Deep Roots

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Sometimes we face in life what I refer to as an ambush. It’s a time when everything goes wrong. Friends begin to act strange towards us, spouses or girlfriends are annoyed for seemingly no reason at all, problems at work are getting out of hand, and our expenses are more than we can manage. It all hits you at once and you’re like, “Come on…what else could go wrong!!!” Some people refer to times like these as tests from God. They say that God is testing our faith to see if it will hold up. Heavenly Father is all-knowing. He knows our pasts, presents, and futures. He knows what we’re going to do before we do it. Why would He need to test us if He already knows what we’re going to do? God does not test us. He has spiritually equipped us to stand firm!

James 1:13(NLT) says, “And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.” Temptations and tests are the enemy’s territory, and his mission is to use all the weapons in his arsenal to undermine our faith. James 1:12 tells us that a person is blessed when he or she endures tests and temptations without succumbing to the devil’s traps, tricks, and plots.

In Mark 4, Jesus Christ was teaching by the seaside to a multitude of people. He often used parables to instruct and make his point well, because his message could be easily understood by more people this way. He taught them using a parable of a sower that went out to sow some seeds, and some birds came and ate them. As customary with any farmer that knows a little bit about farming, you wouldn’t just put your seeds in one place. You’d sprinkle and spread them out, in different areas; and so it was with the sower that sprinkled seeds here and there. Some fell on ground that had lots of rocks beneath it. The seedlings sprung up, but because there wasn’t enough earth beneath to allow deep roots, the sun scorched the seedlings, and they withered away. Jesus referred to these seeds as those that fell on stony ground.

The disciples were puzzled by the parable Jesus spoke and asked what it meant. In Mark 4:16-17(NLT), he told them, “16 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 17 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” Many believers are like the seedlings that sprung up on stony ground. After we hear the good news of Christ initially, our Heavenly Father is so incredibly patient with us. He has provided the resources of His powerful Word, and it is available everywhere, in many different forms. Like a seed, we can grow spiritually from reading and studying about Jesus Christ, but many of us don’t do this. The devil hunts for the spiritually immature; he looks for those that haven’t equipped themselves as God commands, so that he can scorch them and cause them to wither away from God’s protection and care.

Colossians 2:7(NLT) tells us, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” We are commanded by God to grow our roots down into Christ and to build our lives on him. This is how we grow in faith and become anchored in God’s truth. Then, when the strong winds of life blow against us, we are spiritually mature enough to withstand them. We will not be tossed about like a leaf or uprooted because we didn’t sink our roots in the rich soil of God’s Word.

1Corinthians 2:12(NLT) tells us, “And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.” Through Christ, God has freely given us everything we need to live a life that pleases Him and gratifies us as well. Heavenly Father has chosen us to be His children. We are ambassadors for our big brother, Jesus Christ. God has empowered us to be a blessing to others so that we can increase His Kingdom. We should freely give what we have freely received. This is why it is so relevant that Jesus used this very impactful parable of a sower spreading seeds, because that is what you and I should be doing as his followers. We should be walking by faith, doing good deeds, and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ!

The devil doesn’t want us to fulfill the call of Christ, because he doesn’t want God’s Kingdom to expand in the earth, and he doesn’t want God’s people to be blessed. There are so very many things that God has in store for you. He desires you to be blessed and to have the kind of life that checks off all the boxes on your ‘great life’ list. The closer you get to your blessing, the more the enemy will try to bombard you with attacks. This is the tactic he uses to throw you off your game, so that you won’t concentrate and focus on your relationship with God, but instead become full of doubt and worry.

In Ephesians 6:11(NLT), God tells us exactly what to do, “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” As believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, challenges in the form of tests and temptations are a part of life. God will supply all of our needs (Philippians 4:19), but we must be doers of His Word for it to manifest in our lives. We can’t just be seedlings, we must be trees with deep roots that are planted by the river. This means that we are continually and purposely receiving nourishment from God’s Word, and not just hearing it, but committing the Word to action through our faith in what it says.■

4TheChristianMan

Christian encouragement and inspiration for men

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