Day 21: Pray: “Lord, Prune Me As You Need To!”

Do you want to grow in God, and GO with God, wherever and however He desires? If so, then it’s time to pray the most difficult prayer of all: “Lord, prune me as You need to!” But, never fear: this prayer bears fruit, and the results of it will be more fulfilling to you than perhaps any other thing.

I want to encourage you today to actively pursue the pruning of God.

Jesus said that pruning is necessary, and that it is specifically a blessing to people who are bearing fruit already. Look at what He teaches us in John chapter 15:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:1-8 NKJV).

Let’s look at 8 facts we can see about pruning and growth in this passage:

1. Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches.
2. The Father is the Vinedresser–the person who cares for and stewards the vines, branches, AND grapes (fruit).
3. We have to abide in Jesus in order to bear fruit.
4. If we are already bearing fruit, then the Father will prune us so that we can bear even more fruit.
5. Abiding in Jesus and hiding His Word in our heart is directly proportional to what we can receive from the Lord. Abiding is what permits us to receive.
6. The Father is glorified when we bear much fruit.
7. If we don’t bear fruit, then we are removed because we really aren’t Jesus’ disciples after all.
8. It is the fruit-bearing that shows us to be Jesus’ disciples.

When we look at this list, we can see that:

• Abiding in Jesus is in our best interest and His;
• Bearing fruit, fruit, and more fruit is the main test (and therefore, the main goal) of discipleship; and
• Therefore, it is in our best interest to bear as much fruit as possible.

And bearing more fruit requires pruning.

Jesus was clear about this: in order to bear more fruit, we have to be pruned.

And pruning is never fun to the flesh.

Pruning doesn’t feel good to the flesh because it means that we lose things. They may not actually be a loss to our detriment …

… for example, when the Father strips away bad habits, unhealthy mindsets, and forces us to confront our hurts and wounds, so we can heal from them …

… but we are still having things removed.

And that, although good and healthy from an eternal perspective, can be difficult in the moment.

Yes, the pruning produces more fruit; benefits us; and glorifies the Father … but it still hurts to have our good, good Father take His heavenly pruning shears to things in our lives that we wouldn’t have gotten rid of voluntarily.

I invited the Lord to prune me and this ministry recently.

I have always prayed to be pruned, disciplined, and corrected as the Father sees fit, but this occasion was different. On this occasion, several months ago, I sat down with the Father and, very seriously, as I was praying about everything in my life, I prayed something like this:

“Father God, if You need to down-scale this ministry and return me back to where I’m just sitting in my bed writing blog posts, with no help and nothing more than that, so that I can give more to missions and to fund the preaching of Your Gospel, then do it.”

That was a hard prayer to pray, but my heart burns for the Gospel so much that I will give just about anything for it.

And people are lost and dying and hurting and broken, and they need Jesus, and they need His Word, and they need to be taught and pastored; and I can only do so much through media.

I will always continue ministering to our readers through media, Lord willing. But also, we have to fund the people on the ground as well, in order to get the Gospel out. And my heart burns to feed more orphans and rescue more children and house more pastors (see the photo gallery below for a tiny glimpse of the work you are helping us accomplish), all of which we are doing with your help and God’s; but there is so much more to be done.

And if I have to pay an increased price or sacrifice help or eliminate things that people call earthly success in order to do those things and reach those people, then so be it.

So I invited God to do what He needed to do. This is His ministry, and He can steer it the way He wants.

Shortly after that, we lost two employees in a row through normal attrition, and we decided not to replace them. I could sense the pruning of God. And although two employees might not seem like much to you, that’s over a 28% reduction in the amount of help available to me/us–and that is significant.

We also decided to reduce our office space by 75%, which saves a good bit of money each month, reducing our working space from seven offices plus a studio/large meeting space to only two offices plus a small living room area. Is it less comfortable? Yes. Is it going to be challenging? Yes.

But I could sense the pruning of God. And I know that He is specifically answering my prayer–because I laid what is important to me on the altar, and He accepted it and took it.

I won’t lie by pretending that the pruning has not been hard.

