Check Your Roots
Colossians 2:6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
As parents, we’re burdened to see our sons and daughters continue walking with the Lord and growing in their spiritual lives and understanding. We want to see them living the abundant life! We want them to live victoriously in a world that seeks to drag them down. How can we pray to that end more effectively?
The Apostle Paul, in Colossians, encourages us with several directives that are aimed at strengthening our spiritual walk and protecting us from the enemy.. The first is to “continue” to live our lives in Him. That word “continue” is the word “peripateo'' in Greek and it means to walk, to make one’s way, to progress or conduct oneself (1). It’s the word from which we get the word ‘perpetual’. So if we’re continuing in Christ it means that we are growing in our faith and our lives exemplify a continued progression toward Christ and toward becoming like Him. It doesn’t stop. We can not be static. We’re not to be passive. So our first point of prayer this week is that our sons and daughters would continue to walk with the Lord and grow in Him.
But that’s not all. We’re told to be rooted. “Rhizoo” (2) is the Greek word for “rooted” and it means to be planted…not just set or placed like plastic flowers stuck in a garden. We’re to be firmly rooted, growing, digging our roots in and blossoming gloriously, bearing fruit. We do that by digging deeply into the Word- not just listening and walking away, but taking it in and letting it change us, strengthen us and make us firm in our faith. We want deep roots, not shallow wimpy ones. Prayer point number two is that our sons and daughters would have strong, healthy roots and that the ‘fertilizer’ they apply would be spiritually organic- straight from the Word and poured out by the Holy Spirit.
The next directive is to be built up in Him. Note that it’s not just a general “building up”, but being built up in HIM. The Greek, epoikodomeo (3), defines this as being built upon. Have you ever seen a beautiful majestic tree that was uprooted by a storm? Although the tree looked sturdy, the roots spread broadly, but not deeply. It lacked a strong foundation. Whatever it chose to dig its roots into and around wasn’t strong enough to allow the tree to stand in the storm. When the storm came through, the tree was quickly toppled over. The whole thing was uprooted and what was left after the storm gave evidence that the tree lacked healthy roots... The ‘surface’ beauty of the tree belied the weakness of its foundation.
Our lives are the dwelling place of Christ. We need a good foundation for our faith, but we need to be built in Him as well so that our lives reflect His Presence. As parents, we likely laid the foundation with our children. But now it falls on them to build upon it and make it their own according to the guidelines provided in Scripture- God’s building code.. Pray that our sons and daughters continue to grow and build their faith with solid teaching and wise understanding of the Word.
Finally, Paul encourages us to be ‘established’ or made firm and sure and abounding with thanksgiving. If we’re established, we are strong in our faith and we’ll be overflowing with gratitude for the Lord’s blessings and the certainty of His promises. If we’re growing, we’ll be overflowing!
So today, let’s take some time to pray these things over our sons and daughters…and ourselves and the whole Body of believers. Let’s overflow with thankfulness because the Lord doesn’t stop working in us but continues until He completes that good work He started in us!!
“Father, thank you for the promises in Your Word that encourage us and show us the way we should go. I pray that You would help (name) today to continue to walk in You. Lord, help them to stick to the narrow way and not veer off toward the wide road that leads to destruction (Mt 7:14). Give them good teaching and healthy spiritual friendships and discipleship that will build their foundation and allow them to be properly planted. Help them to flourish and bear fruit. Lord, I pray that they would be established both in their own quiet time and in Church. Give them relationships that would sharpen and encourage them and help them to overflow with thanksgiving for all that You’ve done and will continue to do. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Pray Without Ceasing.
G4043 - peripateō - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4043/kjv/tr/0-1/
G4492 - rhizoō - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4492/kjv/tr/0-1/
G2026 - epoikodomeō - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2026/kjv/tr/0-1/
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