PRUNING.

In my last blog post, I talked about “THE PLOUGH”. There, I shared expressly, some reasons why people could take back their hands from the plough.

The anchor scripture was;

Luke 9:62 “Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.”(AMP)

St. Luke 9:62 “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”(KJV)

I also mentioned in my last blog post that the plough is a machine of pruning. A plough is a machine used to till/prepare the ground for planting.

Without tilling the ground, it would be almost impossible to plant anything that would yield fruits. Meaning that ploughing is preparation for growth.

As a believer, it is intended that you die daily. Growth comes from a place of death. If you must grow, you must die. Without engaging the principle of “dying daily”, you wouldn’t make any profitable success.

St. John 12:24 says;

KJV: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

NLT: The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be alone—a single seed. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.

When I say death, I mean death of the flesh. I mean making the flesh of less impact to the activities of your life.

Without dying to the flesh, you’ll have no fruits. Your fruitfulness as a believer depends on your death. The more you die, the more fruits you produce. The less you die spiritually, the more irrelevant you are.

Ploughing is the first step to death. In ploughing, there’s something called ‘consecrations’. These are things you ought to do or obey to die.

As a believer, you’re not allowed to live your life like an ordinary man. You must, at every point in time, be different from the world around you.

If your life, day in day out, is equivalent to that of an unbeliever, you cannot be called a ‘successful/fruitful’ Christian. A fruitful Christian is one that has the patterns of Jesus in Him.

The bible says we are in the world but we are not of the world.

The father uses something else called ‘pruning’ to help you die to the flesh. Not all instructions given by the Holy Ghost would bring forth visible fruits. Sometimes, it’s just to prune you.

When pruning a tree, the irrelevant parts are cut off. The part that “bears not fruits”.

St. John 15:2 says;

KJV: 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.

NLT: He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

Purging/Pruning is for more productivity. If you must be productive, you must be pruned. Make no mistake, pruning is not plesant! As a matter of fact, it’s one of the most unpleasant things to the flesh.

1 Corinthians 9:27 says;

KJV: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

NLT: I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Pruning is a life long project. As long as you live, you must give yourself to prunings. It is the only way to fruitfulness and productivity. It might not be plesant but the end rest is worth it.

Many people reconsider their faith because of the pruning exercise. They are very comfortable in their own iakin and do not wish to adjust for the Holy Spirit.

Pruning teaches a lot!

It teaches self control, patience, humility and respect. It also eaena you honor. You must strive, as a believer, to look up to Jesus. Jesus was also pruned. That’s why He was so productive.

Pruning doesn’t make you less of a man, it makes you a god-man. Pruning is more profitable than laziness and pride.

Be pruned and bring forth fruits.

Have a great week ahead!
Happy Sunday.🌹
    #GrowingInGrace