The Only Answer Is Prayer 預覽

 Jesus Is the Vine, and We Are the Branches

He is the vine; we are the branches. Jesus tells His disciples that He will cut off every branch that does not produce fruit, and He will prune the branches that do bear fruit so that they will produce even more. The pruning process does not stop once you reach a particular level of spiritual development. It does not stop once you see a specific prayer answered. The pruning process continues throughout your life because Jesus wants you to be fruitful for your whole lifetime. At some point, you may feel pretty confident about the fruitfulness of your life, but that does not mean that you will therefore escape further pruning. In fact, He may decide to prune you even more because He knows that you have more potential.

In particular, God wants to prune your prayer life. He intends to refine you and remove the hindrances to answered prayer so that you can produce more fruit. He will not, however, start by changing your behavior. Why not? Because your life does not start with your behavior. Your life starts with your heart. Your prayer comes from your heart. 

When God deals with the motives and desires of your heart, which are unseen, things that are seen will take care of themselves. Your destiny is hidden in your heart. Therefore, God wants to circumcise your heart so that the prayers that pour out of it will be effective.

Pruning is a process of removal and refinement. Not all growth is good. For instance, a tumor is a growth, but even a benign tumor is not a good growth. In a similar way, a lot of churches are growing, and believers put high value on their Christian growth. But because not all of that growth is good growth, the Master Gardener will keep removing and refining things so everything can grow in accordance with His vision.

Welcome the pruning and refining process, no matter what form it takes. He is making you into the person He created you to become, and He wants to answer your prayers that come from a purified heart.