Toure Roberts - Pruned to Prosper (01/15/2026)
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In this message on John 15:1-5 and Psalm 119:71, the theme «Pruned to Prosper» reveals that fruitful believers undergo divine pruning—not punishment, but preparation for greater fruitfulness. Jesus, the true vine, sustains branches (believers) connected to Him, the source of power and identity. The Father, the vinedresser, removes unfruitful branches and prunes fruitful ones to increase yield. Pruning feels like loss—cutbacks in success, relationships, health, or activity—but redirects life to the core: loving God and serving His people. Living from branches (fruit/outward success) drains power; abiding in the vine (core identity in Christ) produces sustainable multiplication. Perspective shifts are key: from sight (initial pain/confusion) to insight (trusting God’s foresight) to hindsight («It was good that I was afflicted» to learn/teach His ways). Embrace pruning as evidence of fruitfulness; return to grateful core-living for breakthrough and prosperity.
Opening Praise and Scripture Reading
It’s so good to be with you. Wasn’t worship amazing? Can we just take a moment to celebrate our incredible worship teams? My God, my God, my God!
I want to draw your attention to John chapter 15, and we’re going to look at the first five verses in John 15, and then we are going to go over to the longest chapter in the Bible. What is that? Come on, somebody! Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and we’re going to read Psalm 119, verse 71. So, John 15:1 through 5, hallelujah, and then Psalm 119:71, hallelujah. It says, and this is Jesus speaking, «I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it might bear more fruit.» We’ll get back to that. He goes on to say, «You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.» He says, «I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.» For without Me, you can do nothing. And we’ll jump over to Psalm 119, verse 71: «It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.»
Prayer
Let’s pray:
Father, we thank You so much for Your word. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Your word edifies us, strengthens us, and builds us up. Your word is nourishment. You sent Your word and healed us; there’s healing in Your word even right now. And so, God, I thank You that as we look to You and this message, You would pour upon me the spirit of wisdom, revelation, insight, knowledge, prophecy, and every divine resource that has been committed to this moment because You care about Your people. You want to bless them; You want to feed them. You know the plans you have for them, plans to prosper them and not to harm them, to give them a future and a hope. And so, God, since Your word is designed to prosper us, prosper Your people today in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Series Introduction: Year of Perspective — «Pruned to Prosper»
Please be seated. We’re going to get right into this. If you were here on New Year’s Eve or you availed yourself to the New Year’s Eve message, I declared that 2019 would be the year of perspective. Come on, somebody! A perspective in how you see things, your point of view, and how based on your perspective, you navigate. And so, what I want to bring to you for the next several weeks is a series under the banner of perspective. We’re going to be talking about it because I believe that your perspective this year is going to make you or break you. I believe that for some of you, there have been things that God has been speaking to you for a long time, but it has not translated in such a way that it has become your perspective. God has been talking to you; His word to you is His perspective. But sometimes it takes time for God’s perspective to become your perspective. Are you tracking with me? I want to touch on that today and I’m going to deal with that today. But the theme of today under the banner of the perspective series is «Pruned to Prosper.» Pruned to prosper. Pruned to prosper.
And so, I think this year what God’s going to do is for some of you, all of the things that God has been speaking to you, not just in 2018 but for years, for some of you, you are going to be empowered because you’re going to master your ability to walk in the perspective that God has been aiming to convince you of for a long time. I’m saying again, God’s been talking to you, and for some of you, it clicked this year: «I am who God says I am; I’m going to do what God says that I can do.» All the things—all the promises and all of the benefits that God has been speaking over your life—you’re going to begin to embrace them as truth. Because as a man thinks, so is he. It does not say the truth shall set you free. The Bible says you shall know the truth, and then the truth can set you free. In other words, a lack of perspective can keep you from freedom. It is not that God has not done it; it is not that God has not delivered you; it is not that God has not gone ahead of you and made crooked paths straight. It has absolutely nothing to do with that. The issue sometimes is—"Shall you not know it?» I just quoted Isaiah: «Behold, I do a new thing, » right? There is a declaration. He says, in Isaiah 49:18, I believe, «Behold, I do a new thing, » which is perspective, but then he warns us with the question, «Shall you not know it? Shall you not perceive it?» And oftentimes, perspective is the byproduct of hindsight.
