The Pruning Process (Luke 8:15)

It is now rolling towards my favorite time of year.  Soon, i will be planting tomatoes, peppers, and various herbs.  but as I sit on my patio, I am looking at my fig tree.  Last year was the first year that I planted it.  During the winter months, I pruned the branches so that it would produce an abundance of fruit this year.  Pruning causes plants to grow more shoots, which will produce more fruit.

It is the same with believers.  This parable indicates that those who will produce an abundance of fruit in their lives are those who have the right heart condition, hear the word of God and hold onto it, and do so with patience.  The word used for patience has been defined as remaining under.

The Lord says that he is the vine and we are the branches and that he purges or prunes branches so that they may bring forth more fruit.  When does this pruning take place and what does it look like?  Is it accomplished by The Lord cutting away sin from our lives?  That would not be a bad idea, but it is not the case.  Is it accomplished by the Lord removing people from our lives who may cause us to stumble? Again, not a bad idea but not the case.  

Pruning is accomplished by the situations brought into our lives that we are forced to face with patience.  The Lord stated that those who bear under will be producing fruit.  We bear under when we live under trials and endure them by faith.  When we refuse to remain in the trials brought to us or allowed by The Lord, the pruning process stops.  He does not cut away the branches of our vine in moments of time.  Instead he is removing that which hinders us from producing by allowing those great trials that we face and dread.  They are our refining fires and also our pruning hooks.

As you face your trials today, don't look at them as the dreaded portion of your life, but instead the opportunity to remove that which hinders you the most.

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