Nobody likes to be pruned. Nobody enjoys the process of cutting back, of slicing away excess or of shaving off the unnecessary.
No one willfully asks to be pruned.
However, the process of pruning often produces the most fruitful season in a believer's life. Jesus believes in the process of pruning and is often the One who starts the process.
The encouraging aspect of the pruning process is that it only happens to a bush or to a tree that is already bearing fruit. The Father never prunes a branch that is void of fruit; that branch he simply obliterates.
"I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that bears no fruit, He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:1-2).
If you have been in a season of pruning lately, don't despair. Perhaps what you should do is to take heart. The very reason that the Father prunes a fruitful branch is so that it will bear more fruit.
As painful as pruning might be, the end result is the production of more fruit. When God cuts away the extraneous in the life of a believer, it is for one reason alone: the production of more fruit.
As the Father applies pressure and requires the removal of superfluous activities, expenditures and choices, don't cry out in pain and agony. Instead, rejoice that you are about to enter a season of new growth, of beautiful fruit and of fragrant blossoms.
The fruit of your life is invaluable to the world in which you live; the people in your life are desperately in search of the abundant production of fruit in your life. The Father longs for your life to make a difference in the culture, in the church and in your sphere of influence, and that is why He lovingly prunes you. Ouch!
Pruning is never a pleasant process, but it is always necessary in the life of a person God longs to use. If you want your life to matter in the kingdom of God, you can expect to be pruned by the One who loves you most and knows you best.
When a plant is pruned, its roots settle even more deeply into the soil in which it has been planted. Pruning also results in abundant and in more delicious fruit.
If you are experiencing a season of painful pruning in your life, take heart. The best is yet to come. God is pruning you simply because He loves you and longs to use the harvest of your life to feed the world.
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