Trust Him, He Knows What He Is Doing

It takes a skilled arborist to trim back a tree, allowing for new growth. The process of being pruned is not a fun one but in the hands of a master gardener, an increased harvest will always result.

Video Transcript: Video below

[00:00:00] Welcome back to Daily Bible Promises with a Twist. If you don’t know what the twist is yet, just go to the playlist and the very first entry there will explain it all.

[00:00:09] But today we’re going to be reading from the NIV version because that’s what these cards are written on. And it’s John 15:5. “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, can do nothing.” Sobering words. So, let’s put that verse into context. What was going on? Who was speaking? Who was He speaking to and what lay ahead for them

[00:00:37] This is a special and Holy Day. The disciples are probably homesick for their families and loved ones because Passover traditionally is spent with your family. But they are together they are with Jesus and they find some comfort in that. All the sudden, Jesus starts to speak to them and if you read the book of John, it’s quite a long discourse that Jesus shared. He’s encouraging them but He’s also warning them to be careful to remain close to Him. We’re going to be reading John 15:1-6 New Living Translation, just so you can get a better understanding what Verse 5 is talking about. “I am the true grapevine and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit, so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I’ve given you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”

[00:02:20] Sobering words. One word popped into my head as I was reading this passage and the word is ‘mature’. A young tree is not pruned back unless the arborists notice that there is a rogue branch towards the bottom of its trunk and then the arborist oh so gently trims back because he knows the young immature tree does not need the same severe cutback that an older tree might need. Jesus shares some very hard truths with His disciples. But they’re not the same people that they once were when Jesus called them three years prior. They’re much more mature in their faith. They have much more trust in Jesus. And although they don’t understand everything that He says they understand His heart and they understand His intentions.

[00:03:15] The disciples are about to face some severe pruning and Jesus was doing everything in His power to prepare their hearts.

[00:03:24] If you’re going through pruning time, God feels you are mature enough to withstand His pruning. But He’s just not cutting away something because it needs to be cut. He’s cutting away very carefully, very strategically because He can see the potential growth that will happen in your life and the fruit that you will bear because of the new growth that is about to come.

 

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©2018 Katherine Walden

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