Rooted in love

Our hearts have been conditioned to understand God in a particular way. Some of this conditioning is dependent on the Spirit of God who has to do a transformation in our hearts for us. The Word tells us that it’s, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Zechariah 4:6 (NIV). Paul the apostle prayed that God would strengthen believers so it’s not the believers who strengthen themselves, it’s God who makes them strong so they can understand.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is to tell God that we can’t do life on our own. First, we must reject all false definitions of God’s love and cry out to Him for help in understanding Him and His love personally. God is willing to give us a revelation of who He really is and show us the places that we harbour unbelief and have a misrepresentation of His love. If we ask, God will free us and allow us to see Him as He really is.

When we get a revelation of God’s love, it empowers us to overcome the lies we might have believed before. Paul expresses to us the Father’s heart when he states, “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love” Ephesians 3:16-17 (NIV). This tells us that in order to get a strong revelation of God’s love, Jesus through the Word has to be at home in our hearts. Not only does Paul desire the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, but he also prays that Jesus dwell in our hearts. This means that Christ must be at home in our heart.

When something dwells or takes over our heart, it’s hard to think of anything else. When we trust Jesus as Lord and Saviour, His presence needs to displace everything else in our hearts. Jesus must be our only source. If He truly dwells in our heart, there will be no room for any other god. It is the love of God that allowed Jesus to die for our sins, so we have to put our full faith in Him, with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. As believers we must root ourselves in the love of God displayed through Christ Jesus. Love is the soil in which believers are “rooted” and it’s on this foundation that we’re “established”. The firmly rooted tree bears much fruit and the solidly founded building becomes a sanctuary in which the Lord dwells.

To get to this point we must feed on the Word of God. The Word (Christ in print) waters our roots so they can sink deep into the love of God. This is similar to what’s expressed in John 15:4 (NIV) when it says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” As we make Christ at home in our hearts through faith that expresses itself in the Word of God, we will begin to comprehend His love. It’s the Word that does it, but we have to read it so that it can change us. Jesus is the rock and our foundation. It’s when we are submitted to the Holy Spirit, rooted in Christ and our foundation is on Him, that our grasp of God’s love becomes clear.