Three Levels of Perspective: Sight, Foresight, Hindsight, and Insight
Can I take my time and teach today? Sometimes, seeing in the text, these two passages of Scripture represent three levels of perspective. The first level of perspective is man’s initial perspective about a challenge. We’ll get to that: man’s final perspective about the same challenge. In other words, how you see now may be different from how you see later. Are you staying with me? I want to get you today: man’s initial perspective about a challenge, man’s final perspective about the same challenge, and God’s steadfast perspective about the challenge the whole time. So oftentimes what happens is, perspective is acquired by the revelation that comes from hindsight. Just turn to a verse: «Hindsight.» You’ve heard it said that hindsight is 20/20; 20/20 is about perspective. So sometimes, perspective shows up when you are late to the party that God started.
There are three types of sight, and maybe I’ll give you a bonus one. The first type of sight is sight. It’s the sight that Paul talks about when he says we walk by faith and not by sight. The first type of sight is man’s perspective. You’ve got to understand this: I’m trying to teach you to understand your eyes—the three types of sight. The first type of sight is simply sight. It’s man’s perspective; it’s based on what he sees, what he thinks, his or her experiences, and that creates sight. That is the lowest level of perspective. The second type of perspective is foresight. Foresight is God’s perspective. God knows the end from the beginning, so He can speak something to you when there is nothing around you that represents its existence.
Can I talk to you about perspective? Foresight. God has foresight. «Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you.» He has foresight. That’s why we trust what He says. We don’t trust what we see. We don’t walk by sight; we walk by faith. In fact, I’m a little afraid of relying on sight. Oh God! Because nowadays, you don’t even really know what you’re looking at. Can we keep it 100? We’ve got filters that will do just about anything. You can become a completely different individual by a filter. I can’t trust sight. For sight is a filter by the Holy Spirit, and I hope you’re listening.
Foresight is what God gives you. Every time God speaks to you, He’s speaking to you from a place of foresight. And what happens is, we try to regulate or predicate, rather, the validity of what God said by sight. So we weigh foresight by sight. And you can’t weigh foresight by sight because foresight is greater than sight. Foresight is factoring in things that you weren’t around when God started them. Are you tracking with me? So we have three types of sight and a bonus. The first type of sight is man’s perspective; foresight is God’s perspective; and then hindsight—hindsight is man’s perspective catching up to God. That’s why hindsight is 20/20. You’re like, «Oh, now I get it.» Well, now you’re getting what God already knew. Are you tracking with me? So it is dangerous to live by sight because that is the lowest level of perspective, and the people that live by sight will never fully walk out what God has for them. Because what God wants to do is, He wants to use you to manifest what He foreknew. Oh, you don’t get it today!
So here’s the bonus: the bonus one is insight. Insight is when you are crazy enough to believe that even though you don’t see it, you trust God’s foresight. You allow it to be insight; it becomes inspiration and it moves you toward what God has for you. Do I have anybody with some insight in here? Come on, somebody! You don’t see it yet, but there’s something on the inside of you that is letting you know it exists. You’re taking God’s foresight and making it your insight. I feel God! I feel God! So you’re going to have to live this year in the season, in this dimension, with insight. God, what You have spoken to me has now become my insight that I keep inside of me, and no matter what, I will not be shaken from my inside. I will not let sight keep me from divine insight.
