Eph 3:14-21 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. NAS
We are to be rooted and we are to be grounded in love.
Not either but both. Rooted is an agricultural term while grounded is an architectural term.
Agriculturally we understand you can’t have fruit before you take root.
Architecturally we understand the building cannot be built until the foundation this established.
Both of these ideas speak of that which is unseen taking place before that which is seen emerges.
God is saying you must put more energy into your rootedness and foundation than you are in trying to your visible structure.
If we don’t grow and build correctly that which results will never stand the true test of time.
That’s why you have to guard what gets in your ears and you have to guard what gets in your eyes and you have to guard what’s getting in your mind because it’s all going to start getting in your heart. The tangibles can be shaken but the intangibles become the foundation upon which you stand that will not be destroyed even if the storm comes the house will remain.
2 Cor 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight-- (NAS)
sight = Strongs #1491 eidos (i'-dos); form or appearance referencing the external or outward appearance, form figure or shape of something that your eyes can focus on.
2 Cor 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (NIV)
One of my favorite stories to demonstrate this principle of being able to focus on the unseen things is found in Joshua.
Josh 6:1-2 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. (NIV)
The place was locked up with nobody allowed to go in and nobody allowed to come out. Joshua could see this but God was having a conversation with him about what God was seeing. No matter what his physical eyes were looking at God was still saying, “See, I’ve delivered it into your hands.”
We are taking 40 Days to get our focus on the eternally powerful unseen things discovered in foundations and roots that will produce Flourishing all year long.
· Word - Turn Page
· Prayer & fasting – Tues 6am & prayer lists coming
· Gather sacrificially not on basis of convenience.
· Give sacrificially not on basis of convenience.
· Get involved sacrificially not conveniently. Serve/C Group
GP2RL: Begin listing who you are praying for to come to know Jesus in 2018. #flourishinglives