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

John 15:2 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.15.2.NLT

 Jesus tells us that, in vineyard terms, that He is the vine, our lives are the branches coming off of the vine, and God the Father is the gardener taking care of keeping the vine and the branches healthy and producing.

When it comes to our lives, God wants us to be fruitful and effective. He doesn’t want there to be branches in our lives that take energy away from being productive and fruitful.

I know a family that has an annual pumpkin growing contest to see which family can grow the largest pumpkin (we are talking in the hundreds of pounds). One day, the patriarch of the family walked me through his pumpkin patch and shared with me a key piece of his strategy. He took every shoot off of the main vine, except one. He wanted all the life and growing power of that vine to go into one pumpkin, hopefully the winning one!!!

God the, “gardener,” through Jesus, “the vine,” is pouring life into us, “the branches,” for great fruitfulness. When God sees branches that are sucking God’s life away from the vine, God cuts them off, as it is taking away from the fruitfulness God intends in our lives as we are firmly connected to Jesus.

Encouragement: When God is cutting branches out of our lives, it is for the best. Trust Him to work on your life. He absolutely knows what He is doing.

Prayer: Dear Father, the master gardener, thank You for working on my life to be more fruitful for Your kingdom. Thank You for keeping me connected to Jesus, the vine. I don’t always like the pruning, but I know it is best and I trust You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

-Ed McDowell, Executive Director
Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center