You’ve got to make up your mind right now. I feel the Holy Ghost! You’ve got to make up your mind in this room right now that the things that God has spoken to you are now your inside. I don’t care what it looks like; I don’t care what’s lacking; I don’t care how difficult that thing is. God, if You said it to me, it is my insight, it is my inspiration, it is my anointing, and I’m going to stand flat-footed until I see my inside on the outside. Are you tracking with me? Your inside will become your outside if you maintain perspective.
Personal Testimony: Pruned While Fruitful
Do me a favor: if you are a son or a daughter of insight, take ten seconds and give God praise and declare to the enemy, declare to the devil, «I’m a son! I’m a daughter of insight! You can’t shake me with sight anymore! I’ve got insight!» Come on! High-five somebody in Los Angeles and say, «I’ve got insight! Come on, I’ve got insight! I’ve got insight! I’ve got insight!» Yeah, yeah, yeah! That’s one of the advantages of being a believer; I’m not stuck with sight; I’ve got insight! CICA! CICA denied! But there’s nothing around. Shut up! I see something! I see something! And it’s motivating me! I see something! And it’s moving me! I can’t shake it loose! I see something! I’ve got joy when I should be sad! I see something!
Where are my people? See something! I see something! I can’t shake this thing; it just doesn’t make sense. I’m not qualified, but I see something! Paul said that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened. The eyes of your understanding! He didn’t say these eyes. You’ve got to learn how to switch when doubt comes in. That means that you went back to sight. When doubt comes in, you’ve got to realize, «Oh! I switched!» When fear comes in, «Oh! I switched!» And you’ve got to go get in the presence of God, and you’ve got to go and get your journal. You’ve got to go listen to the CD; you’ve got to go listen to the audio; you’ve got to go back to the podcast; you’ve got to go back to YouTube because I’ve got to get my inside back.
2019 is going to be a year of perspective, hallelujah! And then when you get your insight back, you’ve got to fight every devil that stands against it. You’ve got to fight for it! Lock hold to it! Some of you, your disciplines are going to have to change because your former rhythm did not support insight. I feel the Holy Ghost! Your former rhythm cannot sustain insight. So you’ve got to reorder your life; you’ve got to reorganize your life so that everything around you is speaking to insight and not sight. There are some things I can’t watch anymore because I noticed that when I watch this, my anxiety comes back.
Can I talk to some real people in here? I noticed that when I don’t listen to enough music that sparks my faith, I start drifting, and I start hanging out with sight people. I feel the Holy Ghost! You’ve got to find your tribe! I’m talking about people that can see in the invisible realm! People that God has given foresight and insight! You’ve got to put people around you that speak to your baby. Every time you get around them, your baby starts leaping! So, you’ve got to reorder your universe to stimulate insight. I feel the Holy Spirit. Just a year of perspective and you’re going to have to fight for it!
Insight’s not cheap; sight is cheap! Everybody can do sight! You can do sight because there are things I’ve got to move on, but there are things in the invisible realm that God knows are there: robbers, things like healings, things like miracles, things like provision, things like financial breakthroughs, things like open doors, things like new relationships, things like restored relationships, things like children getting saved, things like parents getting saved, businesses calling their names in the unseen, and you need insight to see right!
And sometimes insight comes to you as a result of hindsight. And that’s what I want to talk about a little bit. At the end of last year, if I might continue to be transparent, at the end of last year, I came to understand the concept of «pruned to prosper» unlike at any other time in my life. I was afflicted. Can I keep it 100 with you? I was afflicted and I didn’t understand why. I was prospering. Things about things were going well. I was serving God; I was fruitful; I had insight; I had vision. And then all of a sudden, I was thrust into a season of pain. Oh God, confusing! I’m fruitful; I’m walking in integrity; I’m serving the houses of God; I’m sowing generously well beyond my tithes. I gave a car away last year—a nice car! I did things that I’d never done before. I was in alignment, and then all of a sudden, I’m not just talking about the arm. The arm was the final straw. All these things started going haywire and it affected me in all kinds of ways. I’m like, «God, what is this? Lord, if I have sinned before You, will You please show me so I can get that stuff out of me?» But there was no revelation of sin.
