Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This is one of those statements to meditate on day after day! Imagine it! He who is able to do more than all we ask! More than we can imagine! Immeasurably more.

What can YOU imagine? I can imagine the dead raised, the earth splitting, hosts of angels appearing the sky, massive weather changes and signs in the sky. I can imagine millions of people coming to Jesus. I can imagine standing before Presidents, kings, and leaders, delivering the word of the Lord. I can imagine declaring the soon return of the Lord and people weep with repentance and open their hearts to Him.

I can imagine a lot. Maybe I should imagine more. But if he is able to do so much, all we need to do is discover whether He wants to. I mean, He obviously can do anything. But does He really WANT to?

Let’s look for the answer in His Word.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Yes, God. I will carry your words in my heart and mind, that I might not sin against you. I will meditate on your word all day. When I take a break from my work, I will think of your promises and your commands. I will find my peace and security in your word.

Dwell in me richly, Jesus. Abide in me, as I abide in you. Overcome my pettiness with your love. Rule over my impulsivity with your confident peace.

Amen.

Father, show me something in John 15 tonight. What do you want to say to me right now? Speak to me. Breathe revelation into me as I meditate on your word.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes.

What does it mean to prune a branch? Why do vinedressers prune vines? What’s the benefit?

Pruning grape vines is a basic principle that any grower, regardless of experience must understand.  Whenever you leave a vine unpruned, the first year you’ll have a massive big crop. Novice growers can feel delighted with their success and wonder what all the pruning fuss is about.

There’s a flipside to this.

The vine will produce more fruit than it knows what to do with because when you actually prune a vine correctly, you remove as much as 95 to 98% of the previous season’s growth.  If you leave all of that growth from the previous year it will have buds on it, which means you’ll have a huge crop the following year.

The vine can’t produce enough energy to ripen an unregulated crop, and it’ll be poor quality. The clusters will be straggly, and you won’t have much fruit worth using.  Even if it is able to ripen, given that it has to force so hard to come through, the vine will have diverted energy that it might ordinarily use to mature the wood and to help the vine get ready for winter.

– Pruning Grape Vines

So being pruned seems to mean having the fluff removed. The excess. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Although we aren’t going to say that Jesus can’t produce enough energy to ripen an unregulated crop, we can say that the Body of Christ needs more strength and substance that occurs through pruning. At least, I think we can say that.

If a branch bears fruit, it isn’t removed. It’s pruned. God removes 95-98% of last season’s growth in order to avoid bearing straggly, withered fruit. Dying to self, perhaps? Death of the flesh? Allowing one to be humbled in order to continue bearing tasty fruit?