Essential pruning

John 15:2, 6 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, wile every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. … If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers, such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

As soon as a branch has blossomed/born fruit and it has wither died (like a flower) or been picked, it is not going to reproduce any further unless it is pruned.  It is going to be necessary to cut off the dead flower or the spot where the fruit had been in order to make the branch reproduce again.  In the same way, God has to prune us after we have had a spurt of growth before we can grow again.  We will grow “stale” if we don not remove the residue of our previous growth experience.  That is, we cannot stay right where we are spiritually or we will not be growing.  And the pruning is the sign of growth and fruitfulness … no growth means eventually being cut off completely and tossed away.  We will become totally useless to “God if we do not get pruned as we grow.