BE STRENGTHED, ROOTED and GROUNDED

by Tammy Phillips
March 20-22, 2023

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love…”(Eph 3:17 NKJV)

We had a mega windstorm come through our town, Friday, March 3, 2023.  Hurricane force winds reached up to 79 miles per hour.  Oddly enough, an out-of-town friend and I were out shopping in the middle of it.  We were in a store when I got a warning call from my son that it was bad, and he had just watched a tree uproot near us. When we exited the store, it was difficult to walk against the wind to my car. 

We looked to the right.  The sky was dark gray, but to the left, we only saw the bluest skies. We decided to proceed with our lunch plans, but found our destination was without electricity from the barrage.  We decided to head home, but after a brief chat and a look at the weather map,  the blue skies over Clarksville drew us downtown.  Alicia, my out-of-town friend,  had not seen the city in years and it had changed a lot.

On the way into our small city, we began to see more damage.  My husband called with news that the gusts hand blown the door open and off in one of the buildings on campus and that a tree had fallen on it.  We continued our sight-seeing journey as the air around us continued to rampage and howl.

We attempted to catch up with my husband. In our pursuit, we  witnessed a massive tree slowly uproot and fall to its death right between two houses.  As we meandered, we saw more and more destruction.  Finally, after catching up with Kris, we agreed that we should return to our respective houses.  The path home was not straight nor direct.  Turn after turn we encountered colossal trees overturned and blocking our way.   I had to turn on the GPS to guide us home.  Keep in mind,  the bursts were still shaking my car.  When we finally navigated into recognizable territory, we were jarred by an exploding transformer.  We felt like we were in a “Mad Max” movie.  Timbers were toppled and their carnage was everywhere.  Stop lights and road signs were twisted, waved, and bent like nothing I had ever seen. 

When we finally got home, it was a strain to open the car door against the forceful, unseen gales.  We made it safely through the storm, but as I drove through our  neighborhood, I saw multiple uprooted trees.  Thankfully, only a few had claimed houses as their victims. 

The next day, my husband and I were driving to help my mother- in-law pick up the debris in her yard.  We were discussing the prior day’s events with a friend.  We came to the exit of our subdivision and saw a large tree who had succumbed to the windstorm, laying on the ground with its roots resting perpendicular to the horizon.  Its  rootball was taller than the home.  I stated, “It’s roots were just not deep enough to survive the storm.” (An encouragement idea birthed.) This was a scene that would repeat itself many times as we made our journey out into the country.   The roots were not deep enough to sustain the wind.

A divine appointment came two days later,  a devotion about none other than “Deep Roots.”  The writer talked about research conducted on trees.  I further found the study was conducted at Biosphere 2, a research facility in Arizona.  Indoor habitats were created to see how things would grow in outer space.  Many things thrived, but not trees.  They grew fast but would fall over.  The lack of wind did not allow the trees to develop stress wood. Wind causes small cracks to form in the tree’s wood when put under stress. Stress wood helps the tree strengthen, grow towards the light, and develop deep roots. 

Although we do not welcome the windstorms of life that seek to uproot and move us from our steadfast position, they do make us stronger by creating spiritual stress wood.

Keep in mind… 1 Corinthians 10:13 and that a “temptation” could be a tempest, or a spiritual windstorm.

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it].

Now, looking again at the focus verse, how does God grow “stress wood” in our lives and help us bear through the storms? 

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love…”(Eph 3:17 NKJV)

• We call on Him. “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”(Jer 33:3 NKJV)
• We ask in faith. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” (Jas 1:6 NKJV) Faith keeps us aligned, strong, steady, and not tossed around by the winds. 
• He “grants” us according to riches of His glory.  Grant means to give to the one asking.  He answers us.  He “lets-us-have-it” according to his abundant and limitless riches in glory. 
• He grants us to be strengthened with might in the inner man. We are made and grow strong in our inner core. Spiritual stress wood is created when we call on Him, grow and go deep with Him  in faith. God thoughts are very deep. (Psa 92:5 NKJV). He reveals deep and secret things.(Dan 2:22 NKJV)

“But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1Co 2:10 NKJV).  

This is the might.  Might makes things happen. Might is the power for performing miracles. Might is the “can do.”  Might is the dynamite to make impossible, possible. This is what we have inside working for us, the wonder working power of Christ.  Feel any stronger?  And all of this is simply through faith in Him.

God said in Jeremiah 33:3 that He would show us great and mighty things which we do not know. The word might in Jeremiah and Ephesians means the same thing.  Things that are inaccessible, hidden, held back, and impossible to men.  This is divine revelation and it strengthens us.

•  Being rooted. We become fixed, established, and rendered firm in Him. We grow deep roots in Him through faith and His revelation of the deep, secret, and  mighty things.  Scripture says,  “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. (Col 2:7 NKJV)
• Being grounded in love. God is love and we are made stable, established, and steadfast in Him alone. He is our very foundation.

 “But thanks [be] to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. “(1Co 15:58 NKJV)

When we become  rooted and grounded in Him, His love, His Word, and His revelation.  We can be steadfast, not easily uprooted.  In fact, we can be immovable trees of righteousness! We can be victorious through Him, not swayed when the storms and temptations of life come.  They only make our inner man stronger

I enCOURAGE you to dig in.  Dig into His word. Dig into His presence.  Grow your roots deep in the love of God. Be strong, immovable, and not easily toppled.  Do not let the tempest’s have their way with you like they did with the trees in Clarksville that March day.

I was reminded by my coffee cup this morning,  

“God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.” (Psa 46:5 NKJV)

“God is within her; she will not fall; God will help her at break of day” (Psa 46:5 NIV)

Now, go back and slow read this verse and let it be your confession.

VIVA MAGENTA: Live! Breathe! Be…STRENGTHED, ROOTED and GROUNDED!