Dear Friends,

You may well know that I am not the best gardener in the world, but I am advised that the best time in the year to prune trees will soon be upon us. The purpose of pruning is to remove the branches from the tree that hinder its fruitfulness, so as to allow it to become as fruitful as possible. If there is a diseased branch and it is not cut off then it will harm the tree.

As with trees, so with us: pruning is critical to living a fruitful life in God, so He prunes the lives of His children. However, in order to live a fruitful life, we must also be part of the process. We must learn how to prune ourselves. Just as it is a necessity to cut off diseased branches of the trees which grow in our garden, so we must be prepared to cut off any action or habit which is sinful because that will hinder our life of spiritual fruitfulness.

I greatly admire those who once were fully addicted to alcohol or drugs and have got themselves clean. We are all addicted to sin: it is part of our fallen nature and we must be ruthless in eliminating it in our lives, doing so in confidence that as we attempt this, God is at work in us to will and do of His good pleasure, that is to make us holy, consecrated to Him.

The successful pruning of trees is not solely reliant on chopping off diseased branches, but also branches which hinder the tree from receiving the sun’s rays or those which are too low. So, also in our lives we must rid ourselves of anything which prevents us from receiving from God and dwelling in His presence. We must also rid ourselves of any indulgences and actions that drain away our time and energy from the higher things to which God has called you.

God bless you, David