Fruit is the expected by-product of the investment of time, energy, and resources. This is true whether you run a business, a home, or a ministry. God has the same expectation of us as believers to produce fruit when we use His resources. Let’s look at how this plays out in ALERT Cadets.

I expect fruit, in the form of changed lives, from the investment of resources in this ministry. Each day, I pray that God would bring an increase in the number of fathers who actively take on their God-given responsibilities to lead their families, and particularly their sons, well; to provide vision to them as to who they can become in Christ and what they are to do for the Kingdom. I also pray for the sons to give their hearts to their fathers and look to them for direction and wisdom as they grow and ultimately strike out on their own to start their own families. I identify with Paul in Colossians 1:28-29, “I…labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

God gives or withholds time, energy, and resources to provide direction. Of the three, I track time closest; it is the one that so easily slips away never to be recovered. By energy, I refer to the creativity and human emotion associated with being a part of what God is doing in the world. As long as fruit is produced, then I, and those associated with this ministry, gain energy to continue in the battle. God provides resources in the form of physical assets, money, and people. This is the area that, frankly, concerns me least. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, as well as all the gold and all the silver according to Psalm 50:10-11 and Haggai 2:8. He blesses His people with wealth and then directs them to share it in such a way that fruit is produced. I look for fruit production as the first key to discerning whether God is blessing a particular work. God’s work will not lack God’s resources!

What does the fruit produced look and taste like? Here are recent comments we’ve received at ALERT Cadets.

1) From at least one father per month, I hear, “Major Farr, I’ve lost the heart of my 18-year old son. Can you help me to win the hearts of my 13 and 8 year-old sons so that they don’t follow right behind him?”

2) In Mexico, as fathers heard about taking up the challenge to train their sons to be godly men, many broke down in tears, desiring to make changes in their lives.

3) Mothers send us notes of encouragement for the work being done through local ALERT Cadet units to knit the hearts of their husbands with their sons.

4) At the beginning of an ALERT Cadet camp, a father said, “I do not know my 17-year old son anymore.” By the end of the camp, the glow in the son’s eyes told a different story!

Changed lives, mended relationships, shared vision, and progress toward a specific goal are all signs of fruit. Look for the fruit in your life, the lives of your young people, and in the ministries you support with your time, energy, and resources. May God give wisdom to lead your families well!