“And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.”  Ezekiel 47:12.

The topic this morning that is on my heart is “Spiritual Fruit,” and as I meditated on the scripture, I also thought of the dismal state of things throughout this world in reference to racism and inequality. This brought to mind the lyrics to the song by the late Billie Holiday entitled “Strange Fruit.”

Strange fruit originated as a poem written and published in the 1930’s by a teacher named Abel Meeropol.  He wrote this poem to spread awareness of America’s racism; it opposed the lynching of Black Americans and compared the victims to the fruit hanging from trees.

The social and political movement from (1954-1968) was a struggle by African Americans to end legalized discrimination and racial desegregation in the United States. It resulted in a number of rulings from the federal courts such as: “Separate but equal” doctrine overturned by Brown v. Board of Education (1954); Bus Segregation ruled unconstitutional by Browder v. Gayle (1956), Interracial Marriages legalized by Loving v. Virginia (1967), Civil Rights Act of 1957 – 1968 and Voting Rights of 1965; the list continues.

America has certainly made great strides in the fight against racism; yet many great men and women have stood, protested and loss their lives for the right to stand side by side as equal human beings the way God created us all. We do live in a legally better America than my grandparents did, but as in Strange fruit, where the blood of our black brothers and sisters cried from a tree; it now cries from the streets in our very own neighborhoods-wake up everybody!

Equality is a legal reform, but the HEART is where the issue of life originates. If the love of God is not in the heart of a man; evil and iniquity lies within. Over fifty years later and we’re still fighting for freedom from racism and inequality…where will it end?

The answer is found in the Word of God; Ezekiel saw a vision of a river still to come; this stream will bring life and health and abundant fruit wherever it goes. “And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.”  Ezekiel 47:12.

Every born-again believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit; He empowers us to produce spiritual fruit that should flow to others around us; when a child of God is filled with the Holy Spirit and interacts with others, something miraculous happens; the divine power that lives within our hearts brings light to this dark world; unconditional love for our fellowman, which overcomes evil and injustice. “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;” Ephesians 5:9.

God is not asleep my friends, and He is certainly not dead; The Spiritual fruit that He develops in us is able to change and heal even the wickedest of hearts…“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.

So, I admonish you to never give up hope, and be not dismayed by what we see, hear and experience; God is sovereign and victorious…this is not the end of the story; God wins, good triumphs over evil every time. The Spiritual fruit that we possess has no color…the vision in Ezekiel chapter forty-seven is none other than Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, who hung and shed His blood on a tree one day; and He is the Temple; and the Door; it is from Him that the living waters of eternal life flow!

God blessings and peace to all!