#JESUS2019 - Daily DevotionalsSample

Jesus only prunes children who bear fruit: healthy people who live according to God’s will. He does it because he loves them! It is about cutting off all the unnecessary parts, so the quality will be better the next year. Without this cleaning, the harvest would keep getting smaller, and in the end it would even stop!

But pruning hurts, doesn’t it? And who likes to give something away? Or stop doing something that you have enjoyed doing for a long time? After all, they are all really good things that God himself thought up and created. And I don’t harm anyone by doing these things, right?

The decisive question from God’s point of view is:

Which things are great, but rob you of the strength, time or money you need to fulfill God’s plan for your life?

The difficulty is to honestly look for an answer. Sometimes we are blind, or we don’t want to admit things to ourselves. It can be a great help to ask a friend to ask you the following questions:

“About what things have you heard a quiet impulse of the Holy Spirit? Would you miss out on a lot if you gave up ‘XY’?

“Which things look good, but prevent you from bearing greater fruit?”

It might be the desire of having your own house, a hobby that takes up a lot of time, or drinking alcohol. 

As soon as it becomes clear which things are not beneficial for you (from God’s perspective) for your growth, you can give and entrust them to God.

You can be sure that just as in the winemaking business, the harvest and especially the quality of your fruit will increase! Trust the winegrower: Things will not be worse for you afterwards — it will give you joy!

ACTION STEP: 

Do a Mini-Get Free and confess the things that distract and steal you away from God’s goals. Give these things to Jesus in prayer and ask him for his forgiveness and peace.

Jörg Gräfingholt - ICF Freiburg