Recently, a businessman from our local community came to see me with a prophetic word.  It had the ring of truth so I gave him my full attention.

He explained how the Lord had showed him that the tree (my current life) had a bumper crop of tiny little apples all over it.  There were too many of the apples (fruit) and some of them needed to be thinned away in order for the tree to be healthy and for the remaining apples to grow and produce larger healthier apples.

However, in trying to accomplish this, I had been trying to prune the tree with a dull ax.

Pruning with a dull ax is not productive.  You can’t go into a situation with blunt force without creating damage and wearing yourself out in the process.

Here’s what chopping with a dull ax does:

• Damages the tree
• Sometimes the blow glances off and you injure yourself
• Tires you out
• Makes the work harder and more dangerous
• More time consuming
• Takes more effort
• Makes the healing time longer
• Saps the energy from further growth

Immediately after being cut, a tree oozes sap or resin, which dries to create a protective shield. But that’s just the beginning of the healing process.

The tree then diverts energy from its growth (the fruit it produces) to the damaged area while the wound is healing.

Obviously, then, you want to help ensure that the tree will heal as quickly as possible.

One way to do this is to make sure you create a smooth surface by a clean cut using a sharpened tool.  The clean cuts you get with sharpened tools are healthier for your tree.

Not only will the tree heal more quickly, and thus begin growing sooner, but it will be exposed to less damage from diseases, insects, fungi and weather extremes.

The tree will then produce bigger and healthier fruit!

There’s a wealth of wisdom in this prophetic analogy.

I had been wearing myself out trying to do too many things, oversee too many projects, and involving myself in too many of the details of the ministry.   There were far too many apples on my tree.

At times, I had attempted to prune away some of these things that were sapping the life from me.  But the ways I had done this were ineffectual and I found myself diverting even more energy into trying to keep going than actually moving forward!

The Lord said that the End of the Age is the Harvest Time.  I want to do my best to bring in the Harvest, don’t you?  I want to have a bumper crop of rich ripe fruit to present to Him and I want to see His smiling face and hear “Well Done!”

I am determined to sharpen the ax and prune with wisdom so that the Harvest of the Lord will be accomplished in these Last Days.

I have a dream – and I live for the Vision!  If pruning is what is needed, pruning is what I will do!

Ecclesiastes 10:10 Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.