It has been hard. Having the help on our staff mattered to me. Having the studio space and staging area for missions trips and meeting space mattered to me.

Why? Because having help and tools mean reaching more people. And I have worked my tail off for many years now to be able to reach people at the scale we have been reaching them, and I worry (even though I know I shouldn’t worry) about whether or not we will still be able to impact people as deeply.

But I have to trust God, knowing that He only makes things better. He only prunes so that we can bear more fruit. And so the truth of God’s Word is that we will actually be able to reach people more deeply than ever before. We will be able to bear MORE fruit than we were able to bear before. I don’t know how that is possible, so it will have to be supernatural.

It has been hard to let it go. But I’m here for it, because I meant it when I invited the Lord not only to prune me, but also those things which are important to me.

Friend, the pruning of God feels difficult in the moment, but He works all things out for your good.

Let’s remind ourselves of Romans 8:28:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NKJV).

No matter what the hand of God is doing in your life right now–even if it wouldn’t have been your first preference to have Him do that thing–it will work out for your good. He is working it out for your good. His pruning only produces more fruit, which glorifies Him and benefits you.

So what do you need to let go of today?

Is the Father pruning something in you? Do you need to relax and let Him strip away things that are important to you, laying them on the altar as a love offering to Him and to Jesus? Are you willing to stop hanging onto every part of your branch when He is trying to cut something away?

And as He is pruning you, are you willing to invite Him to do even more–so that you may glorify Him, bear much fruit, receive anything you ask Him for, and be more a disciple of Jesus?

The pruning isn’t fun, but it is necessary.

Being pruned always produces more fruit. The resurrection and fruit come after you have allowed the Father to strip things away from you. Look at what Jesus taught us in John 12:23-26:

“But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” (John 12:23-26 NKJV).

Being pruned makes us into that grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies. But, when we allow the Father to remove those twigs from us that He no longer deems necessary, His resurrection will also come and we will bear much grain/fruit.

Friend, are you ready to surrender to the Father’s pruning shears in a new way today?

If so, even though the process may feel difficult, I invite you today to surrender yourself totally to the Vinedresser’s hand. Pray this simple prayer with me:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus’ name.

Abba Father, thank You for saving me. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to die for me on the cross, and thank You that now He ever lives to make intercession for me. I praise You for Your goodness and faithfulness to me, Abba Father.

Father God, I realize that Your Word says that You need to prune me in order for me to bear more fruit.

Therefore, I invite You to prune me today however You need to. Please help me through the process, for I know that it’s not fun and doesn’t feel good to have things cut off. But, I trust You, Lord. Please help me to know that You are pruning me. Help me to know what You are pruning, and help me to lay it all on the altar before You, Father.

Abba Father, I pray for more grace today during this pruning process:

• Strengthen me in my inner man and outer man by Your Spirit.
• Let Your grace be sufficient for me, and let Your strength be made perfect in my weakness.
• Let Your power rest upon me!
• Give me wisdom. Help me to know and recognize exactly what You are stripping away from me.
• Specifically, I yield ________ to You today, to be pruned as You will.
• Please also take anything else off me that is not pleasing to You.
• Please help me to abide in Jesus more closely than ever before by Your grace.
• Please help me to easily relinquish everything You are stripping away, and I pray that You would give me joy in the process, instead of mourning over the things that You are cutting off.
• Show me the resurrection that is to come in all things.
• And I pray in Jesus’ name that You would help me to bear more fruit than ever before–and that this fruit would begin appearing in me immediately, without delay.

Thank You for pruning me, Abba Father. Thank You for loving me enough to prune me, and to draw me to Yourself. Please search me and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me; and, if there is, get it out … and lead me in Your way everlasting (per Psalm 139:23-24).

Thank You, Lord God Almighty, my Father. I submit to Your pruning process, and I give You praise and glory for it. Thank You for everything. In Jesus’ holy and precious name I pray, amen.”

Beloved, that prayer can be hard to pray–but it will change everything.

And it will change everything for the better.

Are you willing to voluntarily lay yourself on the altar and submit to God’s pruning process today, so you can bear more fruit? If so, leave a comment below!