How to Abide in Him + “Pruned For More Fruit”
Pruned for More Fruit.
At some point during the service last night, Jesus’ words in John 15 came to mind:
“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.”
On the heels of that verse, several lines from Ugo Bassi’s “sermon in a hospital” came to mind: “But the vine standeth stripped and desolate…left a leafless stock.”
Then, an image of the trunk of a grape vine, stripped of old branches. This was an “AHA moment” for me. This passage is about a vine, not a tree. LOL! I don’t know why, but probably because I come from WI, with trees not vines, I have always thought of pruning a TREE in relation to this verse. When you prune a tree, you generally do not cut it all the way back. You TRIM branches down, cut off some twigs, and remove “sucker shoots” that will drain resources from the main body of the tree. (Not that I’ve done a LOT of tree pruning, but from what I know, that’s the general idea).
But Jesus is talking about a VINE. (DUH). And, He doesn’t say prune, as in “trim”, He says “purge”, as in “cut all the way back”. Purging a vine literally leaves it a “leafless stock”. In Watching a few videos on the process, on of the first sentences / statements was: “PRUNING IS A DWARFING PROCESS!”
Benefits?
“Increases fruit size and quantity.
STIMULATES GROWTH NEAR CUTS.
Increases sugar content. Decreases disease problems.
Increases light distribution.” (From YouTube)
OK. (I could preach right there.)
“When you prune the vine, you’re pretty much injuring it, so when you prune back really hard,….it’s going to trigger the vine to produce a lot more shoots.”
“Inside the cordon (the main 2 horizontal branches off of the trunk) are LATENT BUDS. They’re just waiting for a reason to come out. When I cut back this hard, I’m probably going to trigger latent buds to come out of this vine. These buds won’t come out until I cut it back this hard and injure it like this.”
“Pruning it back this severely will likely affect your crop level this year, but you’ll definitely see the benefits in the year after.”
WOW. There is just so much there, and I’m not sure I can even fully flesh it out, but here are a few quick points:
Pruning is done with greater FRUIT-FULNESS in mind. “…every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” (JN 15:2)
“Pruning is a dwarfing process.” It was almost shocking to see how many branches and twigs were removed in the process. The vine was dwarfed; there were fewer shoots, but that equates to greater fruit size and quantity. LESS BRANCHES = MORE FRUIT.
Pruning stimulates growth near cuts and releases latent buds. “These buds won’t come out until I cut it back this hard and injure it like this.” The pain of pruning causes GROWTH and allows DORMANT POTENTIAL to be released. There are some things in our lives that will not come to fruition until other things have been cut off.
Pruning is injuring. “When you prune the vine, you’re pretty much injuring it….it’s going to trigger the vine to produce a lot more shoots.” There is pain in pruning. It is an intentional INJURY. It is purposeful pain. The cutting of the purging process is done with great precision and great intent. The cutting of the moment will produce the harvest of the future.
“But the vine standeth stripped and desolate, left a leafless stock. —Ugo Bassi
The vine standeth stripped of what it used to have…stripped of what was previously good…stripped of purpose in the moment following cuts and injuries. Stripped of previous potential and previous gains. Stripped and desolate. Stripped, having endured the pain. Left feeling naked and bare. The vine, dwarfed from what it used to be and what it used to possess. The vine, stripped by the One Who never makes a cut without intent. Stripped by the One Who sees latent buds, sweeter fruit, and greater harvest.
Purging is, after all, a compliment of sorts. Jesus said, “Every branch that bears fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” He cuts and injures and dwarfs and prunes BECAUSE you were fruitful. The pruning is proof of productivity. The purging is evidence that He didn’t cut you off as an unfruitful branch. The pruning is proof that He sees greater potential in you. The pruning shows you’re still alive, no matter how painful the process has been. Irregardless of how severely the branch was cut back, and irregardless of the methods employed in so doing, and irregardless if the crop is affected this year, the pruning will yield results if we stay connected to Him. The pruning was both a compliment of what you were doing and a signal that He will increase your capacity to produce fruit in the future.
We must simply ABIDE…simply ENDURE the process and we must realize that He is the One at work. He is the One Who cuts and He is the One Who brings the harvest “ in due season.”
“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. I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (JN 15:4-5)
Endure the shears...endure the process…the pruning is precise, planned, and intentional.
ENDURE and ABIDE.🍇
“The man who would know God must give time to him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to mediation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets and the believing members of the holy church in all generations. And so must we do, if we follow in their train.”