(G. Steinberger) Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2. We must not only seek a deeper understanding, but above all a deeper attitude. For both, the way is paved by entering into a deeper cleansing. The Lord makes deeper, and healing cuts into our nature. He will not only cleanse us from the ungodly, but also from that which is useless. Paul not only wanted to be free from that which was harmful, but also from that which was of no use for eternity. And this meant above all, as the Lord says: . . . every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. The deeper cleansing is not about repentance, not about separating oneself from conscious sins, not about renouncing those things that are offensive to those around us; but it is about those things that only the initiated recognize as harmful, things that do not make a fruitful life impossible, but which are, nevertheless, an obstacle to being able to bear more fruit. And there may be things that, in our eyes and in the eyes of others, are not considered an obstacle at all, but rather an advantage. In the eyes of the Vinedresser, this is no advantage but is rather an obstacle which must be pruned away. Therefore, the deeper cleansing is a work of God, as Jesus says: “He prunes them.” It is a work that God does, as David says in Psalms. 139: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.” We do not know ourselves, and we do not come to a deeper acknowledgement by thoroughly examining ourselves; God must open up our lives. We get light in His light. Therefore, we must come to His hand. A deeper cleansing does not take place by means of man’s works and actions, but when he endures the treatment he receives from God and abides in His will. Where God intervenes with this deeper cleansing is something we can all know. Above all, His knife cleaves our self-life, hidden self, our refined self and our pious self. There is also a pious self, which presents itself with a grace of godliness, but when the wind of the Lord blows upon it, it is as grass that withers and the flower falls away. It is only the charming glory of the flesh that must be destroyed. Here God would carry out a deeper cleansing, so that we no longer mistake our soulish inclinations for the movement of the Spirit. Therefore, we must allow God to inscribe “unusable” on our prayers and testimonies that are born from soulish inclinations. We should cut them off and discard them, so the atmosphere around us remains pure, and God’s work through us is not muddied by our soulish tendencies. Another hindrance is the energy which comes from our nature, which always wants to run ahead of God, which always wants to improve on what God is doing, which always wants to work for God, and yet sets God aside by its actions without even knowing it. It wants to do everything under God’s blessing, instead of letting God work according to His will and accomplish according to His good pleasure. Abraham wanted to help God and make the fulfilment of the promises easier, when he took Hagar as his wife, and she bore him Ishmael. But God was not satisfied with that; on the contrary, God withdrew from him for 13 years. A third inclination of the pious self is to want to shine for God. Only a few surrender their life in order to lose it. Only a few have, like Paul at his conversion, as the first question: “What do you want me to do for You, Lord?” Most people say what they want and what they want the Lord to do. They will revel in spiritual feelings and shine before God with their blessings. And because God resists this pious selfishness at every step, they fall into darkness and discouragement and consume their strength in useless struggles until they learn that God will not feed our nature but will lead it to its death. We need deeper cleansing in order to receive a deeper blessing. Whenever God wanted to give His people a special blessing and do something through them, they first had to enter into a deeper cleansing. Before Israel could receive the law, it had to purify and sanctify itself. Before God’s glory could rest upon the tabernacle and Moses could dedicate the tabernacle and the sacrifices, he had to wait in silence for six days on the cloud covered Sinai. Exodus 24. (From German.)