Prune the Noise to Live From His Voice

The Lord is beckoning a people across the generations into a fresh consecration of living from His voice. Not what the news says. Not the latest opinion. Not a reaction to culture. Not rules. Not fear. In the midst of much noise, God is quickening sons and daughters who will live from and release HIS PURE VOICE.

This is a season to prune what’s coming into your eyes and ears. What you’re beholding, what you’re listening to: The Lord says, “It’s vitally important.”

This is a season for many where certain things you used to watch, read or listen to won’t feel okay anymore. Don’t ignore the little nudges. God is speaking to you. It may be that the little nudges are sounding off to expose the little foxes trying to spoil your vine. (Song of Solomon 2:15)

But friend, this is good news!! The Lord says, “The PRUNING I’m bringing to your life is to protect the FEAST I’ve prepared for you.”

To prune means “to cut off or cut back parts of for better shape or more fruitful growth.”

Jesus talked about the importance of pruning in John 15. I encourage you to read it and spend time there. When it comes to plants, without pruning, fruitfulness decreases as energy goes to excess foliage in the plant. When a plant is carefully pruned however, it frees up life and energy for new growth that will bring forth the fruit the DNA of that plant is designed to bear. Without pruning, the DNA of that plant is untapped potential. From a distance, the plant may appear healthy but when the season of harvest comes, there will be little to no fruit to harvest.

The pruning God is doing in us isn’t just a matter of compromise. The pruning God does in our lives tends to where our energy goes so that life can come forth through the seasons, rather than an appearance of growth that has no seed-bearing, generational impact.

EYES TO SEE

I hear the children’s song,

“Be careful little eyes what you see

Be careful little ears what you hear

For the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see.”

Except the Father is not just up above LOOKING DOWN in love. We are one Spirit with the One who is carefully pruning us.

1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

And in Christ, righteousness and holiness are our true nature. (Ephesians 4:23-24) Anytime the Lord calls us higher or into greater consecration, it’s to bring us into greater alignment with who we ALREADY ARE in Him. Friend, it is a fact the Lord only prunes those He loves. (Hebrews 12:5-13) Growth isn’t always fun but when we start to grasp the heart of the Father toward us as His beloved children, hearing and responding to His voice in our life becomes the greatest joy. He really is a good, good Father!

The Lord is jealous for our eyes, because as the eyes go, so goes the body and the course of our life. See what Matthew 6:22-23 says about our eyes.

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

But darkness isn’t our portion. Jesus is. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

We become like what/who we behold. If the Lord is pruning what’s coming through our eyes, it’s an invitation to awe and wonder, transformation and the glory of the Lord! The pruning is a set up for INCREASE.

EARS TO HEAR

The ears are just as important.

Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” The Greek word for word here is rhema, very different from the Greek word logos which relates to the written word of God. Rhema is that which comes out of His mouth.

Jesus talked about this in the wilderness when he resisted the temptation to satisfy his appetite by turning stones into bread: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

God wants what’s coming out of His mouth to be our essential bread. But like kids eating snacks right before dinner, we are capable of spoiling our appetite. Sometimes what’s coming through our ears becomes noise that keeps us from distinguishing the voice of God in all the chatter and static. I’m not saying you need to ask the Lord about everything you’re listening to. That’s personal between you and Him. But God may be bringing wisdom into your life that helps you to be more selective about what or who gets a voice in your life.

And Jesus completely understands our challenge with this. When He walked this earth, He had constant opportunities to follow or live in reaction to the voices and culture of his day. Instead, He took his cue from the Father.

In John 5:19-30, Jesus talks about this beautiful relationship He has with the Father. I encourage you to read the whole passage but I’ll highlight just a couple verses here that have to do with SEEING and HEARING the Father.

SEEING - John 5:19-20

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he SEES his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and SHOWS him all he does. Yes, and he will SHOW him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

HEARING - John 5:30

By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I HEAR, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

If Jesus needed to pull away and arrange His life to discern what the Father was doing and saying, I think it’s safe to say we do too.

God wants His clear, pure voice in the earth. Not for a theoretical “elite” or “special” ministers, but a host of sons and daughters whose joy it is to reveal the glory of the Father. But we can only release His Voice with clarity and power if we make His voice our bread.

THE FEAST CALLED CONSECRATION

Jesus is saying, “Will you feast on ME?” This is our call.

This is the same message that offended the 70 who left Jesus. Let’s read His words spoken in a synagogue in Capernaum in John 6:53-58:

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

They said, “This is hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (verse 60)

Here’s my paraphrase: “We liked the message and the bread you multiplied the other day but this is too much.”

We see in Jesus’ words a beckoning to receive the whole Christ, WHO HE IS in FULLNESS. The Lord is issuing a call to consecration unlike anything many have experienced.

To consecrate is to dedicate to a sacred purpose.

This consecration isn’t a legalistic list of dos and don’ts. It’s not a supper at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It’s a life that says, “God, I receive ALL of you and I surrender ALL of me. You have unconditional access to every aspect of my life. I want to live in step with what you’re doing and saying and I’m willing to re-arrange my life to protect our union and what flows from that place.”

Far be it from us to reduce the mystery of the ages into only what we can understand or what we can curate. Anytime God asks us to surrender our appetites, it’s because we’re invited to feast upon the One we’re called to reveal. Sometimes our appetites are areas of compromise. Sometimes it’s the familiar comforts of how we do life, what entertains us or a template of “this is just how I live” that squelches the holy hunger, clarity and dependency that postures our lives for fruit-bearing and to re-present Him well.

Lastly I heard, “Don’t settle for scraps when I’ve called you to FEAST!” This is our joy. He’s worth it all.

If this word encouraged you, I invite you to share it liberally. Below you’ll find some scripture references to read and meditate on along with prayer prompts to serve in your own prayer time as you discern the good things God is doing in and through you in this season. Blessings to you and your family!

references

Ephesians 4:23-24 says we are “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Hebrews 12:14 - “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

John 5:16-30

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

Prayer prompts

God, what are you pruning in my life?

God, how can I posture myself practically to prioritize your voice in this season?

Are there any lies I’ve believed?