Prune

If you're a person who likes to plant things, you may have to get out the shears and remove all the dead parts of the plant or bush. Pruning is the process of removing certain above-ground elements from a plant. This process usually includes removal of diseased, non-productive, or otherwise unwanted portions from a plant.

Random topic I know, but I was reading in John 15 yesterday and I came across the passage that talks of God being the vine and we are the branches. It says in verse 2, "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."

I looked at this and thought, "God is pruning me." As a Christian, it is my aim to be fruitful and to do what the Lord has called me to do. However, sometimes things can creap in and cause us to get things that need to be pruned...things that are diseased, dead, or unwanted in our Christian faith/walk. So what does God do? He prunes us. Some people need more pruning than others and some don't even realize that pruning needs to take place, so they have let those unwanted portions get overgrown...but God comes in with his shears and prunes it away...He wants it to be fruitful and multiply.

Have you allowed God to prune you lately? Or...are you trying to do the pruning yourself? If we remain in Him, then He remains in us...so, let God do the pruning and let us be fruitful.