I sat on a fallen log and looked out over a large, round, open plain. It had a circular pathway winding toward the center.
“Where am I?” I asked.
God answered, “This is a threshing floor where the wheat is beaten and then thrown up into the air and we watch the chaff blow away. Your energy and focus will go here and nowhere else. For a time.”
“What is the purpose?”
“Enlightenment. You need to be made lighter and come to the knowledge of Truth.”
“Lighter?”
“You must let me remove the things that are weighing you down and serve no purpose. Like a covering of mud that clings to you and hinders your movement. You need to let me break it off.”
Sensing this would not be easy, I asked. “What is required?”
“A humble heart and to be consecrated to the Lord. You must listen without assumptions. Be willing to give up what I say needs to go. It will be hard to look at the things I’m removing. It will feel like you are being tossed up in the air like you’ve lost control, and nothing is stable.”
Everything within me cringed.
“Ultimately, this will focus you and strengthen you so that you can impart to others what you have learned while you serve them. This is all for preparation.”
***
I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a time when everything felt like it was shifting and that you were being tossed up into the air. But that is where I’m just now coming from. It’s been good to get rid of the things that were taking up emotional space and energy in my mind. But it’s also been hard to look at what I’ve dragged around for years.
Thank God we serve an amazing God that doesn’t allow us just to stay in the status quo. He beckons us forward so that we might walk in full freedom.
Don’t fear the pruning and the threshing. Both are necessary. It’s been difficult, but I promise He is faithful to finish the work and not leave you half done. You will come out stronger and ready for the grand adventure he has for you.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:1-7, NIV)
Prayer for you and me: Lord, I know You are a good Father and that when you remove things from me, it’s for my good. Give me the strength to submit to You and receive the focus you desire to give me. Let me serve with joy. I trust You, help me trust You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.