What Looks Like Loss May Be God’s Pruning

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The world feels like it’s shifting under our feet, and for good reason: we’ve moved from steam to screens to something even more disruptive—the intelligence age. As AI turns questions into instant answers, we’re asking a deeper one: how do we stay rooted when change is relentless? We walk through the sweep of history, from the industrial and information eras to today’s surge of artificial intelligence, and then zoom in on the spiritual reality beneath the headlines. Knowledge can be fast; wisdom is formed. That gap matters.

We ground this moment in a larger story: God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel and our grafting in through Jesus. When transitions arrive, Scripture and nature agree—decrease often precedes growth. Trees shed leaves. Runners pass batons. Before resurrection, there was a cross and a silent tomb. If you feel stripped back, less capable, or spiritually thin, it may not signal failure. It might be pruning. In that hidden work, God drives the sap to the roots, building strength that will carry future fruit. We draw on Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” to remind our hearts: from age to age, God remains the same.

We also talk about the role of prophetic voices in times like these—forth-telling what is and foretelling what’s unfolding—so we can cooperate with grace rather than react to noise. Expect practical takeaways: how to name your pruning without shame, practices that deepen roots in a high-speed world, and ways to let technology serve discipleship instead of replace it. If the intelligence age accelerates access, we want to cultivate discernment, courage, and love that endure.

Join us for a steadying conversation about faith, AI, weakness, and hope. If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help others find the show. What transition are you walking through right now?

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (01:14):
For the past few weeks, we've been looking into
the book of First Samuel andfinding some very significant
things in it that pertain to thenation of Israel, but also to
our own personal lives.
We know that Israel is God'schosen nation, his chosen

(01:40):
people.
It wasn't just something that hechose at one time and now has
discarded.
He remains committed to hiscovenant that he cut with
Abraham.
And then he passed on down toIsaac, to Jacob, and now we have

(02:02):
access to that same covenanttoday through our faith in Jesus
Christ.
Those of us who have placed ourfaith in the fact that Jesus is
the Son of God, He died onbehalf of us, paid for our sins.

(02:26):
He was resurrected from the deadon the third day, and has now
risen from the dead and ascendedto heaven and is seated at the
right hand of the Father.
And for those of us who believethat and have placed our faith
in that, and that that act thatHe did is the act that paid for

(02:47):
us to have relationship with Godand a good relationship with one
another.
It's counted to us asrighteousness, and we are now
grafted into Israel, like a wildolive branch grafted in.
We are part of the nation ofIsrael.

(03:08):
Praise God.
And with that in mind, we nowhave the same promises available
to us, and even a bettercovenant that has been cut
because it's been cut in thename of Jesus by His blood.
And we now have God's wordestablished and written in us.

(03:31):
His life is not just around us,He has placed His life within
us, and His word now abideswithin our hearts.
And He's given us a heart toobey Him, not to rebel from Him.
Amazing.
And so we've been looking at howIsrael had gone through some

(03:55):
pretty significant changes, andwe've called them actually a
time of transition.
And so I want to piggyback onthat for just a little while and
have somewhat of a segue in thisepisode and just kind of
highlight this aspect oftransitions, the transitions of

(04:18):
life.
And over the course of the pastfour centuries, we have
experienced a major transitionciting the industrial age, which
began in right around seventeensixty in Great Britain when the

(04:40):
steam engine was invented.
That began what we know now havecalled historically the
industrial age.
And the industrial age changed.
There was a transition from theindustrial age to the
information age.

(05:02):
And the information age begansomewhere in the area of the
late nineteen eighties throughnineteen ninety-one.
It was when the Berlin Wall wastorn down and communism really
took a very heavy hit.
The USSR was dissolved andcommunism took a real blow.

(05:25):
And as a result of that, we nowhave available to us information
because it was the time in whichthe world wide web was being
developed and there was globalpopularity that had taken place
with the exchange ofinformation.

