John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit.”
This past Wednesday, we had our last prayer meeting and intercession for 2021. It’s amazing to see how the prayer ministry has grown at Life-Spring, even during the pandemic. We often divide into smaller breakout rooms during intercession, and last week I was glad to find myself in a room with Andrew, Laura, and Uncle Eric. Together, we form a nice slice of the pastoral team for TLCF and MLCF, so it was nice to spend some time hearing what God was putting on our hearts for the Life-Spring family.
Rodney led intercession that day, and one thing he gave us to pray about were ways that we’ve limited God or put God in a box in our lives. What are ways we’ve limited what we believe God can do? As I did some listening prayer about this question for myself, for the others in my breakout room, and for the church as a whole, a simple word came to mind. My sense is that this word is for the Life-Spring family in 2022.
What I heard is that God would be stretching us individually and as a church in ways that we didn’t think we could be stretched. For example, there are always areas in our lives that we find very difficult to change. It may be habits or ways of thinking that we thought were too entrenched, or character traits we’ve accepted as “just a part of us.” Maybe in our work we’ve become convinced that some things will never shift. Perhaps we think that our abilities and skills have taken us as far as we can possibly go–whatever the next step may be, we feel as though we can’t take it.
I believe in 2022, God is going to surprise us about some of those limitations we’ve put on God and put on ourselves. In John 15, Jesus speaks about being the true vine and the only source of real fruit. He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything” (v.5). I think 2022 is going to be a year of fruitfulness for the Life-Spring family. But in order to be fruitful, we also need to be “trimmed.” In John 15:1-2 Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit.” Notice something about what God is doing here–all the branches get trimmed. Those branches that don’t produce fruit are trimmed, and those branches that are producing fruit get trimmed so they can produce more fruit!
I think we can expect God to challenge and stretch us in some unexpected ways in 2022. Expect that God is going to continue to sharpen and “trim” us in our individual lives and as a church. But out of this trimming will also come new and sometimes unexpected fruit. My prayer for the Life-Spring family is that during the new year, we would continue to remain and abide in Jesus, the true vine, through all the trimming and fruitfulness that will come.