John 15:4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Are you abiding?

A tree’s branches are cut for a wide variety of reasons.

According to the Washington County Forestry Board, those reasons are:

  • To remove co-dominant leaders. Co-dominant leaders are two branches growing near the top of a tree that grow straight up and become equally dominant. Cutting off one allows the other branch to grow and become the dominant branch. This prevents the branches from splitting and tearing wood that is often a problem in heavy winds.
  • To encourage fruit production. Any type of tree that produces fruit benefits from pruning. By removing dead limbs, you’re promoting better health in the tree, since dead wood makes the tree more susceptible to insect infestation and disease.
  • To treat disease. Through pruning, the disease may be treated and prevented from spreading. Therefore, pruning not only prevents disease, it also helps treat it.

You are a branch. You are pruned for the same reason trees are pruned. There are times when the anointing on your life flows so much that you can, if you are not careful, think that it is you.  You could find yourself, like Lucifer did, trying to be a co-dominant leader. If you don’t humble yourself, you will extend too far and must be pruned or cut off. 

Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ (New King James Version)

There can also be times when you rest on what you did years ago instead of looking for God to continue to do work in and through you. By using those memories as fertilizer and not as a podium, you can make way for new and greater works.

Philippians 1:6  I am confident that the Creator, who has begun such a great work among you, will not stop in mid-design but will keep perfecting you until the day Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, returns to redeem the world. (The Voice)

Finally, you can become defiled (diseased) in your heart when you forget who your are. You start to worship the creation and not the creator; you try to use the gifts that belong to the Lord for your own purpose; you start reading your own headline; and ultimately believe the same lie the devil believed. You must be pruned so you don’t think you are the one who should be praised.

Romans 1:25 How? By choosing a foolish lie over God’s truth. They gave their lives and devotion to the creature rather than to the Creator Himself, who is blessed forever and ever. Amen. (The Voice)

Whatever the reason for pruning, when the branches fall to the ground they do not continue to grow. Their color begins to fade and they get hard because they are dying. They are swept up and made into compost or put on the trash heap. Your source, life, and existence is in God. You have to abide in Him at all times; if not you will wither and die and be put into the fiery furnace.

Please agree with me as I pray:

Father, You have made it possible for me to abide in You at all times. In You I live; I move, and I have my being. I thank You for teaching me apart from You I can do nothing, and I am nothing. Because of the time I spend with You, there is an anointing on my life. I honor You for it, but I keep in mind, I am a branch. Father, the nourishment I receive by Your Spirit, affects my entire life and comes directly from You. Without being connected to You, I will die. When I live in communion with You, I grow up; I become stronger and I become better. I want to remain an extension of You, so I remain humble. I also pray that my life brings You glory more and more every day…

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