Hey ya and welcome to “Out With The OLD, In With The NEW.” This week we will be discussing pruning season. What does it mean to prune something? By definition, the word prune means to trim, cut away, reduce or remove unwanted parts from something to increase fruitfulness and growth.
If we take a look at John 15:1-2, it talks about how God takes away every branch that does not bear fruit, and prunes those which do, so that they may bear richer, finer fruit in more abundance. In this analogy, God is the vinedresser, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. God, removes from us, all those unwanted things that are diminishing our production of fruit, so that we may increase in fruitfulness and growth, therefore, bearing fruit more abundantly. What does this mean? In order for us to grow spiritually, we must first kill our sinful desires, so that we may be able to flourish in the spirit. As humans, we are born with an innately sinful nature which cannot just simply be removed. However, our sinful desires can be diminished by starving its craving for sin. In order to do this, we must first understand where this sinful nature originates; the flesh.
The flesh, in the bible, represents the body. So, in other words, our sinful nature originates and is fueled by physical, carnal desires. Some examples of this could be sexual desire, negative emotions such as jealousy, rage, anger, and addictive behaviors such as drunkenness or drug abuse. In order for us to bear the fruits of God, we must starve our desire for sin. This in turn, allows for God to grow us spiritually, therefore leading to more abundance of fruit (fruit being the fruits of the spirit which we will cover at a later date).
What are some ways you can starve your flesh from sinful desires?
“For the sinful nature has its desire which is opposed to the Spirit, and the [desire of the] Spirit opposes the sinful nature; for these [two, the sinful nature and the Spirit] are in direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict], so that you [as believers] do not [always] do whatever [good things] you want to do.” -Galatians 5:17
“Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these, I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” -Galatians 5:19-21
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the ruler, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.” -Ephesians 6:12
“So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God].” -Colossians 3:5
“For those who are living according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh [which gratify the body], but those who are living according to the Spirit, [set their minds on] the things of the Spirit [His will and purpose]. Now the mind of the flesh is death [both now and forever–because it pursues sin]; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace [the spiritual well-being that comes from walking with God–both now and forever]; the mind of the flesh [with its sinful pursuits] is actively hostile to God. It does not submit itself to God’s law, since it cannot,” -Romans 8:5-7
“since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God.” -Romans 3:23
“For what the Law could not do [that is, overcome sin and remove its penalty, its power] being weakened by the flesh [man’s nature without the Holy Spirit], God did: He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful man as an offering for sin. And He condemned sin in the flesh [subdued it and overcame it in the person of His own Son],” -Romans 8:3
“For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness–my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not.” -Romans 7:18
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