Pruning is a process where branches are removed from trees in order to encourage healthy growth. It removes all thorns and bristles that prevent the tree from growing. The Lord uses this parable to describe what every single believer has to go through. However, a lot of us tend to run away from the pruning season forgetting that it’s necessary in order to go to new levels of glory in Him. The Lord desires to manifest His glory (glory meaning His manifest presence) in you and the pruning process helps reveal areas in your heart and life that you have yet to surrender to Him. This is why pruning seasons are often uncomfortable because the Lord will allow us to go through difficult situations and circumstances to show what fruit we are baring.
An example of this could be: Betrayal. The world tells us to get our lick back. The world tells us that we have the right to be angry, and act in such a way to let them know that they did us wrong. However the WORD of GOD tells us to love on our enemies. We are to love them that persecute us. We are to love on those that may not love us back. The Lord desires for us to manifest His unfailing love in these situations. He desires that we would not have to strive to walk in love, but we would become love.
The Lord instructs us in John 15 to remain in Him and He will remain in us. He explains that apart from him we cannot bare anything good. The pruning allows us to bring forth even more fruit than we already are baring. Even if we are doing good in the Father’s eyes, He wants us to become more and more like Him. In the pruning process, the Lord desires for us to grow in Him and so He will allow us to go through different situations and circumstances to show us parts of us that may still be carnal. He allows us to go through difficult situations in order to test the fruit. It takes certain seasons to bare certain fruit.
The fruit that the Father desires to see is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). It’s easy to bare this kind of fruit when everything seems to be going the way we desire it to go. But the real test is when you find yourself in situations where you’re very low or lost.
We should continue to keep on the mind of Christ when it comes to every season including the season of pruning. We need to remember that it is an honor to manifest Christ, and that every trial, test and tribulation is meant to draw us closer to Christ and make us more like Him!
Reflections:
- Are you going through a pruning season right now?
- How have you been handling previous or current pruning seasons?
- What are areas that the Lord has been showing you in your heart and mind that you have been having a hard time surrendering to Him? Why?
- Whether those areas are feelings of fear, lack of trust, or manifesting unconditional love… find scriptures that rebuttal the lies and remind you of His goodness.
Scriptures to Meditate on:
John 15
Galatians 5:16-26
Matthew 5:43-48