Prophetic Word for November 2023 – Pruning Shears

This is the prophetic word for November 2023 and it is titled Pruning Shears.

Who is this word for?  Those who are in a season of building or you are about to start building something – a new church, a new ministry, business, a new relationship, a new baby.

First, God has been speaking to me for the last 2 weeks about Nehemiah.  I have written about this already and you can read that prophetic word here.  It has to do with building.  This is the season we are in right now.

As I was reflecting on building, the Lord began to show me that part of the building process is remaining teachable, continuing to be pliable in His hands (Jeremiah 18), and submitting ourselves to pruning. If we neglect or try to run away from the pruning process it affects our fruitfulness.   Especially if you are anticipating a season of growth, increase, abundance and prosperity from what you are building.

This is a season of many doors, and your gifts and anointing will open doors for you but there are other things that keep the doors open and help you to maintain your position in that new place.

Pruning, is not fun!. Just imagine being a rose bush, it must be a very uncomfortable to go through that.  Painful.  During the pruning phase, you can damage other people with your thorns.  You can poke someone’s eye out and they have to use protective gear (the Armor of God) to manage you!

John 15:2 (Voice)

² My Father examines every branch in Me and cuts away those who do not bear fruit. He leaves those bearing fruit and carefully prunes them so that they will bear more fruit;

I love how it says He carefully prunes them.  He doesn’t want to damage you, He only wants to remove what is not fruitful and the things that He knows won’t be productive

Carefully.  It’s going to come in the form of a gentle nudging.  You will know exactly what it is because we all have patterns and I am sure if you look back at every door that was closed in your life that started out as a good thing and then took a turn and the door was then closed, there is a pattern there of behaviors, actions, words, thoughts and a mindset that not only closed the door but caused it to remain closed.

Here comes the pruning shears.

He’ll start bringing things about to expose your thorns, or the dead things that need to go, the correct response should be “Geez, This is bad, I need to change this.  Lord, help me to change this”.  Instead what we do sometimes is we fall into the same ole habits, actions and speech (what you’re saying).  And instead of blooming, it’s a flop.  You kinda have some growth but it’s not what you expected.  That’s because you didn’t submit to the pruning.  You fell into the same ole pattern that you always do….and then you made an excuse for it.

It is a self sabotaging spirit.

Well, that’s just the way I am.

Well, it’s the truth.

I’ve been this way my whole life.

Well, it hasn’t stopped me so far.

It’s my culture.

Everybody has something, and this is mine.

You need to just accept me like this.

Many times the things we blame on the devil, he has absolutely nothing to do with it.  We go into heavy spiritual warfare prayers against the devil’s arrows not realizing that it’s actually God with the pruning shears!

Your flesh.  Your soulish issues.  And if you don’t get into the Word of God, read it, and allow it to change you, then you are going to go only so far and no further.  Yes, as a new Christian you can get away with some things but after awhile, it will cause you to stagnate!  No movement!!!  That is the point when you know God is not playing with you about this anymore.  It’s not cute.  You’ve been saved for too long and know too much of the Word of God to still be doing that.

There is only ONE way to fix your soulish issues.  God’s word.  Read your bible and so what it says.  That’s it!  Your soul will be FIXED.

Hebrews 12:6

For the Lord disciplines those He loves,
    and He corrects each one He takes as His own.

Most of the things that you want are at another level. But what happens when your speech doesn’t fit that place, your mindset doesn’t fit, your actions don’t fit into that place…and you can literally ruin a good thing.  You end up sabotaging yourself.

Have you ever been so sure something was going to happen – a new business opportunity, a relationship, ministry or church opportunity and as fast as the door opened, you watch as it closed?

Galatians 5:19-21 (Voice)

¹⁹ It’s clear that our flesh entices us into practicing some of its most heinous acts: participating in corrupt sexual relationships, impurity, unbridled lust, ²⁰ idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, arguing, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contentiousness, division, ²¹ envy of others’ good fortune, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other shameful vices that plague humankind. I told you this clearly before, and I only tell you again so there is no room for confusion:those who give in to these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.

