Rooted!

Do you know what it is like to try and pull roots from the ground? It doesn't matter if it's a grass root, a plant root, a bush root but sometimes it is very difficult to pull them out altogether. Dennis Cesone and I were over at Kenny Hynes home helping prune up her yard yesterday. It was hard work but we got most done! Our body aches can prove it!

I was struggling to get the evergreen bushes out of the ground. First, I had to trim the top part of the bushes. Some branches were thick while many were thin. With the thin ones, I can use the electric bush trimmer. But when it comes to the thick ones, I had to use a bush clipper. After I finally got down to the core of the bushes, I began to work my way to the root. These five bushes have been rooted in the ground for more than 20 years! I used a shovel to pry the stump from the ground but to no avail, it wouldn't budge. I had to dig out some dirt from the sides in hope the roots were located. After a few minutes of digging one stump, I finally found its roots. Then I used the bush clipper to clip the think and long roots. Finally, the whole stump came out! It took me an hour and a half to work on all five of these stumps! My t-shirt was actually wet from sweat. My glasses were streaked with sweat from my forehead. My arms were throbbing from clipping, shaking, pounding, hitting the stumps.

This reminds me the importance of being rooted in our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-19 (NIV)

Where are you rooted in? Are you rooted in your job? Are you rooted in sports? Are you rooted in the world and its ways? Most importantly, I pray that you're rooted in Christ because He is the DOOR, He is the way to Heaven, He is the One who gives eternal life. Satan encourages all people to stay rooted in him and the world so that we may forget God. Satan will even work harder removing the fruitful branches of our Christian life and gradually leading himself to the root of our relationship with God. Then, "SNAP!" He can sever the strong ties you have with Jesus. He can pull you out of His love. He can disconnect us from eternal life. He can re-root you back into the world. It is Paul's prayer that we stay rooted in Christ alone! It is Paul's prayer that we be strengthened, growing our roots in Him, becoming thicker and thicker and stronger through bible study, fellowship, prayer, telling the world about Jesus and maintaining a loving relationship with God!

Father, it is my hearts desire to stay rooted in your love! You are the God of love and we dig ourselves in You. I pray that we will keep Satan away from the soil of our life which is our skin because if he touches our life, he will dig toward our heart and unroot us from You. Please help us look for these dangers, protect us from the evil one. We love You with all of our hearts. There's nothing else we want except You! In Jesus' name, Amen!