Faith in the Process: Trusting God's Timing & GrowthVzorec

Growing Wrong: When Disconnected Growth Becomes Dangerous

Sometimes a tree starts looking more like a shrub, with a bushy clump of young stems sprouting from the base or from a spot on the trunk.

Jesus said, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5). The branches are supposed to be connected to the tree. Those that are growing are growing but growing displaced and apart from the tree. I later learned that these were called “suckers.”

Those stems are called suckers, because they zap water and nutrients from the main tree. As suckers are unhealthy for trees and they are unsightly, it’s important to know how to eliminate them and when possible, how to prevent them in the first place.

Suckers are a tree's attempt to grow more branches, often in response to some kind of injury. If the roots have been damaged, suckers grow from the base of the trunk. If suckers grow higher on the trunk, they're called water sprouts and they are usually at the site of a pruning wound, a crack or some other damage.

You can’t get so excited about growth that you can’t discern the health of the growth. You can’t afford your growth in this season to grow up WRONG.

Don’t be focused on the growth, but pay attention to how it's growing. If it is growing apart from the tree, it is a danger to the tree and anything in the yard.

Just because it is growing doesn’t mean that it is growing right.

Just like “suckers” siphon water from the tree, so does the enemy attempt to steal the Word of God from us after we’ve heard it.

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” John 10:10 (AMP)

The enemy is not afraid of you hearing a WORD because he comes to steal it after you have heard it. The enemy knows that if you RECEIVE the WORD, your root system strengthens.

“He told them many things in parables, saying, “Listen carefully: a sower went out to sow [seed in his field]; and as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road [between the fields], and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil; and at once they sprang up because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and thorns came up and choked them out. Other seed fell on good soil and yielded grain, some a hundred times as much [as was sown], some sixty [times as much], and some thirty. He who has ears [to hear], let him hear and heed My words.””

Matthew 13:3-9 (AMP)

This is what we have to be careful of in this season. Trees (people) who say I’m growing around the place I suffered the damage. Eventually, if they grow enough, people will not see that there is a damaged tree hiding behind all the small growth.

So, we must be mindful of whether we grow separately, detached from the collective, or if we grow while remaining firmly attached to the original source of our faith—the “vine,” which symbolizes Jesus.

Remaining connected to the Vine won’t always be easy when the enemy is doing everything in his power to pry us from Him. Thankfully, it is comforting to know that supernatural strength appears not when we are strong, but in our moments of weakness. Therefore, we get God’s strength when we run out of our own. This happens when things look impossible, are hopeless, out of choices, can’t see our way through, or are physically weak. This divine strength manifests in a spirit of determination—the driving force behind every breakthrough.

As Kingdom leaders, we shouldn’t give in to the pressure, no matter how tough it may seem. We can’t throw in the towel. Keep applying the pressure, stay determined, don’t accept the denial, and watch that which has been holding you back give in to your resolve.