08/22/2026
Sometimes we pray for spiritual growth while holding tightly to the very things keeping us from growing.
We ask God to draw us closer, but neglect time in His Word.
We ask for stronger faith, but resist the places where He is asking us to trust Him.
We pray for peace, but continue feeding our minds with things that steal it.
We ask to become more like Christ, but hesitate when obedience requires us to change.
Spiritual growth doesn’t happen simply because we have been Christians for a long time. Growth comes when we allow God to change us.
Sometimes He has to uproot old thinking.
Break familiar patterns.
Correct our attitudes.
Prune what is no longer producing godly fruit.
Teach us discipline.
And lead us into deeper obedience.
Jesus said, “Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:2
Pruning isn’t always comfortable, but it has a purpose.
Maybe the prayer in this season isn’t only, “Lord, change what is happening around me.”
Maybe it is also:
“Lord, change what needs to change in me. Show me what I need to surrender, what I need to stop feeding, and what I need to begin planting so that my life produces fruit that looks more like You.”
Because spiritual maturity is not about knowing more about God while remaining the same.
It is allowing what we know about Him to transform how we think, speak, choose, love, forgive, respond, and live.
Maybe the new harvest begins when we finally allow God to plant something new in us.