If you enter that new level with all or some of the qualities that you just read, when you move to the next level the people who are in that place look like this …

Galatians 5:22-25

²² The Holy Spirit produces a different kind of fruit: unconditionallove, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. You won’t find any law opposed to fruit like this. ²⁴ Those of us who belong to the Anointed One have crucified our old lives and put to death the flesh and all the lusts and desires that plague us.

²⁵ Now since we have chosen to walk with the Spirit, let’s keep each step in perfect sync with God’s Spirit.

What do you think is going to happen?  You. Will. Stick. Out. Like. A. Sore. Thumb.  They don’t want to deal with your stuff.  You are not ready for that place.  They saw your giftings and anointing, your talent, your skills but then they will also start noticing the other things and sometimes people will extend grace.  But, that only goes so far.  They end up closing the door on you.  You won’t have longevity.  The difference between the men and women of God who lasted for a long time is that they have Christian character.  They exhibit the FRUIT of the Spirit.  If they don’t, even if they get a little bit of success, you hear about them falling away.  Some kind of scandal is coming.  The Fruit of the Spirit is evident in those who go for the long haul.  They will stick to the end.  Finish the race well.  They are not a one hit wonder.  Some of them you can see that they need pruning, but once they start submitting to it, you start to see the transformation.  Some people have a public transformation.  If they resist the pruning, God removes them.

Submit yourself to pruning shears.

Galatians 5:22-25 is the word of God that means that this is where God wants ALL of us to be.  This is not for some while others are exempt.  God loves you but He’s not going to put up with the excuses about your culture or how you were raised or what your ex husband or your ex wife did to you.  HE gets the glory…because you changed in spite of how you were raised.  In spite of the horrible things that happened to you. You walk in the fruit of the Spirit and You won’t find any law opposed to fruit like this.  All the doors will open for you.

The minute you read something in the Bible and you see that you are not what it says you should be, you need to stop reading and start praying, talk to God.

Lord, please help me to not be manipulative and controlling.  Lord, help me to be kinder with my words.  Lord, help me to see all of humanity the same way and not exalt some more than others.  Lord, please heal my wounds from my childhood, show me how to get past this. Lead me to the scriptures that will heal me.  Lord, help me to forgive.  Lord, help me to trust women again.  Lord, I’m about to send this text message help me to phrase this in such a way that it is not said through my own pain.  Lord, help me to check my motives.  Lord, help me to speak a blessing over this person’s marriage even though mine didn’t work out.  Don’t let me say anything that would curse their future because of my own past.

Stop.  Think. Pray. Then respond.

The more successful you become at submitting to the Lord, and allowing Him to prune you, the more you will bloom in this next season.

There are going to be so many open doors, and next year when we communicate with each other what I don’t want to hear is this “well, this door opened but then this bad thing happened and it closed”. What I’m going to ask you is what were you saying during that time and what were you doing?  What actions did you take?  Because that’s usually how it closes…and stays closed.  Sometimes a door will close and it is a temporary thing what causes a permanent closure is how you responded/reacted to that thing.

What I would to hear you say is that the door opened, and it revealed many more doors and not only did you experience growth… but you bloomed, you were able to maintain it and you’re prospering in it.

My prayer for you is that God will grant you wide open doors with much fruit.

Watch the video below in the Spirit.  It is jam packed with messages. It made me cry watching it because I thought about this rose bush being a person and what God has to do to get us to place of fruitfulness.  The process can be painful but in the end what comes, in a short time (4 months), is something beautiful.  He makes all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

What spoke to you in what you just watched? Put it in the comments, include any scriptures that came to mind.

I can’t help but think how different our lives would look in 4 months if we made just one change today.

Blessings