TV 1766 | Rooted Conclusion

If God anointed Paul to pray this, does that not give us a pretty clear picture of the fact that this is God's plan, this is God's will? Well if we pray according to His will, He hears us, doesn't He? He likes that. That's what He's wanting for us to pray, not, oh God, make me, you know, make me wealthy or you know, whatever. Oh God, do what You want to do in my heart and my life. Change me so that I'm actually a living part of Your program and Your kingdom. So anyway, so Paul is praying for these people and these are already people that he's called chosen, predestined, you know, loved and all of that. They're already God's people. So obviously there's, he's praying for something because it is an ongoing need. There's a need for us to get it more deeply, to grow into what God has planned and purposed and to understand it better. So obviously it is a process, isn't it? Okay, so what's he praying? For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in earth and on earth in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches, we kind of sang about that this morning, riches beyond measure, out of His glorious, has He got enough? Has He got what it takes to do what He's purposed to do? Yeah, we know He does. We don't act like it sometimes, but yeah, or we don't act like we qualify for any of it because we're so bad. Oh God, help us. Out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power. Anybody here need power? The enemy's coming against you in different ways or doing things in your life that you're having to cope with. We need, I need strength that I don't have and it's a kind of strength.

It's not just, I'm going to gear up and do things right and then everything's going to be okay. No, we need something that comes from heaven alone. Out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being. That's where I need it. Why? So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. There's an ongoing relationship. I need power that I can understand He's living in here. I am looking to Him. I'm conscious that I need Him every single day and I'm trusting in Him. And the more I am plugged into Him, to use another illustration, there's power that's actually flowing into me that makes it possible for me to do what I know is right to do. He never asks you or me to dig into our own old roots and get what we need because that ain't there. It's only in what He has provided in that new life, okay? Alright, now here's the part that came to my mind, oh, days ago now. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's people, holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. You can't, I mean, this goes way beyond just knowing something. This is incredible. Why? That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now what's being described here is the soil in which you and I are planted. If you know the Lord, this is the soil you're planted in. But to what degree are we digging our roots into that? Or are we just kind of, I'm sort of in, but I don't really have any roots that are going down anywhere.

And you know the Lord has a way. Well let me back up and say this. What do you think the Lord's desire for us, obviously He expresses it there, is that we kind of come to know that in a real way? When He talks about knowing the love of Christ, He's not talking about knowing about the love of Christ. He's talking about something that's experiential. Well if I'm going to experience something, I'm going to have to go through stuff. Oh well, no, I'm not in ... That's what we, that's what life is about. God is going to take us down paths in our lives that are designed to reveal the depth of His love. You will never find the end of it. There's no place where you're ever going to come and say, well I guess that's it, it's up to me now. I've run out. You'd never run out of this. Oh, praise God. I don't care what the devil is allowed to bring upon this earth. God's love is real, and it will prevail for his people, however the world defines you, whether they think you're nobody, you're nobody, I don't want to spend time with you, I don't care about you, this, that, and the other thing. If we're his, we're his sons and his daughters, I'd rather be the child of the greatest father in the universe, the only real one, than somebody that the world thinks, and have the world hate me, somebody the world thinks so highly of. It doesn't matter what they think. I don't need the world's approval to feel, okay, it doesn't matter what they think. Now, I'm not going to go out and be a jerk, but you know what I'm talking about. It's not what the world thinks, it's what the father thinks. And he showed you what he thinks about you when his son went to the cross, took what he took, and said, it's worth it.

That's how high a value I set on you, and you, and you, and you. Does that matter? Does that give us a sense of identity, and purpose, and security in the Lord? Praise God. I know this sounds like wonderful theory, but God is talking about wanting his children to understand this, to get this, in a way that it becomes the place to which we automatically begin to look more and more. We understand when things happen, this is a place I can go. Now, why do things happen? Well, if God wants us to be rooted and grounded in him, you don't suppose that maybe he's going to put us in situations where we need those roots, or maybe we need some more of them? Yeah, you know, trees, of course, get what comes out of them, and fruit, and all of that. They get the nutrients from the soil in which they're planted. That's the nutrients I need, okay? Well, there's so many aspects of this. God helped me to sort through it, but those are the roots that I need. I need to be grounded in his love, but what if he brings a storm into your life? We know from looking at nature that when trees are planted in good soil and a storm comes along, what happens? What happens to a healthy tree? The roots go deeper, the roots go deeper, and they experience more, more stability and more strength. But you have something that's just shallow and sitting on the surface, blows right over. God will put you and me in the storms of life, and he's not doing this because he's mad, and there's no ground for us to get mad at him, because the whole point of this, what's the motivation for what he's doing? It's love, isn't it? You want to know what love is? Look at the cross, and God wants that to become a living reality to where when life happens,

