to see the potential with which God has entrusted us, being wrought out in our lives in ways that will allow us to move forward as we never have before. So we are exhorted to discern the times (Ephesians 5:15-16; Colossians 4:5).

It is especially important for us to discern this time in which the Lord is telling us to cry out for fruit, because it is an indication that there are things becoming available now that have never been available before. We are entering a new time. We are seeing things move in a direction in which they have not moved before. As we study the Scriptures to see what the Lord has done in times gone by, one phrase that is often repeated and stands out is this, “In the fullness of time, this happened.” Or something else did not happen because “The time had not yet come.” So we see that the Lord’s timing is very important in our lives. As Christians, we can be dedicated, pray, or cry out to the Lord, and the Lord will honor this and we will move forward in Him. But as we discern the times and see what He is doing, and as we align ourselves with His purposes, we find that we are able to move much faster and with greater ability because we are in the mainstream of what God is doing.

Daniel did this. He read the Scriptures and discerned the times. He helped change the course of history because he recognized that it was now time for something new to happen. He set himself to see that fulfilled. We are in such an important time as that today. The Lord has told us to “cry out for fruit” and the thing that we notice if we look back over the years, is that we have been planting seed. There is a time for spring and there is a time for harvest. We have seen the springtime, we have planted the seed, and now the Lord is telling us that it is time for harvest. We are to cry out for fruit; and, in a way that we have never seen it before, we are going to see the harvest. We are to recognize that now the things for which we have labored in years gone by have begun suddenly to mature and branch out: an indication that the harvest is at hand. We can reach out and become partakers of this and see it become a part of our own lives and experience. This is a time for us to focus our attention on Him in a way that we have never focused our attention before.

We must not get bogged down in the details of this life or allow the little things around us to consume all our time. We must recognize the big picture, then move back and look at the painting that is there. It has been placed there through all the little strokes, all those little seeds that have been planted over the years. Now suddenly there it is. Let us step back and look at it and commit ourselves to its completion and fulfillment. We must allow God to draw us away from the details and focus our attention on praying and reading the Word, that this harvest may come forth.

I am really excited. It is much more rewarding to be involved in the harvest than in the planting. This is the time that God is moving, and we are going to see God move in ways that we cannot imagine, because we can only imagine on the basis of what we have seen in the past. God has told us that, as we move along into the harvest time, He is going to pour out His Spirit as He never has before. It is an exciting time, a time in which we do not want to be caught giving our attention to things that do not count.