What does it mean?
“Pruning is the process of cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems to promote healthy plant growth. Most plants, including trees, shrubs and garden plants like roses benefit from different methods of pruning and maintenance”.
English dictionary
For a Christian, being pruned is a privilege and not a punishment at all. If you have been producing fruits, such as the ones Galatians 5 talks about:
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5.22-23
You will still be pruned so that you can produce even more fruits. Ironic right? If you have not been producing these fruits however, you will be pruned also because
He is the vine; and we are the branches.
John 15:5
It is better to be pruned so that you can produce fruits, rather than, going through the pain of cutting just because you have been disconnected from the vine? The Bible talks about how Jesus the Vine cuts off every branch in us that bears no fruit. He completely discards these branches.
My question is usually how would I know that I am no longer connected to the vine? If He will just cut the brunch off which is me, what kind of indication will I know that I am completely cut off from the Vine? The answer is as follows:
The following will be the sign that you are not plug in the vine which means you may plug into other sources in which God is not on the picture,
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21
The book of John chapter 15 talks about Jesus being our vine and God being the gardener.
It is impossible for the branch to have nourishment outside the vine.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener
John 15:1
The only way to produce fruit is to be connected to our vine – Jesus our Lord. His Father, our dad- God Almighty is the gardener. The Bible says in the book of 2 Peter 1:8
“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
2 Peter 1:8
Peter is saying that, if these things are in you… things such as the knowledge of God’s words which is for doing and not for obeying. Because doing is reflecting on the mirror, which is God’s words while obeying is following rules which may not have so much personal reflection to it.
Even Jesus must be planted into God’s garden to be part of this big picture. If Jesus must be in the garden, to help us branches to grow, how much more then, we branches must be connected to the Vine? We must get connected to the Vine, otherwise, our nourishment might be coming from other sources such as the devil or no source at all which is very unlikely because every human being is a Spirit who poses a soul and lives in the body. Your body is just a jacket you wear, the real you is the Spirit Being which is either God’s Spirit or other unclean spirits.
Who are to be pruned?
If you are a Christian this means you may be connected to the Vine, this means you must have started seeing changes in your Christian life. There may be things that have bothered you before you became a Christian, and now, they don’t seem to bother you any more, for example, maybe you used to worry when things don’t turn out the way you’ve planned out, but, now, you look at the situation and say, “God has my back”, or you are used to be moody all the time, but now you have learnt that,
the Joy of the Lord is your strength
Nehemiah 8:10
This means that every time you are moody, you go to Jesus to fetch some more joy through socialising with Him and before you know it, you are happy again.
These are just some of the evidence that you are connected to the vine. The Bible also says that
John 15:2
I pray that you will not be a brunch that is been cut off…
How do I know I am on the pruning season?
These sounds unfair if you ask me, no matter the situation, whether I produce fruits or not, I still get a cut or a prune. The cut is negative because it is permanent, the cut is completely off from the vine because it is no longer healthy because it has been disconnected from the Vine for a long period of time.
If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned
John 15:6
The other cutting, however, it is a good cutting, because it just gets the trimming or pruning so that, the brunch can bear more fruits. For example, if you have been tested in the area of love, for example, working with people who are hard to get along with or you live with people who are unlovable or hard to love due to their characters, but, then, you managed to learn to love them anyway because you are a Christian and you ought to and things seem okay; before long, you find yourself on another situation where there is another level of love required from you, to love people who are far worse from the first group you have been with, this may seem like a difficult and unfair situation to be in when it happens, however, it is part of being pruned.
If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing
John 15:6
It will be hard to love people who are incredibly challenging without the help of God. It is like being asked to forgive someone who has hurt you so much, this is utterly impossible without the help of God, but with His help, you can and that, is part of pruning. Your life will never be the same after that because you will have an understanding that God is able to help you forgive those who hurt you.
God is enlarging the capacity of your heart so that you will be able to do well in what He is called you to do. God loves people who have a humble heart and walk in humility. It can be hard to be humble and in humility, if you have not gone through some pruning season. Jesus said,
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:7-8
Not only do we succeed, but God also gets the Glory. Everyone wins!
Are you being pruned and feeling pain? Please drop me a line…