May 29, 2023 - John‬ ‭15:1-2

“I am a true sprouting vine, and the farmer who tends the vine is my Father. He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest.” John 15:1-2 TPT

Lord, I thank you for being such an amazing farmer. Thank you for how you lovingly care for us. You prune us only so we can produce more fruit. It isn’t just the dying and fruitless parts of us that get pruned. It is often even good, fruit bearing branches that get pruned. But this forces our roots to go deeper and that makes us stronger. It allows us to produce more fruit in the future. Lord, help us to appreciate this process in our lives. Help us to recognize and embrace it. Help us not to mourn what we are losing but rejoice in what we will gain. Let us press in more and more to you and focus on pushing our roots deeper in you.

Help us to understand that if you don’t cut back enough and put us under enough stress, we will never press into you deep enough to be a healthy and abundantly fruitful tree. We won’t survive in the hard seasons. We won’t be able to grow into all you have designed us to be.

Lord, when we are pruned by you, again let us recognize what is happening and not fight you or the process. Help us to be grateful and not grow bitter toward you. Don’t allow us to push away from you but dig in deeper. Help us learn to rejoice about what will replace what we lost.

Thank you, Father, that you care enough to want us to be more fruitful. You want us to live abundantly. Thank you that you care enough to really take care of us. Thank you for what the pruning processes in our lives will produce. We love you for it, Lord.

In Jesus name, amen.