Thursday, September 19, 2013

Pruning




Pruning
Thinking about John 15:2
"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."


There are times when what we are doing is taken away from us. As this verse points out, there would be 2 reasons for this happening. One; the activity is not bearing fruit. It is not productive. So it is stopped. Then on the other hand Two: it is taken away so that more fruit can be produced.


Either way the reason for the stoppage is for more fruit to be produced. When I experience a hindrance to ministry for the Lord I am looking at producing more fruit in the future. Sometimes it is not God that has stopped the ministry. Sometimes it is Satan.


1 Thessalonians 2:18
"For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us."


What is our response to be in this stoppage?


It is my thinking that we should be praying. If we are ministering, we pray to prepare for the ministry. And if there is a stoppage of ministry we should be praying for the ministry that we are not able to do. Pray for the people that are not being ministered to, that they will receive from the Lord.



So we are praying and ministering, or we are praying and preparing to minister in the future, by further prayer.