Hello, hello, hello ladies and gents. My name is Kirby Kelly. Also known as Kirby is a boss on Instagram TikTok in YouTube. Also Kirby is a streamer on Twitch if you love video games.

Welcome to this week's episode of the Bought and Beloved podcast. I hope that you are having an amazing week so far. I know that there's so much going on in the world, but I just hope that this can be a place for you to live.

This can be a place of peace and encouragement to you for this week. And as some of you guys know, those of you who are my loyal listeners and are subscribed to the podcast, hey yo subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday.

I have a public email where y'all can send in biblically based questions, your topic suggestions and seek out godly wisdom. And I was going through some of the submissions that I received. I was looking at some past ones actually.

And there was one that stuck out to me that was sent in by a guy named Jacob. And before I read it for those of you who want to submit your questions and be featured on the podcast, the email is bought and beloved at gmail.com that's bought a and the beloved at gmail.com. So please make use of that because I love to hear what it is that y'all want me to dive in on.

But like I said, this is what Jacob's mission read it said, Hey Kirby, I heard you were going to do a podcast soon on the topic of pruning. It got me thinking sometimes God will offer clarity and a certain area of my life and reveal something that he wants me to change cease or remove. Maybe it's a sin that I've been repeating and just haven't been quite able to shake or maybe it's something otherwise appropriate.

That's moved to a place that I've now began to turn to for relief. Whatever it may be at the time on some occasions, I feel convicted and I'm able to change the action right then and there. However, on other occasions, I find myself continuing to repeat and or fall.

While simultaneously my desires for that habit, sin or idle is measurably and steadily diminishing. What is the most appropriate approach here are these times where I'm called to be still patient and wait on God to continue in prayer and let him carve out these desires from inside out.

Or is this considered delayed obedience? Can you elaborate or offer any advice on what would be most God honoring approach in these times? Thanks Kirby, Jacob.

Well, Jacob, this is an amazing topic to touch base on and I'm so glad that you reminded me that this was a podcast episode that I said that I would record.

It must have been an old episode because I don't remember saying anything on that recently. I think I mentioned it in a Instagram live not too long ago, but regardless, I'm glad that we're finally getting to this topic.

So the title of today's podcast episode, as you can tell, is the pruning process and cutting sin out, right? So let's talk about what that means exactly what scripture has to say about what it means to prune or be pruned by the Lord to cut things out of our life that are destructive to us rather than giving us life.

Now, our friend Jacob here, he spoke about how God will often give us clarity and peace about what it is in our life that needs to change, that needs to cease, that needs to be taken away or cut off.

Now, yes, sometimes there are habits in our life and actions that we just simply need to lay down and just like not participate in anymore because it's just gone too far or it's become an idol or whatever.

But other times there are habits that we need to completely detach ourselves from because it is gone to the point of almost addiction and submission and worship to something.

He mentions how there are some instances where he finds himself falling into the same habits, even though he doesn't desire to.

And that kind of reminds me of what Paul said in Romans chapter 7 verse 15, he says, I do not understand what I do for what I want to do, I do not do.

But what I hate, I do. And I think it's important that we note that Paul said this in Romans 7 15 because I think that can reflect the heart of many of us who are following Jesus and living a new and transformed life or at least are trying to write.

We want to follow God completely, we want to be obedient, holy, pure and blameless before him.

We don't want to be a slave to our sin and the temptations of the world that we face and our disobedient desires yet sometimes we do what it is that we despise rather than what we know is good and pleasing to the Lord and beneficial for our own lives as well.

Not only have I been there, but Paul, one of the greatest apostles, saints, missionaries of all time who composed most of the New Testament has been there too.

That's very encouraging to me to know that these people that we read about in scripture were real people, right? They understand the human experience that we are going through.

...