“Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”…“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” John 15:2, 5

I am writing this blog looking at out at a hedge that has a few branches shooting out above the rest of the hedge. It is mostly in shape, just a few overly exuberant branches growing out of sync with the rest. What it needs is a light trim. Sometimes we are like that. Doing mostly fine with just a thing or two out of balance that God wants to trim.

But if I leave the hedge alone until Spring, it will get way out of control and it will be time for a major pruning. Sometimes when we avoid the minor pruning the Holy Spirit does through the Word when we choose not to be trimmed back by its instruction, He sends in something a little harder to ignore. Tough circumstances. That feels a lot more brutal but usually has the effect of making us more receptive to the still small voice of the Lord and the guidance of Scripture.

There are bushes however that are perfectly fine, doing just what they are supposed to do and are only pruned way back for one purpose. That purpose is not to punish or correct, but simply to create more fruitfulness. Perhaps that’s you. Knowing the purpose of the pruning doesn’t make it less painful, but at least we can take some comfort in what we know is to follow.

Yesterday I was interviewed on a radio station and was asked “What about all the folks who are now losing their homes due to current economic conditions?” Well first of all, it is sad and it is painful but I also believe it is a pruning of sorts. When the pruning is done, healing begins and a season of fruitfulness opens up better than before and that is something to look forward to. Fruitfulness always follows pruning. Boom follows bust. It’s just the way things cycle. Better to understand the cycles and cooperate with them than to whine and complain and fight against them. Read my chapter called Strangler Fig Phenomenon in Rainforest Strategy to learn how to cooperate with and profit from cycles.

Speaking of pruning, it seems the US markets dodged the bullet on Friday, but this week is quite another thing and possibly another one for the record books. Collapsing hedge funds look like the trigger this time. I am planning on attending a teleseminar this week that speaks to causes and remedies for the madness going on in our economy. Check it out here for details.

Before wealth manifests itself in tangible form, it exists first and foremost in an intangible form. What we see with our natural eyes is a manifestation of something that first existed in an unseen state. The rainforest we see was once a seed we didn’t see. In our lives, everything is “twice created” — first in your mind, then in physical form.  If you go through life only seeing the effect or the outcome but never discern the cause of things, you will live at the mercy or lack thereof of those who see into both worlds and move freely between them.

Wealth is first of all an internal possession. If you don’t have it on the inside, you will never have it on the outside. You can only manifest in life what you possess on the inside. Nothing more. The life you lead on the outside is a reflection of the things you believe and the truths you understand on the inside.

Some years ago in the dead of winter, I took on a new client in small Midwest town. He picked me up in the morning to take me to his office which turned out to be a rundown, clapboard house in the poor side of town. When we walked through the front door, the carpet was thick with dog hair and shredded newspaper. I thought it must be where he kept his dog when it got cold and where he stored his construction equipment. As we worked our way through piles of old newspapers and stacks of magazines we found ourselves in the room he called his office.

He sat down at his desk as I stood awkwardly looking for a chair I could clear off and be seated in. Not finding one and looking intently at him and the disaster that was his office, I asked him a question… “Can I be frank with you?”

He winced as he seemed to know what was coming and replied, “I am paying you thousands of dollars. I expect you to be frank with me.”

With kindness and directness I replied, “This place is a pig sty. There is no point in me helping you bring order to this mess. It’s a reflection of the mess on the inside of you. Unless we deal with the mess on the inside of you first, this mess will just come right back!” He agreed and we left immediately for a restaurant to have breakfast.

We spent the rest of the day at his discretion, identifying the utter poverty and chaos that was on the inside of him. His story was painful and horrific, but completely redeemable. Over the course of our time together, we rooted out the lies that he believed and planted truth in the core of his soul. It was clear by the time I left that he was ready to bring order to his outside world because it had finally come to his inside world. Despite a significant financial inheritance, this man lived in poverty on the outside because that is what he had on the inside. We can only sustainably project to the outside what we consistently have on the inside.

IMPORTANT NOTE: David Johnson has been conducting some top notch training over the phone to a select group of folks who signed up for this in March. The response has been the best from anything we’ve ever done. I’ve asked David to conduct another free teleseminar next week to talk about how this can help grow your business substantially. He will have the input of current students and a lot more new stuff to share.

We will give you all the details you need on Monday’s blog but for now, here are the choices you will have to attend this free teleseminar exclusive to folks on our coaching lists. (If you are receiving this email, you are on that list) All times are listed in US Eastern time, so please click to calculate your local time.

• Tuesday at 9pm
• Wednesday at 1pm
• Thursday at 7am
• Thursday at 4pm