"Redirection"

"So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away." (Psalms 64:8) If you caught that last sentence in that closing Scripture, there were two very important things Paul mentioned about being ready: "protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation." I heard an interesting message yesterday regarding the fig tree, and how the fig tree will bear fruit before it gets leaves; the leaves representing it's covering, or it's protection. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus has an encounter with the fig tree that has leaves but bears no fruit; after seeing the tree with leaves He went to it expecting fruit, but when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves. What that speaks about in the life of a believer, is someone who appears to have the covering and protection of God, but bears no fruit to prove what is being put forth. To understand how that matters, we must look at fruit as something which others can take away, or as something to grab onto and use; the leaves only provide shade, and are only good while under the shadow of them, but the fruit can be gathered and put to use. I know it might seem odd, but it "bears" some consideration. Looking at this verse, there is something there that can be connected with the "Fig Tree" incident, which is something of a mystery; the lack of fruit upon the tree caused Jesus to curse the tree, and the tree withered away; those that saw it afterward were astonished. The result of the tree being withered caused it's leaves to dry up and die, which took away the covering and protection; thereby making the tree appear totally worthless, even from a distance. It's a scary thought, but you can't fool around with pretending to be something that you are not, because it will not work out that well for you! The "armor of faith and love" is more than just a covering, it's impregnable! That means that nothing can penetrate it because it is totally and completely founded in God; our faith is in God and in the fact that He loves us, faith being our assurance in Him who we put all of our hope and trust. The "helmet" is the covering to protect our head from thoughts that take our confidence in our salvation away from us; which in turn, takes away our joy; which in turn, takes away from that which we can have others take away from us. The bottom line, that I think God is speaking to me about, is about the fact that joy is an important fruit, especially for those that are going through something. If you are a believer, and you are going through something, people will come to you for shade and comfort for their own fear and hurts; but if there is no joy present in your life, they will flee away... "But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, 'Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn't yours and harvesting crops you didn't plant.' 'You wicked servant!' the king roared. 'Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I'm a hard man who takes what isn't mine and harvested crops I didn't plant, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.'" (Luke 19:20-23)