pruning

Yesterday, I couldn't get this little song out of my head that says, "Remain in me. No greater love has no one than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends. And you are my friends if you do what I command. Remain in me. And I will remain in you." (seeds family worship) I felt from the deepest part of me that this was where I was. Needing to remain in Jesus. It's been a hard season.

Then this morning the message was in the same theme. How do you know you're in a season of pruning? Loss. (financial, friendship, life, ministry, work..)
The weariness sets in. Fear and despair begin to take control. Being around people who have it all together not only makes you feel worse because you are far from together, but makes you want to give up.  In the vulnerable place of your pain its tempting to retreat into a seemingly safe place. A "safe" place where you can have control when everything else is spinning out of control.  You're tempted to draw back. Don't draw back. Its not an option! Be patient. The pruning season demands focus not retreat. What about our brothers and sisters in the faith? Were they spared troubles of various kinds? The disciples? Weren't they beaten, stripped of their property, abandoned, rejected, imprisoned, mistreated? Was Jesus spared suffering? Satan wants to confuse you into losing vision and wrongly interpreting the season you've just walked in. Introspection. He will lie to your already vulnerable state. Lies like, "You wasted your time. You have no vision. You failed. What have you got to show? Nothing. Look what you've done...you didn't hear God. Its your fault." And then anxiety, depression and fear take over. But guess what??? You're in the pruning season because you bore fruit! You have been useful, but God wants to draw you deeper, and satan wants to make you quit so you can be useless. When you feel Him the least is when to declare and trust in Him the most. Even Jesus learned obedience through the suffering of His soul. The testing of our faith proves its genuineness. If I study about the humility of Jesus or any other subject matter, I will probably be tested in the following season of fleshing out what I know. The Lord loves testing us, working things in us...and to see us become the message. I don't want to just write about things I learn but I want to embody those things in walking it out. Displaying it rather than discussing it. God is calling us to remain in Him and to come out of a season of shaking clinging to Him. In the midst of trials let it be burned onto our souls that He is our portion, and our true source. And God disciplines those He loves. Were true children if He allows us to draw closer and go deeper with Him. Study the life of His friends throughout the ages. Suffering through trials, imprisonments...its a telltale sign that were His. The testimony that comes forth from their lives is to His glory. We'll thank Him in the age to come.