Pruning And Cultivating For Growth

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. John 15:2

As gardeners we know that to increase production we must remove the ‘dead wood’ and prune those branches that are producing to help them reach their peak production rate.  We also know that from time to time we need to dig around the plants to loosen the soil so that the roots can get more air and also to give them more room to grow. In this passage this is exactly what Jesus is describing.

God, in order to encourage new growth in the Kingdom, removes those unproductive branches from the Vine – He casts off the non-believers, such as those Jews who wouldn’t accept Jesus as Messiah. Then He will remove those things from our lives – unforgiveness, doubt, fear, etc – to allow us room to produce more of the ‘Fruit of His Spirit; Love, joy, peace, patience, etc. Next He will dig through the dirt we are growing in to stir up our spiritual beliefs – our foundation – this encourages us to study the Bible in order to find His Whole Truth.

On the other hand, when an architect designs a building they want to be sure it will withstand the ‘natural disasters common to the area. So they build a scale model and test it to see it’s reactions in earthquakes, tornadoes or hurricanes, etc. before it is built. This is similar to God’s cultivation process.  God will put others in our path to ‘test’ our faith and to make it stronger in order for us to be ready for Satan and his ‘earth shattering’ attacks before they come upon us.

There are other reasons for God’s cultivation process, too.  As cultivating brings more air to the roots of plants, so too God’s cultivation allows the Holy Spirit to be present in more areas of our life.

So plant seeds, water plants and allow God to prune and cultivate them as they grow!

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