From Judges 7:1-8.

Gideon removed the small things early (like fear) in his journey so he could remove big things later (like 31,700 soldiers).

God took Gideon on a journey to be a Mighty Warrior. This has to be the moment! Gideon is different. He is not hiding anymore. Now he commands a huge army! Surly God will do the Mighty Warrior thing now!

Nope. A Mighty Warrior needs less, not more.

You’ve been told to amass all you can all your life. Even in church world, more people, more buildings, more books. The amassing proves you are the Mighty Warrior!

Then, when God challenges you with pruning, you freeze.

Small example, but I reset my phone once a year. And every year at the beginning of the year, I give myself all these reasons why I shouldn’t. And. It’s. A. Phone!

Less is more. Why? Because more entraps us and swallows us whole. We depend on our surplus and not on God. We depend on our bloated buildings, membership rolls, ministries and budgets to make us feel good.

If we pruned, we would look less than a Mighty Warrior.

Tony Morgan says all the time on his podcast “less is more.” The biggest churches do the most pruning. Not the “Jack Welch get rid of the lowest 10%” nonsense. Yet, these churches discipline themselves to have…

Less policies.
Less ministries.
Less committees.
Less staff per attenders.
Less politics.

They seem to cut everything that matters and yet they gain more of what does matter…

New lives coming into God’s Kingdom.

If you find your church bloated, don’t just start killing sacred cows. Pray for what God wants first. Pursue Jesus first, before anything else. Pursuing more got your church into this mess…don’t just do the opposite to get yourself out.

Hear & Follow Jesus. He will lead you to know what is bloated.

Also, pray for others to see the same branch. Because, like Gideon, you need others. And probably also like Gideon, God will give you have a small number of people to be with you. Then, when amazing things happen, God will shine brightly, not you.

You will feel crazy. Pruning is not what we’re taught to do.

Remember, Gideon went from 10,000 to 300. You think he felt crazy? It is ok to feel crazy!

And yet, remember, God clothed Gideon because Gideon took off the fear he clothed himself with.

You too are clothed by the Spirit of God. Take off the fear. Take off the complacency. Ask God for soak, but unique signs. And step into less being more.