Introduction.
….. “and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it (using all its vast resources in the service of God and man); and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.” This is the biblical record of what is contemporarily termed our dominion mandate and if it is a mandate, it means it’s a command not an admonition This mandate has four major components which are sequentially arranged, i.e. one must precede the other without jumping any step if we must live in the true spirit of that verse of the bible. These four components are;
- Be fruitful
- Multiply and fill the earth
- Subdue it and,
- Have Dominion.
This write-up will be treating the first on the list, and that is fruitfulness. It’s important to note that without fruitfulness there’s nothing to multiply and without multiplication you cannot subdue neither can you have any chance at dominion on earth. These four components of the dominion mandate are God’s formula for successful living for all of humanity. Hence, we can conclude that there is much poverty and depravity today because of an imbalance in our understanding and reception of the dominion mandate as given by God. Ours is a generation in love with quick-fix formulas for almost every aspect of life, but the ultimate formula has been relegated to the most inconsequential of all.
Be Fruitful
This phrase is a call for the activation of inherent potentials. It’s a call for productivity. A call to bring into existence or create from what exists, it is a call unto stewardship. It means you have the potential or capability to reproduce your kind, hence it’s like a call for return on investment. God’s creation process is such that after creating certain species, he endues them with ability to recreate themselves so that He (God) won’t have to do any new form of creation. Hence, in Genesis 1:11 the Bible says “and God said, let the earth put fort tender vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruits whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so.” The seeds for productivity must be inherent in any specie before there can be a call for their productivity. It’s this same call for productivity that God placed on Humanity in verse 28 of the same chapter because like those plants in verse 11, the seed for the increase and fruitfulness of mankind is inherent in mankind. Notice the two components of verse 11, which are SEEDS and FRUITS. Until we are able to differentiate fruits from seeds in human productivity, we’ll always be at loss on God’s idea for human productivity. While fruits are for immediate satisfaction, Seeds require processes to bring about satisfaction. The seed creates the future while the fruits satisfies present thirst or hunger. The seed bearers are always above, they are the leaders, the innovators or inventors, they are the decision makers, they are the effective people on earth, while the fruit eaters are the consumers. The irony is that the consumers though with the highest population (about 95% of the world population) will perpetually be under the whims and caprices of the seed bearers (who constitute just about 5% of the world population). More on this later. Now let’s consider the kinds of fruits God requires from mankind.
Kinds of Fruits
There are about five kinds of fruits God require from mankind and they are treated as follows:
- Fruit of the womb.
This is the first thing that comes to the mind of many when they hear Genesis 1:28 and that is to bring fort children. This is traditional, foundational and elementary, therefore, I won’t flog the issue much. But I must say we have tarried too long on this mountain, it’s time to move forward.
- Fruit of the thought or Idea.
This refers to your idea or brain child, your invention or innovation. This for me is one of the most important kind of fruitfulness God requires from mankind. We can find reference for this in Jeremiah 6:19. Producing children does not necessarily guarantee your dominion, for even the insane give birth but idea development guarantees a permanent sit for you in the sand of history. Ideas as we know it rules the world. I dare say that ideas rule the heavens as well. It takes an idea to spark off any development on earth and in heaven. Ideas are to life what cells are to biological organisms. Though the smallest unit of life, it is the foundation upon which the superstructures of our development and achievements are built.
- Fruit of the Mouth.
Proverbs 18:20 provides that “a man’s (moral) self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth: and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied (whether good or evil)”. Your words are the tools for the sharpening of your life. Hence you must be mindful of what you say, for life and death are in the power of the tongue. There is the fruit of your words, and God is very interested in this particular fruit. Notice that the fruit of thought was mentioned first, that is because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and as a man speaks so is he, hence your words determine your overall state in life. When you speak your words translate into reality.
- Fruit of the Hand- your job or work
Proverbs 31:30–31 provides that “charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain (because it is not lasting), but a woman (or a man) who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, (she/he) shall be praised! Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates (of the City)!” The fruit of your hands is of a paramount importance to God, yourself and humanity.
- Fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22–23, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.
Without this particular fruit, all other forms of fruitfulness are vanity upon vanity. For there can never be fruitfulness except one that first exists in the supernatural. The supernatural is more real than the physical
How Can We be Fruitful?
To be fruitful you must be focused on the seed not the fruit. This is difficult because the fruits are always attractive while the seed are almost always distasteful or detested depending on the specie. There will always be a reason to disregard the less attractive seeds and to consume the attractive ones. The Bible says God rested on the seventh day of creation, which means no plant or animal can summon Him from rest for any further creation process. This is the reason many Christians are in penury today, because all we know to do is to summon God through prayers for another creation exercise. This is the reason many prayers will never be answered, because they are in breach of God’s principles for creation. We keep praying Father bless me, bless me and claiming Abraham’s blessings yet no results because in the alternative God is the one making a call for the return on investment on our lives.
God’s Pattern for Fruitfulness
Hebrews 11:3 “for by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of the things that are visible”
Genesis 1:11 “and God said, let the earth sprout vegetable, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruits in which is their seed, according to its kind, on the earth. And it was so”.
Genesis 1:24 “and God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds- livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so”.
From the above scriptures it can be deduced that God’s formula or pattern for fruitfulness is simply WORD + EARTH =FRUITFULNESS. You must speak the word and act upon the word to see the product, hence the validity of Habakkuk 2 that says “I will stand upon my watch and see what He will say to me”, although I heard the word, I won’t rest or be satisfied until I see the word translate into tangible product or services, it can be in form of a product, invention, idea, a book, etc. Matthew 7:7 say “ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you, for he that asks receives, he that seeks shall find and he the knocks to him the door shall be opened”. Never stop at the point of asking, you need to follow asking up with an attempt at seeing. Seeing is your efforts towards actualization of the spoken word. You must progress from hearing or asking to doing, for only the doers of the word will reap the dividends of the word. Your faith must be backed with the requisite action for it to yield result. This is a matter of principle and can never be bent or adjusted.
All the creation efforts of God are made possible by the Word and the earth. The word is the seed while the earth is the womb, the word is that idea in your head while the earth is the raw materials. Unless ideas are cultivated through calculated steps and actions raw materials will never worth a thing to us. This is how many have traversed goldmine opportunities without knowing.
CONCLUSION
The concluding question is, where is your fruit? We are masters at consumption, but never at production. Many of us eat the fruit with its seed or dispose the seed. It’s time to become seed planters and not mere eaters. If you pass through this life without a product, invention or idea that is originally yours then such a life is a clear case of wasted opportunities, a wasted life and a truncated destiny. It’s time to stop begging God in prayers for what he has empowered us to do. It’s time to start taking actions and move away from mere polemics or rhetoric verbalization only. It’s time to spark up our productive instincts. It’s time to consider expansion, for productivity is simply about increasing volume and space. Only then can we begin to talk about multiplication, to subdue and ultimately have dominion.
Watch out for the next post on MULTIPLICATION.
