For this month’s edition of Prayer Corner, Etana will be sharing with us on how every branch that does bear fruit God prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

April ’23: A Season of Pruning
By Etana T.

There’s a song I’ve been listening to called Tend. It’s based on the passage in John 15 that depicts God as the gardener of our lives. If you have a garden, maybe you are aware of all the work it takes to keep it in shape, the amount of weeding, pruning, and watering needed. In the same way, as the lyrics say, God is constantly working to “tend the soil of our souls.”

“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.” —John 15:1-2

As a gardener prunes their plants to promote better growth and fruit-bearing, God too trims back areas of our lives that no longer bear fruit. While it may be easier to understand why God cuts off the dying areas of our lives that are overgrown or barren, I found myself surprised at the part where Jesus says that every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

He prunes the branches that are bearing fruit. Have you ever wondered why God takes seemingly good things away? Why does He ask us to surrender areas and opportunities in our lives that are fruitful?

At first glance, pruning can seem counterproductive as the plant looks much sparser than it did before. But as the passage suggests, sometimes God takes good things away from our lives so that we can produce even greater things for his kingdom in the future. Pruning usually happens in the dormant season, in preparation for when it is to bear fruit months afterwards. While God may be cutting back areas of your life right now, be ready, because He is preparing you to blossom at a greater capacity in the coming season.

Although we eagerly wait to see the fruit that God will produce through us, the pruning process is often painful. It’s simply hard to let good things go. If you are going through this season now, I pray that you would find the strength to surrender your desires, to trust in His timing, and allow yourself to be pruned by the Good Gardener.

So be the gardener of my heart, tend the soil of my soul. Break up the fallow ground; cut back the overgrown. And I won’t shy away, I will let the branches fall, so what You want can stay and what You love can grow. 

Link to Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDo99yAU-yo&ab_channel=UPPERROOM