5 PART SERIES - SEASONS OF THE SOUL
SERIES 1 - BRANCHLESS IN THE FALL
John 15:2 - "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."
Memory Verse: John 15:8
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."
There is a subtle but stunning image hidden in the words of Jesus—an image of our inner lives, of what happens when we abide in Him… and when we don't.
For years, many of us have read this passage with trembling. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away." It can sound like a divine rejection. A believer who fails is simply discarded, cut off, thrown aside.
But what if it's not that at all?
The Greek word "airo" used here can mean to lift up, as a vinedresser would gently raise a low-hanging vine that's dragging in the dirt, clean it off, and secure it so it can flourish. In this light, the verse becomes a picture of tender care, not condemnation. It shows the Father's devotion to helping even the struggling parts of our spiritual lives bear fruit.
Yet Jesus doesn't stop there. He tells us that the fruitful branches are purged (pruned), cut back in areas so they can produce even more. Even success doesn't spare us from discomfort. Growth demands pruning.
Here's the piercing truth: Some of us are walking around spiritually branchless.
Why?
Because we've resisted the pruning. We've embraced the world. We've lost sensitivity to the vine and settled for looking connected without producing life.
We know what fall looks like—leaves dry and branches bare. But there's a deeper kind of fall: the spiritual autumn where we look alive but we've lost fruitfulness. We're still in church. Still going through motions. But no fruit. No joy. No peace. No power.
Fall is a time of shedding. Trees release what's no longer needed, but in the spiritual realm, fall can feel more like failure. We wonder: Where is the fruit? Where is the evidence of growth?
We often interpret pruning as punishment. But Jesus reveals that the Father's cutting is purposeful. He lifts and purges not to destroy, but to bring more fruit. If we have grown too close to the world, we may appear full while being branchless within. Let fall be the season where God cuts away the dead weight and revives your fruit-bearing soul.
- What areas of my life have stopped producing fruit?
- Have I become more connected to the world than to Christ?
PRAYER
Father, remove what is fruitless in me. Help me not to fear the fall, but to embrace your pruning as a path to deeper
Let me never settle for a branchless faith—one that is connected in name but empty in nature. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.