Being Rooted and Grounded in Christ

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and establish in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7

“Blessed is the man who trust the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8

I replanted a Japanese maple tree in my front yard several months ago. I dug a hole which I believed was deep enough and that the roots on this tree would go deep down into the soil. Recently, there have been several rain storms in the area I live in, and I noticed that in every storm my tree would blow over and become uprooted. This happened several times and finally, I secured posts with rope onto the tree, believing this would help to stabilize and to ground the tree.  Yet, more rain storms and high winds came and the tree became uprooted even with the posts and rope tied to it.

Finally after weeks of these horrendous storms, The Lord spoke to me and said, “This tree’s roots are not deep enough in the soil, and it has not been grounded in the earth that is why it keeps becoming uprooted, like when the “storms” come into people’s lives, and they are not firmly rooted and not grounded in Me and My Word they become shaken and moved by their circumstances.” God showed me that the hole I dug for this tree was not deep enough, and the tree simply could not stand-up to the heavy rainstorms and winds we were having. I noticed that on the days that there were no storms, the tree held up very well, but when the heavy rains and winds came, then this tree could not remain grounded.

Deep roots spread throughout the earth are like deep-rooted faith in prayer and studying the Word. When the rainstorms and strong winds come through our life, then it’s our deep-rooted faith in Christ that will help us to stand firm and to stay strong. When the “storms” come into our lives, if we remain rooted in Christ through reading the Bible, spending time in God’s presence, trusting Him, and speaking faith over our circumstances, then we will remain rooted and grounded in Christ and immovable when the storms come into our lives.

“And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” Mark 4:17

“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:3