Hello again! We’re back after a little break with lots of family, friends and fun! And during this time, I took some of my own advice and examined my branches! I had a few that needed to be broken off, and some that were trying to grow back. Praise God that He showed me these and led me through it, and is still leading me through it. What perfect timing as well, as we’ll be journeying into the next part of the transformation process together.
The next phase of the crooked tree’s reformation is fire; the fire of God, the baptism of fire. We have to go through the fire to be refined!
Isa 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
At times it has felt to me that I have been in the fire along with pressure; that I’m being pressed upon on all sides in order to be provoked inwardly, for ungodly things and influences to be brought out and into the light. God uses situations, circumstances, and other people to cause reaction, to show you what He wants to change, to bring dross to the surface. Have you ever felt like you’ve been in the furnace of affliction? It’s hot! Sometimes we can literally feel heat, and it’s uncomfortable as we’re having things burned out of us.
So on the crooked tree, there’s a branch on the right side that’s larger in girth, too large to simply be snapped off, and it’s not dead. It has to be burned off! And the fire of God directs its heat at a specific area, so only the branch that is meant to be burnt off at that time, is on fire. The whole branch may be engulfed, or maybe only the base of the branch, where it is attached to the tree. But either way, the branch is burnt off of the tree. In the vision only the base is being burned, the issue is being dealt with as a whole. For example, a branch that I have had burned off by the fire of God had to do with a judgmental attitude towards other people. This issue involved more than just judging someone else; there was also how I acted towards them based on my judgments, how I spoke about them, puffing up my pride, etc.
Picture the base of the branch forming because of my judgmental attitude, then the length of and girth of the branch, with any other branches growing out of it, as a result of the other issues involved, and continuing the sin. When God dealt with me on this, He didn’t take me through each individual thing and all combination of the issue by starting at the skinny tip of the branch. Though I was shown what all was involved in order to get it out of my life, and God has taken me through each individual thing in the past, this time it was all burned of at the base. The judgmental attitude and everything it involved, was all taken care of as a whole, at one time.
Since then I am aware of the branch that used to be there, and its a much more thought out and clear decision that has to be made in order to push through the healed scar, from the burn, to start the branch growing again. Its a struggle and an inward battle of whether or not I’m going to go back into that attitude and allow it to grow and re-attach itself to my tree. If you ask God to show you the process once, you’re much keener to pick up on it’s coming around again, and to remember what brought it upon you the first time.
In wanting to be more and more Christ-like, in allowing God to transform us into who He created us to be, we’ll experience the fire of God. It may be uncomfortable at the time to go through it, but I’ve never even come close to regretting the end result! Lets move forward together into this next phase, and let the fire refine us! Move forward in spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health, and giving God more control over the life He designed for us!
From here, if you’ve already gone through the process’s I’ve shared, walk into this next year on guard, and aware of the changes you’ve made. Examine new branches, and allow the Master Pruner to do His thing. Refuse to let any new green branches settle in if they’re not godly and won’t be producing godly fruit! Those take a little bit of muscle and fight to pull off, but you can do it! And if you haven’t started the process yet, I encourage you to pick up a shovel, meet up with God, and walk into the new year ready to dig up some roots.
Let’s let the branch burn, and the ways of the flesh fall away like ashes!
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