(05:47):
We were no longer in industrialage, we were in information age.
And now, now, since relatively,let's say 2020, the year 2020
through 2025, something has beentaking place and is being rolled

(06:10):
out right now.
It's known as the intelligenceage.
Interesting.
We who are alive right now aregoing through a transition.
Just like Israel went through atransition, we across the

(06:30):
nations now are going through atransition.
Much like what took place duringthe industrial age and the
information age, we're nowmoving into what's known as the
intelligence age.
And as I said, from roughly theyear 2020 through 2025,
something was being rolled outthat sets the stage for the

(06:53):
creation of a new called Towerof Babel.
And that is computer programminglanguage now has the same type
of communication solidarity thatled to God's coming down to
earth and confusing the languageof the people who were
constructing a tower that theysaid would reach up into the

(07:16):
heavens.
It was produced because thepeople constructing the tower
all spoke the same language, andnothing they were determined to
do with their own abilitiescould stop them if they were
united in thought, word, anddeed.
Now, through zeros and ones, asa binary computer programming

(07:38):
code, a common worldwidelanguage is available via a vast
accumulation of intelligencestored in the memory of
everything ever typed on acomputer from anywhere around
the world to a person who hasaccess to the world wide web and
a PC or a cell phone.
It's called AI or artificialintelligence or accumulated

(08:03):
intelligence.
It provides a person withimmediate information about
questions that previously wouldhave taken several hours, days,
or even years to find an answerto.
The false sense of security thatcomes from mistaking knowing
information versus understandingand applying information that
was learned through the processof research and synthesizing the

(08:24):
information found is availablethrough artificial intelligence.
Knowing information.
Now, there's also a spiritualside to transitions.
And we at Life Are on the Fireare committed to spiritual
growth.

(08:44):
Growth in our relationship,first and foremost with God, and
then in our relationships withone another.
And so the spiritual side tothis transition or times of
transition isn't necessarilygetting the same attention and
distribution in the mainstreammedia today that AI is getting.

(09:09):
I'll just say not yet, anyway.
God is providing new downloadsof knowledge, wisdom, and
revelation to some of thepreviously hidden ways for
applying the authority and powerof his kingdom, how it operates
and advances in the earth in thesame way as it is in heaven.
He is giving this to those whoare aware of their great need

(09:31):
for God to help them as theyhunger and thirst after his
kingdom and his righteousness.
In the relay race, one of themost critical points in the race
comes during the exchange orpassing of the baton from one
runner to the next.
A clean exchange can change theoutcome of the race.

(09:55):
An awkward or dropped exchangeaffects the whole transition and
momentum of the race.
The falling leaves, along withthe pruning of its branches,
leave a tree looking naked andvulnerable as the changing of
seasons paint another picture ofwhat a transition often looks

(10:17):
like.
A bird molping, a snake sheddingits skin, and a deer dropping
its antlers are all indicatorsof transitions.
What is a common denominator inall of them?
A type of decrease andvulnerability takes place before

(10:38):
the growth and final stages oftransition are complete and
reveal the product of growth andchange.
Before the resurrection ofJesus, there was the cross, and
there was the death of Jesus onthat cross.
A dead, bloodied, and ultimatelybloodless corpse was all that
was left of the sinless life ofthe Messiah once the transition

(11:01):
of covenants was in full swing,three days prior to the
resurrection, he was dead.

SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
And it looked like there was no hope.

SPEAKER_00 (11:17):
And that is often the case with transitions.
When we go through transitionsourselves personally, oftentimes
there's a decrease or a pruningthat takes place.
Now it would be great if we knewthat we were going through a

(11:38):
transition when those thingstook place.
But often we don't realize whatis taking place until it has
taken place and we are a fewdays, weeks, and months down the
road.
We don't always know when we'regoing through a transition.

(12:01):
But one thing we do know is anindicator, and that is this when
there's a sense of pruningthat's taking place, or when you
just feel as though you don'treally have anything within you
that can muster up the strengthto do the things of the kingdom

(12:25):
of God on your own.
Well, you once felt like you hadsomething together and you had
some momentum going on, and youdid.
And you did.
But then one day you realizethat you don't have that same
momentum.
In fact, just the opposite seemsto be taking place.

(12:46):
You seem to be getting weaker,not stronger, and you become
more and more vulnerable andless and less potent and
powerful spiritually.
And the temptation can be tofeel and think and say that
something is wrong with you.
When in all reality, it's notsomething wrong being with you,

(13:10):
it's the fact that you arechosen and God is at work within
you doing something that youcan't do on your own.
Both the personal type andworldwide type of transition are
met with a seemingly significantsense of decrease before the

(13:33):
positive effects of thetransition and growth eventually
come into view.
In the year fifteen twenty nine,right, Martin Ruther, while
reading Psalm forty six wasinspired to pen a hymn, and it
came to him during what churchhistorians now call the