What is this? You have to be careful when you judge people because sometimes we get that Job spirit on us. «Well, the reason why this is happening is because…» Let me tell you! The reason? You wouldn’t be going through this if there wasn’t some little tricky thing in your life somewhere! Watch out for Job’s friends because they don’t know what they’re talking about. Job didn’t even have sin! God was getting ready to take him to a level that was beyond where he was that he could not get to without the fire.
So I’m perplexed! I don’t get it; I don’t understand; I’m looking for sin! I cannot find it! And I’m thrust into this season of pain. What I learned in hindsight is that what was happening to me is I was being pruned to prosper. Pruning was tricky. Let’s go back to the text real quick; I want to show you something that’s a little tricky in the text. Jesus says, «I am the true vine» (John 15). «I am the true vine; my Father is the vine dresser.» Now watch this: «Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.» He takes away! He takes away! That makes sense. If you’re in Me and you’re not bearing fruit, you should be taken away. I get that, okay?
But if you keep reading, it’s a little tricky because He says, «And every branch that bears fruit He prunes.» Wait! Wait! When I do what I’m not supposed to do, I lose! I lose something! Something is taken away! So what that must mean is that when I do what I’m supposed to do—bear fruit—then I should be increased! It should be the opposite! I get it! If I don’t bear fruit, take me—I got that—but when I bear fruit, I go through a process that also has an element of removal! And if I’m not careful, the enemy to my soul will accuse me and make me think this is happening to me because there’s something wrong with me. But maybe just maybe, for once in your life, there’s nothing wrong with you! Finally, there’s something right with you, and this is the reason for the season figured out through hindsight.
The Vine, Branches, and Core Identity
Oh God, help me! Oh God, help me! Hindsight is amazing! God is getting ready to bring some of you to hindsight. He’s getting ready to bring some of you to hindsight. Guess what that means? That means you’re about to get through it! I declare right now in the name of Jesus, from Colorado to California, your season of pruning is getting ready to dry up! God is getting ready to make sense of everything you have to go through. I feel it; you’re getting ready to come out of that yoke season!
If you believe that, if that is a word for you, do me a favor, stand up and praise God! Just receive that new perspective! He’s getting ready to dry up the Red Sea on your behalf! You’re getting ready to walk over that thing, and you’re going to look back in hindsight and say, «God was with me the whole time!» If that’s you, do me a favor! Give Him something like this! You’re coming to—you’re getting ready to come into hindsight. I feel it. Do me a favor: high-five somebody and say, «I’m getting ready to come into hindsight!» I’m getting ready to come into hindsight!
My insight is getting ready to produce by hindsight, and in hindsight, I’m going to say like David, «It was good that I was afflicted!» Can we talk about it a little further? Let’s talk about it a little more. Jesus is teaching us here in John 15. He’s teaching us right here in the parable these three layers, if you would, of identity that help to give us perspective. I’m going to try to say this the way I see it. He says the Father is the vine dresser. That is the overseer; that is the one who tends to the vineyard. Jesus says, «I’m the vine.» The vine represents the truth. He says, «In fact, I’m the true vine.» The vine is the power; the vine is the source! As the source, He is the source. And then He says, «You”—that’s us—“we are the branches.»
We are extensions of the truth; we’re extensions of the power; we’re extensions of the source. Now, to translate this into your everyday life, I wanted to try to make it really relatable to you and your walking life, those three breakdowns would be like this: of course, the Father is the overseer; He’s the one who knows you, foreknows you, has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. He puts you in the vineyard! Oh hallelujah! Isn’t it good to know that God placed you right where you are? That you are right where God wants you to be? Oh hallelujah! So He’s the overseer.
