The Cleansing

Hello sweet friends, my prayer today is that there will be something in the reading that encourages and strengthens you, that drives you back to John 15 to read it in context. This passage of Scripture has become so dear to me, and my hope is that it will speak into your life through the whispering of the Spirit.
 
The reading today is entitled The Cleansing and is from 15:2. You can find it on pages 5-6 in the link below.
 
Every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2
 
Here are some highlights:
 
(Regarding the vine) And there is not a plant which so soon runs into wild wood, that hinders its fruit, and therefore needs the most merciless pruning. The chief care of the vinedresser is the pruning// …pruning it cannot dispense with, if it is to bear good fruit. … the one work the Father does to the branch that bears fruit is: He cleanseth it, that I may bear more fruit.//
 
It is not the removal of weeds or thorns or anything from without that may hinder the the growth. No, it is the cutting off of the long shoots of the previous year, the removal of something that comes from within that has been produced by the life of the vine itself.  It is the removal of something that is a proof of the vigor of its life; the more vigorous the growth has been, the greater the need for the pruning.  It is the honest, healthy wood of the vine that has to be cut away. And why? Because it would consume too much of the sap to fill all the long shoots of last year’s growth: the sap must be saved up and used for fruit alone.
 
It is when everything that is not needful for fruit-bearing has been relentlessly cut down, and just as little of the branches a possible has been left, that full, rich fruit may be expected.
 
It is not to sin only that the cleaning of the Husbandman here refers.///We have, in working for God, to us our natural gifts of wisdom, or eloquence, or influence, or zeal. And yet they are ever in danger of being unduly developed, and then trusted in. And so, after each season of work, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves, to the consciousness of the helplessness and the danger of all that is of man, to feel that we are nothing. All that is to be left of us is just enough to receive the power of the life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit.//
 
O our holy Husbandman, cleanse and cut away all that there is in us that would make a fair show, or cold become a source of self-confidence and glorying. Lord, keep us very low, that no flesh may glory in thy presence. We do trust Thee to do Thy work.
 
Prayer for us:
Abba, we would see Jesus, we would boldly come to your throne of grace as a daughter to find Yourself. We are too easily content with answers of provision whether physical or spiritual. Abba we want to want You, we long to long for You alone. We dearly love what You have done in our lives in the past, and we desperately want to cling to past victories as proof of our love for You and Your love for us. Abba, we want to pray “do what You will” and yet are scared to do so - we fear the pruning - we cling to what we find our comfort in - oh forgive us for choosing comfort and believing our joy is found in Your hand and not Your face. Lift our eyes to Your face O God, and give us Your strength to pray “this much O God do I want You.” Take what You will, even the very good, only keep our eyes fixed on You. Do not let us take our eyes from you. Show us how You are truly our joy - just You, only You. In Jesus’ Name, amen

The True Vine