Serving the Lord sometimes feels like a continual process of being pruned by God so that we might abide in Jesus Christ more, which subsequently enables us to bear more fruit for God’s kingdom. The process of pruning is not always pleasant. When we think of pruning we may imagine that it means God is cutting off those areas in our life that are unruly and unfruitful. While that is certainly part of the pruning process, Jesus also said that “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
If you are a disciple of Jesus and endeavor to follow Him, you will find your life in a constant process of being pruned and molded by the Master Gardener, God. During such times the process often feels painful, but we should prayerfully submit to God’s process, for as the writer of Hebrews explained, “They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:10-11).
During the last year we felt our ministry went through a pruning process, so that the projects and work the Lord has called us to would be more effective and fruitful for the kingdom of God. This has resulted in fresh opportunities, new strategic partnerships with other members of the Body of Christ, and an ever-increasing awareness that our primary role must always be simply to remain in the vine, Jesus Christ.
Surely one of Satan’s major plans is to persuade Christians to operate in their own strength and wisdom, instead of daily abiding and trusting in the Lord. This is easy to do if we are not careful, and it immediately destroys our ability to bear fruit for God’s kingdom. The Apostle Paul bluntly compared God’s wisdom to human wisdom when he wrote: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Are you willing to let yourself be pruned? Jesus uses this image of pruning to teach us a similar lesson in bearing good fruit for His Kingdom. He wants our lives to be fruitful and He wants to use us as powerful instruments of His grace in the world. But unless we are willing to go through the purification of spiritual pruning from time to time, we will not be the instruments that God can use.
Spiritual pruning takes the form of letting God eliminate the vices in our lives so that the virtues can be properly nourished. This is especially done by letting Him humble us and strip away our pride. This can hurt, but the pain associated with being humbled by God is a key to spiritual growth. By growing in humility, we grow ever more reliant upon the source of our nourishment rather than relying upon ourselves, our own ideas and our own plans. God is infinitely wiser than us and if we can continually turn to Him as our source, we will be far stronger and better prepared to let Him do great things through us. But, again, this requires that we let Him prune us.
Pray this day that you will let the Lord prune away all that is not of Him in your life. Trust in Him and His divine plan and know that this is the only path to bearing the good fruit God wants to bear through you.
China - in His image 