Jesus here is our purest identity; I’m going somewhere! Jesus represents our heart; the divine power, Jesus here represents our core. Now, as it relates to us—the branches—we have branches. Our branches are the extensions of our lives from our core. I’m going to break it down. This can be our success, our relationships, our possessions, our money, our persona, our image.
Returning to the Core
Okay, let me talk to you. Here’s what I learned. So, God sat me down for six weeks. I have never, ever, in my life even thought about the possibility of stopping for six weeks. That was just prior to—six weeks ago, seven weeks ago—that was a sinful thought to stop! So God literally, like He did Jacob, reached in, touched my inner thigh, and forced me to stop! I could not fly, I could not get up! It was fine! I came home from surgery. So I had surgery on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I came home from surgery, and I was still kind of hyped up on the anesthesia or whatever. You know, I should have, you know, got out of the car, gone in the house, and went up to the room and went to sleep! But I’m up there greeting everybody—"How y’all doing? Everybody doing good? Praise the Lord, huh? You feel alright?» And my wife is mad at me because I’m walking around. I’m walking around the house; I should be in bed! They just cut my arm open; I just got butchered! And I’m walking around trying to do stuff or whatever until that anesthesia wore off! I said, «Oh Lord!» And the pain hit! And it was just—it was horrible! My arm swelled up and my energy was diminished, my strength was diminished!
And all that I could do was carry myself and get into bed! And then I would try to do some stuff; I would try to do some things, and I couldn’t do it. God had shut me down! I didn’t understand why until I understood that I had to accept the pruning even though I didn’t know what it was! I had to trust that I belonged to God! I had to trust that I was His! I had to trust that my life was not my own! I had to trust that I was the clay and He is the Potter and I had to trust Him with this process!
So I swallowed my pride, and I laid my tail down! I delegated responsibilities to my staff and employees and various people and that was it! «Don’t call me! I’m not interested! I’m going to sit here, and I’m going to deal with this, and I’m going to figure out whatever it is that God is trying to show me!» And I shut down. It was the most uncomfortable thing until about into it, a week into it, something happened! And what happened was God revealed to me that I was not living from my core! Okay? You got to get this! I wasn’t living from my core because when I had to stop—in fact, not when I stopped, when everything was stripped from me, I couldn’t work; I couldn’t do business; I couldn’t travel; I couldn’t preach; I couldn’t do all these things that fill my life up. I was reduced down to me! See, see, there are some people under the sound of my voice right now, and you don’t even know you! You haven’t been with you in a long time! And when I say «you, » I’m not talking about the ideal you! I’m not even talking about the you that you think you are! I’m talking about the you that you truly are!
I’m talking about you at your core! Your core in that season and in that process where I later found out that God was pruning me, not because I was unfruitful, but because I was fruitful! He was pruning me! Because what happens is, watch this: when you start bearing fruit—when you start bearing fruit out of your core—because there is a part of the sustenance of the vine in the fruit, you mistakenly think that you’re living and governing from your core, but you’re really living and governing from your branch! Oh, you’re going to catch this today! You’re going to catch this!
I got down to my core! For me, my core is based on two things: loving God with all of my heart, mind, and strength; my best friend, and feeding God’s people! Before there were mega churches and ministries, and travel and book deals and businesses, and all these sort of things and social media and all the trappings of the anointing—before there was any of that—at my core, there were only two desires: to be where you are and to feed Your people! And nothing else! And so that righteous core produced fruit! It produced ministries; it produced businesses; it produced book deals; it produced favor; it produced influences! But none of those things are the core!
And it is tricky because the core produces those things, which means that there is some core in those things! But the branch cannot bear fruit of itself; it has to be plugged into the core full-time! Are you tracking with me? And the reality of it is, it is hard to know when you’re not living out of your core! You don’t live from your branch. I care about your ministry; God has done press; you’ve got a name; He’s got a name which is above every name; to every knee bows to that name. He’s not impressed by that, even if you have a name as a result of His name! He cares nothing about that! Preachers trying to make a name for themselves drive me crazy! It’s not about you! It never was about you, and it never will be about you! And the moment it is about you, He will block you from your place because it was never about you!