(13:57):
Protestant Reformation.
The hymn a mighty fortress isour God.
In verse two, Luther writes Didwe in our own strength confide?
Our striving would be losing.
Were not the right man on ourside, the man of God's own

(14:19):
choosing?
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus it is he, LordSaboth his name, from age to age
the same, and he must win thebattle.
The phrase from age to age thesame, from age to age the same

(14:43):
stood out to me.
I wonder if Luther knew that hewas being used by God to be a
catalyst for a transition fromthe Dark Ages to the age of
Reformation when he penned thewords from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

(15:05):
It seems that as we look athistory, we who are looking back
at it can see the changes.
The people going through it areoften unable to see what they
are going through.
Like most of life, it's all sodaily.
And this is where the office ofthe prophet comes in handy.

(15:30):
Because the prophet is used byGod to speak forth things and
speak in a way that forecaststhings.
Forth telling and foretellingare functions of the prophet.

(15:51):
And the office of prophet isstill alive today, and that is
why we are receiving indication,just like Israel received
indication from the prophets.
We are receiving indicationtoday that a change is taking
place, and the prophets wouldannounce to Israel that this is

(16:11):
what was taking place, and todaywe have the same gift given to
us, and that is why God israising up once again and

(16:32):
emphasizing once again theoffice of prophet.
Because we need to haveindividuals who know how to
cooperate with the Lord andprovide communication to help us
in the process.
And right now, we as a propheticvoice at Life Around the Fire

(16:55):
are saying that we are in a timeof transition.
And if you are personallyfeeling a time of weakness, it's
not necessarily a sign of youhaving disobeyed the Lord.
It could very well be that Godis at work within you pruning

(17:16):
away things, causing atransition to take place.
And part of the process isduring the initial stages of the
transition, weakness andbarrenness seem to go hand in
hand just prior to the growthemerging.

(17:42):
You see, when a tree goesthrough a time of shedding its
leaves, it's an indicator thatthe sab in the tree is going to
go down into the roots and causethe roots to go further into the
soil and gain new nutrients sothat it can draw out from the

(18:04):
soil the nutrients necessary toproduce more fruit.
And God wants us to be fruitful.
And so, in the process of usbecoming fruitful, we are pruned
and our leaves shed.
But the sap, the life source ofGod, goes down into the roots,

(18:25):
down beneath the surface, wherethings can't necessarily be
seen, where the deep nutrientsare spiritually speaking.
We get to grow because God is atwork with our root system.
Hallelujah.
He is faithful from age to agethe same, and one of his

(18:49):
attributes that's the same isthat he is faithful.
He is faithful.
He is faithful to lead us, toguide us, and to keep us.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,hallelujah.
I get encouraged to hear fromthe Lord the fact that in my

(19:09):
weakness his strength is beingmade perfect.
And in your weakness, in yourtime of transition, do not be
afraid.
Three hundred and sixty-fivetimes in scriptures we have the
phrase do not be afraid.

(19:33):
That's one for every day of theweek.
Day of the year, excuse me.
For every day of the year, threehundred and sixty-five do not be
afraid.
Because from age to age, God isthe same, and He must win the
battle.

(19:53):
And He is one who's at workwithin us, both to will and to
do His good pleasure.
And so transitions are a part oflife.
And we are in a major transitionright now.
And my encouragement to you isdo not be afraid.
Have faith in God.
He is good.

(20:15):
Let's pray.
Father, we declare, I declare,that you are faithful and you
are good.
That you will lead us and guideus in your ways.
You will teach us to walk inyour paths and show us how we

(20:39):
can become more and more likeyour son Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 (20:43):
We want to be capable, but not on our own.
We want our abilities to be youdemonstrating supernaturally
your life to us and through us.

SPEAKER_00 (21:03):
And we honor you, and we give you all the glory,
all the worship, all the praise,for you are the one who was and
is and is to come, and holy,holy, holy is the Lord God
Almighty.
Thank you, Father, for honoringthis prayer, for taking it and

(21:28):
transforming it in a way thatonly you can do.

SPEAKER_02 (21:33):
Because we want to be like Jesus, and we pray these
things in his name.
Standing here saying, So be it.
Amen.

SPEAKER_00 (21:44):
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Alright, folks.
We love you.
And if you have any thoughts,questions, concerns, please feel
free to look us up on Life Areon the Fire.
We're on the web.
We'd love to hear from you.
And in the meantime, we justpray that God's blessing be upon

(22:06):
you.
Adios, amigos.