Embracing God’s Pruning: Letting Go to Grow in Faith and Fruitfulness

John 15:2
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

I've been praying for transformation lately. "God, transform me into the likeness of You. May all that is within me glorify You alone." The main thing I hear the Spirit say back is that if I want to be like Jesus, I need to allow Him to prune away the parts of me that are not worshipful. I think of Saul and how, before he could be Paul, he had to first be blinded. He was blinded in order to see spiritually. I think of Jonah who would have kept on running from the Lord had his ability to run not been taken. He was swallowed up and spit out in the right direction. Until Zechariah could say without a shadow of doubt that his child would pave the way for the coming Messiah, his mouth was sealed shut. It was reopened again as he spoke the name of John the Baptist into the world. I may not need to be physically blinded, to be swallowed by a big fish, or lose my voice, but there are certainly things that can be pruned so that I am more fruitful for the Kingdom.

What are things in your life that need the Lord's pruning? Is your mouth speaking gossip when it could be speaking life? Are your feet walking toward selfish desires when they could be going down the path God has for you? Does your mind fixate on the anxieties and hateful sins of this world when it could be focused on the goodness of the Creator? Consider where pruning is needed in your life and allow the Gardener to do His work.