It was always about Him! Let the money come; it’s still not about you! Let the businesses come; it’s still not about you! Let the planes and jets and all those things come; it’s still not about you! They are not worse than a broken person that wants to be a preacher, having a need to be affirmed! The gospel—the call of God—is not meant to affirm you! Salvation, not the call; the call is not meant to make you feel good about yourself! And the moment that you need that, you’re living in a branch, and you’ve got no power! You wonder why you don’t have any power! I’m saying the right words, but there’s no glory in what I’m saying because it was never about you!
Call to Return to First Love and Closing Prayer
I want to raise up some people, and I’m just taking a turn right now! I don’t know who this is for, but I want to raise up some people who are not trying to make a name for themselves! All you want to do is make Jesus famous! Are you tracking with me? If I’m up, praise God! If I’m down, praise God! If you know my name, praise God! If I preach, praise God! If I never preach, praise God! I will go to Costco and tell somebody about Jesus! I want to raise up a generation of sons and daughters that are not looking to make anybody famous but Jesus! If that’s you, do me a favor! Come on, LA, stand up! If your willingness isn’t—"It ain’t about me!» God has been so good to me!
I want to make everything about Him! Come on, let’s celebrate Jesus! The one who saved us! The one who raised us! That’s the one God will use! That’s the one God will use! I feel the Lord! That’s the one He will use! The one that wants to hang out in the back! The one that doesn’t want to be seen! The one that has trepidation even about being saved—that is the one He’s looking for! Somebody! I feel the Holy Ghost! God, You’re here! You’re at the Los Angeles campus, and you ain’t even in the front! You’re in the back! You’re in the back! You don’t have a title; you don’t come from a line of ministers! I feel the Lord! You don’t come from a lot of ministers and bishops and preachers! You don’t come from none of that, but you’ve got a pure heart! You’ve got a pure heart! You say, «God, I just want to love You! I just want to serve You! I just want to be with You!»
If I get a great social media following, fine! If You prosper me, that’s all wonderful! But if I had to choose between that and You, take all that stuff! Because I know from whence my help comes! I had to get back to my core! It wasn’t that I was doing anything wrong; it’s just that the fruit grows closest to the trunk!
Does anybody know a vineyard? Does anybody understand how that works? The fruit in a vineyard grows the most as it is close to the front trunk! There’s still fruit out there, but it’s less! It’s smaller! And there’s a lot of foliage! And what happens is we walk with God for a little while; we start bearing fruit, and we start living off of the fruit and enjoying the fruit! And next thing you know, we’re living out of the foliage where there’s no power to reproduce!
And because we don’t have the sensitivity to know when that has happened, God says, «I’m pruning!» Approaching this thing kind of took a different turn. There are some of you in it right now, and I want to change your perspective! You’re discontent, feeling discontent with where you are! And I hear God saying, «You need to get back to grateful!» You’re like, «God, when are You going to do this? God, when are You going to do that?» And you’ve become, and I don’t want to make your desire, I’m not beating up on you!
But I want to say this: you’ve become almost like a spoiled brat—with all due respect—a spoiled brat! «God, when is this going to happen?» And I bet if you look at it, it’s all carnal stuff! It’s not spiritual at all! And I’ve learned that when you get back to the core—see, everything that God has built through me—and God, I’m so blessed, man! Is it doesn’t make sense? It doesn’t even make sense to me! But I got blessed like that, and He didn’t even finish with me! God blessed like that by having two things at the center of my core: my desire to be close to God above anything and anybody!
