Mark 4:18‭-‬19 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

The DISEASED, DAMAGED, DEAD and DERANGED parts of a tree need to be PRUNED in order for the tree to be fruitful. In our lives, what are some of the things that affect our fruitfulness which need to be pruned?

The Bible says,

the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things

If you will be very honest with yourself, you will agree that most often, you are not able to bear the fruits of righteousness because of the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life. But how do these make one unfruitful?

They CHOKE the Word. These things might take so much of your time, your attention, your energy and your resources; such that there remains little or none of it for spiritual growth and fruitfulness. The sincere heart will agree that this is truth. You could use all your time to chase money such that you have none for your spiritual advancement. All the resources you will spend going after the pleasures of this life can in other ways contribute to your fruitfulness in God. These are CHOKES my brother; you cannot have them around and have free flow of the life of God.

And you will find that, IF GOD WANTS TO REALLY HELP YOU, HE WILL START CHOPPING OFF SOME OF THESE COMFORTABLE PLEASURES YOU HAVE. Yeah! That’s His pruning, and it is for your good. Hallelujah!

               GRACEFUL MORNING