Today is the first day of the winter season, according to meteorologists who track winter weather from December through February. The official first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is later this month. At 10:03 a.m. on December 21, the North Pole will tilt to its farthest point from the sun, making it the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Where we live, the first snow came weeks ago, and the winter chill has already set in. And some of our heaviest snows have come long after the “calendar” declared winter over.

No one knows exactly when the winter winds will come or go, but there is One who controls them because He created everything! The Lord promised in Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Our eternal, unchanging God governs the changing seasons of time.

Few people (outside of children hoping for school snow days) say that winter is their favorite season. To be sure, it is rarely thought of as the most fruitful season. Winter is not the time for planting or harvesting. It is the “in between” time, and in-between times can be dangerous. They can be seasons where good things slip away, and evil things slip in. But we must remember that God is at work in every season, and Christ often taught the greatest truth “in the mean while” (Luke 12:1; John 4:31-38). Don’t miss what the Lord wants to say to you in this season!

The beautiful leaves have now fallen from the trees, and the landscape is more barren than most of us prefer. Yet beneath the surface the sap continues to flow and the roots continue to grow. Life will flourish again out of what appears to be death, and the harsh process of winter is actually necessary for the beautiful product of springtime.

What is true in the natural realm is reflected in the spiritual. The dark and cold winter often becomes a season of dormancy for so many, but it can be a time of transformation, a divine metamorphosis. We should pray that the Lord will make this a fruitful winter in our lives!

The Fruit of Obeying and Praying

John 15 is the classic teaching of Jesus concerning fruit-bearing. Imagine Him walking through the vines of the Kedron Valley when He spoke those powerful words to His first followers. The Son made plain that the Father wanted each of us to bear “fruit…more fruit…much fruit…and that your fruit should remain” (vs. 2, 5, 8, 16). It is an amazing passage!

Yet in all of the discussion, it is easy to miss the deeply practical explanation of what the fruit is. In verse 7, Christ says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” In the midst of deep spiritual teaching, He articulates a very simple, practical application: the Word and prayer. To live in the Word and let it live in us, and to talk to the God who speaks to us through His Word – this is the essence of the fruitful life!

Give more time to the Word and prayer in these days. Pursue quiet moments with God every day and seek to apply what He says to you. Ask for definite things as you commune with Him. There is beautiful fruit that grows out of obeying and praying.

It will be a fruitful winter if you draw near to Christ through His Word and prayer. 

The Fruit of the Spirit

The fruit we should most desire is that beautiful grace that makes us more like our Savior, the Lord Jesus. The flesh fights for dominance in every season, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). Every day can be a day of spiritual growth and maturing. Every season can become a season of spiritual fruit. 

Winter connects the end of one year and the beginning of another. These should be days of personal reflection and spiritual reconsecration. What needs to be cut out of your life? What is God withering? What needs to be planted and watered? What needs to grow?

It will be a fruitful winter if the fruit of the Spirit begins to flourish in your life.

The Fruit of a Christian

One of the first and most basic laws of nature is that everything reproduces “after his kind” (Genesis 1). The fruit of a Christian is another Christian! “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30). The great harvest is not in our own life alone; it is seen in our influence on others. Only God can produce spiritual fruit, but we can be used to pass on the living truth that is growing in us!

Pray that the Lord will use you to lead a lost soul to Jesus. Seek a young believer that you could disciple or a struggling Christian that you can encourage. The fruit of our lives is not for us to selfishly consume but for us to be used to minister to others.

It will be a fruitful winter if God can work through you to give someone the life giving seed of the Word and bring them to God.

The Lord never wastes a season, and neither should we. Throughout Scripture, God often compares our lives to fruit trees and evergreens (Psalm 92:12-14; Hosea 14:8). This is because He has designed for us to flourish and grow through every season. May God make this winter the most fruitful season yet.

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About Scott Pauley