You tracking with me? And feed His people! That’s how I got here! I want to be close to You, and I want to feed Your people! That’s where I started, and that’s what’s up underneath this! And so, a foolish person will look at the success as it is what it is—by the grace of God, praise the Lord, I don’t apologize for it! Look at the success! Watch this! And what you are admiring is the wrong thing; you’re admiring the fruit, not the vine! That not only produced that fruit but will produce more fruit! Are you tracking?
I didn’t plan to do it like this, but the Holy Spirit has kind of arrested this moment. There was some shouting that I wanted to do at the end, you know, like every preacher does, saves all the shouting to the end. I don’t care about—I said the stuff. This is whatever; we still might shout; I don’t know! In hindsight, what I was able to say, family, is that it was good that I was afflicted! Some of you who may be experiencing a moment that you wish would pass—when it passes—and it will pass—you’re going to look back over it, and you’re going to say, «If I had to do it all over again to get back this, sign me up tomorrow!»
Are you tracking with me? Hindsight! It was good that I’ve been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes! What that says, that word that was translated «learn» is better translated as «learned» in such a way that I’m able to teach. A more accurate translation of that word is «teach, » that I might teach Your statutes! But I understand the notion of learning through the affliction. I learn something that has convinced me so powerfully, experientially, that I can teach it, and I can bring people out!
I want to pray for you. If you’re here, here, and I won’t have you come down—you don’t have to come forward—unless you want to! I’m going to pray for you right where you are, but if you want to come forward, you can come forward! LA, see me! I’m going to pray for you right where you are, but if you want to come to the altar, come forward, and have my staff there or my prayer people come to the front of the altar!
LA, see you! If you’re here and you say, «I think I’ve moved away from my core, » and there’s something you said today that connected, this prayer is for you! If you’re here and you say, «Man, I’ve been tormented by sight, and I need to get my insight back until my hindsight shows up, » I want to pray for you as well! You’re welcome to come or you can just stand while I’m going to pray for you. If you’re here and you say, «I need to recommit my life to my first love, » your first love wasn’t money or success or fame or social media following! I want your first love! You didn’t get into this for that!
You got into this because God loved you so much that He threw out a lifeline! How are you tracking with me? He threw out a lifeline to you! What you thought was hopeless rescue, you caught that lifeline! He pulled you in, and you said, «Jesus, You are so wonderful! What You’ve done for me! You’ve done so wonderfully that I just want to serve You!» Get back to grateful! There is an anointing waiting for you in the land called grateful!
There is a blessing! There’s breakthrough! There’s favor! There are open doors waiting for you in the land of grateful! Now I pray for you! Father, we thank You so much! We thank You for this moment! Jesus, You’re here! You said it right there in Your word: You are the vine, and we’re the branches! You said if we abide in You, we’re going to bear fruit! You said without You, we can do nothing! But then You threw a little caveat in there; You said that even when I do bear fruit, You prune- not to be mean, but You prune so we could bear more fruit!
So the pruning-which, to use the right terminology in the gardening sense- the cutback is for the come up! The cutback is for the come up! God, I have been mis- processing Your cutting back! I have been mis- processing Your pruning! And today, through insight, I receive the good news, the good narrative about my season! And that good narrative is that in the process of time, I will move from sight to insight, and then in just a little while, I will be in the land of hindsight. And from that place, I will declare boldly: «It was good! It was good!» It was rough but it was good! It was hard but it was good! I cried a lot but it was good! I had some sleepless nights, but it was good! People walked away from me but it was good! I lost a bunch of things but it was good! It was good that I was afflicted because I learned something that I could only learn through it!
Repeat after me: Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your love! I feel it! Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your word! I receive it! I thank You for Jesus! Thank You for making Him who had no sin-all of my sin, all of my pain, all of my weakness, all of my shortcomings! You placed in His body, nailed it to the cross, and put it to death! Just as He was raised up after He was afflicted, I am raised up too! I’m bigger than my situation! I’m more than my process! And my insight will soon be my hindsight! In Jesus' name, Amen! Amen!