Please help.

[dfoster26]

I remember when I was 8 years old when I accepted the Lord as my Savior and now I am 18 and I've been doubting my salvation.I hear speakers at camp and church saying that you can tell if your saved or not by the fruit you produce and I haven't had much fruit if any in my life.Is fruit just like leading souls to the Lord or is it growing spiritually and reading your Bible or what is it exactly? And I don't know if it is just Satan making me doubt my salvation because I have been struggling with sin lately and I don't know if thats why I've been doubting or what?Could you please give me some help?

[Soldier4Christ]

Hello dfoster,

You posted this same question if 4 or 5 different locations. I deleted all of them except this one. Making multiple posts that way is considered spamming which is against the forum rules. I hope that you understand.

Your question is one that is great concern to many and considering it is a matter of salvation it is a very important question and one that you deserve an answer to.

Yes, satan will distract us and make us doubt our salvation. We must delve into the word of God to get our answer.

The verse you refer to is Mat 12:33.

Salvation can be assured and it is not something that we can lose. After all who or what is strong enough to take away anything that God holds in His hands. As what the word fruit is. Jesus is using a metaphor here. It means that which we produce. How we act, we feel, etc is what we produce. Many mistake "fruit" as meaning leading others to god and nothing more. It is much more.

You have a concern for your salvation. You indicate in your post that you have been convicted of sins that you have been "struggling with". These themselves are indications that the Holy Spirit is working on your heart to bring you closer to Him. This does not mean that you are not saved just that perhaps you are in a situation where you need to rely on Him more to help you through this. The main thing here is not to necessarily be concerned about your fruit but rather to answer God's call on your heart to come to Him, to give your burdens (your sinful temptations) to Him to deal with.

We all need to grow spiritually in the Lord and will continue to have this need. We grow by prayer, by feeding on His word, by fellowship with God and with others that are in the Body of Christ. Through Him we are strengthened and we grow in Him.

I will be praying for you and I hope that you will continue fellowship with us.

[nChrist]

Hello Dfoster,

I agree with Pastor Roger completely. "Fruit" for a Christian can mean many things and is certainly not limited to just the number of people who have accepted Christ because of your efforts. It can actually mean anything that pleases GOD. Examples:  love, care, and kindness to others - sharing GOD'S WORD - helping the poor - yielding to GOD for any kind of work you feel that HE has given you to do. It could actually be any kind of increase in goodness that pleases GOD because you HAVE accepted CHRIST. This would include our testimony to others and every facet of our lives. These are all the things we do because of Christian love. I must add that you won't always know that people have accepted CHRIST because you witnessed to them. GOD Promises that HIS WORD never returns void, so GOD can keep using what you said for a long time. Faith comes by hearing, and GOD uses many to distribute HIS GOOD NEWS. In fact, GOD will use all of us in a variety of ways if we simply yield to him. The LORD'S WORK involves thousands of various tasks that all need to be done. It could be helping an elderly or ill person, mowing the church lawn, singing in the choir, working with youth groups, and the list goes on and on. Everything that the LORD needs done is important. Think about an example of corn growing in a garden. Many things had to be done before the corn was harvested. Anything left out could cause the corn to die or be very poor quality. As a minimum, we should know that someone had to dig, plant, water, and pick. There are many like examples in the LORD'S WORK. All of the good things we do simply because we love the LORD are part of our testimony before other people and also part of our fruit.

Here's a couple of portions of Scripture that should give you more ideas about "Fruit":

Galatians 5:22-26  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.


Ephesians 5:8-10  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:  9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)  10  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.


1 Corinthians 13:3-8  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.  4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.


I hope this helps you some. Whatever GOD gives you to do, just do the best you can in love of HIM and you will bear "FRUIT". Consider it an increase in goodness that pleases GOD.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Ephesians 1:18-23 NASB I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.