Stand Strong In Every Season

Stand Strong In Every Season

Focus Word: Rooted in Christ

Focus Verse: Colossians 2.6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”

Declaration: My roots go deep in Christ; nothing can shake my faith or move my confidence in Him.

Strong roots produce stable lives

Paul speaks about being rooted in Colossians 2.6-7. Before fruits appear publicly, roots appear privately. Roots can penetrate any soil, it can even push through strong and stubborn obstacles like concrete.
Roots determine stability, nourishment, endurance and growth.

Psalms 1.3 like a stream planted by the streams of water
Jeremiah 17.7-8 its roots go deep and it does not fear heat.
Roots spread to wherever there is water
Ephesians 3.7 rooted and established in love
Shallow roots create unstable lives. Trees encounter different kinds of strong winds. It is only those who are strongly rooted that can stand strong. If we have depth, we will survive.

Spiritual growth will continue  
We must continue to live our lives in Christ. Christian life is not merely beginning well, it is continuing faithfully. We must finish the race that we started. Jesus said, “It is finished”.
As it is written in Hebrews 6.1, we must move beyond elementary teachings and reach maturity.
2 Peter 3.18 says grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1. 6 assures us that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Healthy things grow. If we don’t grow it shows that we are unhealthy. Spiritual growth requires ongoing connection with Christ.

Christ is both foundation and source
Paul writes in Colossians 2.6-7 that we must be rooted and built up in him.
Jesus is not only the starting point of faith, He is the sustaining source of it. Jesus is the beginning (Alpha) and the end (Omega) and so the sustaining source.
Hebrews 12.2  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus is someone we can depend on, all the time.
1 Corinthians 3.11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 33.6  He will be the sure foundation for your times, and He is stable unlike humans.
God does not have mood swings. He does not change. Many people want Christ as Saviour not as a daily source.
Life grows from attachment. A branch that is attached to the bark thrives but the moment it is detached it dies. That is why Jesus said in John 15. 5 If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Rooted believers remain strong in difficult seasons
Colossians 2.7 says ‘strengthened in the faith’. Faith becomes strong through rootedness not convenience. Storms reveal root depth.
Romans 5.3-4 says “we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
It is when we face challenges that our perseverance is tested and character is built up.
1 Peter 5.10 “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
Matthew 13.21 says “shallow roots fail under trouble”. In the parable of the Sower, we see different kinds of believers who fall away because they are not rooted. But a rooted believer bends without breaking.
The bamboo tree is an example of a tree whose bark is not great but the roots are intertwined together and go deep and so will not fall easily. Strength is not always hardness, sometimes it is anchored resilience.