Free To Bear Fruit (Ps 43) – March 15, 2026 (109/365)

My God set me free, So I can clearly see

Your Love carried me, So I could live to be

You did it just for me

Love has taken over me, I have been set free

Remembering my eldest brother and his family from that side of the world, where the Katinas sang this song which, at the time didn’t ‘pop’, but has now graciously made its way back to my shores again.

Wonderful song to just keep on repeat on the mental playlist.

Speaking of, I am thankful because we have the mind of Christ.

We’re being ministered to from the outside in, by the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

And we’re being transformed from the inside out, by the mind of Christ.

Transformed, reprogrammed, really just fixed by the renewing of our mind, all brought about by the grace of God.

Thank You, Lord, for the reading of Your Word.

Psalm 43

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me!

While we still exist on this side of reality, it couldn’t be avoided; Actually, the older you get, the more you encounter and/or the more you see the difference between the ungodly and those who are being transformed in a way only Christ pulls off.

Or, maybe I’m just saying that because as of late, when I think about it, we see a lot of folks closer and closer to home, with clear intentions of deceit and shallow, if not blatantly selfish perspectives of ‘justice’.

People with the intent of specifically targeting the vulnerable, stealing from them with no conscience, absolutely no regret, justifying their actions with reasons of survival, chance, and all other ultimately secondary and inferior worldviews.

People who blatantly twist the laws of the land or exploit its grey areas for their own personal again – again, with no conscience, no regret, and their own comfort and well-being in mind.

See, now that I think about it, there is something worse than having no vision at all, something more destructive than having no compelling desire – that is, having the wrong desire, having the wrong vision.

I believe what consists of ‘wrong’ from this perspective is all that doesn’t just focus, but glorifies self-preservation. That’s it, self-glorification that goes more than not caring of who gets hurt or what’s destroyed – what’s wrong actually wants to inflict pain. What’s ‘wrong’ actually wants to destroy.

What’s wrong glorifies itself because deep inside, it knows it’s wrong. What’s hurting itself, hurts others. Professing themselves as victors, they reveal so much more of how they are victims.

They have been stolen from, they have been killed, they have been destroyed, and the only course of action for them to naturally take is to move after their oppressor – and they themselves steal, kill and destroy.

But we have been delivered. See, it’s not as if we were never part of this cycle.

Love has taken over me, I have been set free

By the everlasting love of the Father, we have been delivered from this downward spiral, and we’ve been set on a path that grows brighter and brighter unto the new day.

Through Christ, we’ve been set free – We’ve been given life, and life abundant; We have life that cannot be taken away, life that cannot be ended, life that cannot be compromised.

By this life, and through Christ we have been vindicated and delivered, indeed.

2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!

In previous reflections I have made it clear that I am aware of the fact and truth of our God being the One who takes vengeance for us. He will be the One to repay.

And I still find myself tempted every now and then to invest some brain power into (1) taking vengeance into my own hands and/or (2) imagining just how our Almighty Father would absolutely destroy these people who would dare harass His children.

But here I’m reminded of the light and the truth we ought to be crying out for.

That is, I’m not about to go ahead and wonder about the fate of these folks in sadistic glee. No, now as in always, I ought to be delighting in the Lord.

That is, to take refuge in Him – to find immediate comfort in His presence. We’re to be led, by light and sure direction (truth) to where He is, bringing myself away from oppression and rejection, meditating in awe and wonder of the Truth that He has accepted me.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

With everything that’s going on, I think this is a good reminder.

And I believe it naturally brings us to just praising Him.

We’re brought from being hurt people who hurt people, to a people encouraged with righteous boldness, encouraging others as well.

This one’s for you Father A song within my heart

I dedicate to honor the depth of who you are

Every hope and treasure, I lay down at your feet

Riches can’t compare to what You’ve given to me

Now I’m looking for a new day

My destiny is waiting

Here in this beautiful release

My God set me free, So I can clearly see

Your Love carried me, So I could live to be

You did it just for me

Love HAS taken over me, and I HAVE been set free.

I have a mind to share this today – well, later, in a few hours, anyway. I’ve assigned myself the theme of sharing specifically on how the fruit that we bear as believers is (1) natural and organic, and (2) far more than mere riches, healing, favor, and any other sort of improvement of our circumstances, according to our own (limited) perspective and (flawed) senses.

In this Psalm I have been reminded of how we were bound by the works of the flesh, and how this was where we were before Christ. I’ve also been reminded of who we are now – bearing fruit as Christ produces it in us.

These past few days have been pretty cool, in that it’s been a buffet table of wonderful gatherings – and in one said gathering I was fortunate to spend time with brothers with whom I fought with in the trenches.

I liked how we took less time reminiscing the ‘glory days’ and focused on the here and now. We talked about our mothers, and we talked about how it isn’t the same to catch up online. We agreed, the memes weren’t helping much, and that’s only because we were pretty sure we could come up with way better sh-t than that.

But I only bring all this up to share that bearing fruit DID come up as one idea. See, one of my friends told us about how he finally retired after giving more than 20 years to the company we all met in (he obviously stayed the longest among all three of us who worked there), and now, naturally, he finds himself restless. All of a sudden he isn’t being needed – just by his family. He wants to do this, and wanted to do that, just like he did automatically for the longest time… but all of that stopped.

His wife told him, in Tagalog, to learn how to rest.

Can’t be avoided now. He shared about his name, Ephraim, and he always held on to his name and acted to and from its meaning – ‘to bear fruit’.

…and that’s where I told him, there’s a difference between bearing fruit and producing it. I told him, as I’ve been telling the folks who care to hear me Sunday after Sunday, it’s CHRIST who makes the fruit in us, through us, and our job is to BEAR His fruit.

Profound and confrontational as my good brother was, he stopped there and told me, ‘that’s the first time I ever heard of that‘.

Anything we try to produce apart from Christ is work, and has just as much value as where we used to be – when we were bound by the works of the flesh.

But now, because we are IN Christ, because we are CONNECTED to Christ and UNITED with Christ, it’s HIS fruit we bear – AND He causes all things to work for the good of those who love us.

⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.John 15:4

The difference is not found in the heart behind our actions, but in who we’re connected to.

Once upon a time, we were branches on our own. We cannot bear fruit. We can only work, and all our works would be as filthy rags.

But praise God – for now that we abide in the Vine, we bear much, tasty and fresh fruit, naturally.

I believe this is a nice end to this quarter, before we all come together and talk about it, before Palm Sunday, before the next quarter.

Now, how in the hell am I to put all of this together, as a message?

Thank You, Father. I have the mind of Christ.

Let’s continue to have a blessed week ahead.

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