I know I'm safe because my mind and my heart go to him, and I say, Lord, you're right here. You're taking me through this, and you're putting me in a circumstance where I need to plant my roots a little deeper. I need to go to your word, and I need to take a hold of it and believe it and stand upon it, and you're going to back it up, and you're going to make yourself real, and I'm going to come out of this storm stronger than when I went in. And you're going to do something in me that's going to make me able to help somebody else, because again, you're talking about something that is living, that's drinking in something, and that kind of goes to what is it we're drinking in? Well, what's coming out? That's getting to meddling, isn't it? What is this soil that we're being planted in, in Christ? It's love. It's inexhaustible love. If something is coming out of us that isn't that, where's it coming from? And I'll tell you, the Lord is going to put us in situations where He's trying to teach us, I'm putting love, I'm planting you in love because I want that love to so become a part of you that that's what comes out. God help us. If something else is coming out, then maybe the Lord's put you in a situation because He wants you to learn that you've got a need, because we all got needs. And life, God's going to show us our needs as long as we know Him. But what's His motivation? It's love. It's, I know what's best for you. I know what God's plan is. I know where I'm taking you. And this is what it takes to get there. I'm going to cut some of these roots, and I want you to dig your roots deeper in me. And the more you do, the more your identity's going to be in me, and your security's going

to be in me, and you're going to be okay when you face those winds. And you're going to be able to help somebody else because of what I'm putting in you. I realize I'm talking to spiritual giants here. Nobody needs this, but we all need it, don't we? We all need it. And this is what God is looking for to do in His people, and I need my roots deeper. So many times, things happen, and my initial reaction is just drawing on those old roots, that old life, and the Lord's saying, wait a minute, stop, look to me. I'm right here. I have everything that you need, and I care about you, and I want you to come to me. I don't want you to say, oh, I messed up so bad. He couldn't possibly want me to come now. I've got to do something before I can go. And He says, no, I've put you in a place where you can come with freedom and confidence, and when there is a need, you've always got a place to go because my love is greater than all of your need. He looked beyond my fault and saw my need. Praise God. Praise God. All right? And of course, you know, this passage ends, now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. So what's that based on? Is He able? According to His power that is at work within us. That's where I need Him to work because I've got to ... I mean, naturally speaking, my earthly identity is a mess. And so is yours. And so if you're talking about the kingdom of God and His purposes and His character, what we were born into is a mess.

We need Him. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. You know, I thought about different kinds of people in the scriptures. Peter is certainly one of them, isn't he? Who was ... His earthly identity was a fisherman. Somebody who was strong and able and zealous to do stuff and confident in himself and knew how to go out and fish and how to navigate life. And he was kind of a leader among his peers. I mean, Peter was one of these guys that when the Lord called him, yeah, I'll be there. And the Lord called him, loved him. Lord saw all that in him. Even in that time when the Lord rebuked him, said, Satan, get behind me, the Lord still loved him, didn't He? Boy, what a lesson for us. Here was a guy who was sincerely in his own mind, I'm with you, Lord. I'm yours. And of course, we all know what happened. Here's the time comes when Jesus is facing the cross. He's just about to be crucified. I think it was the next day. It was anyways, right about then. And we know the devil didn't understand what God's purpose was, and so he's the one who engineered this thinking he was going to win. And the Lord turned that into the victory that has made it possible for us to have hope today. We've got a God who knows what He's doing. The scripture says, if the powers of this world had known, they would never have crucified Him. So here's Jesus facing all of this, but somewhere in that purpose, in that situation, the devil had come up with an idea.

You know, Peter, he's one of those leaders, we need to get to him. But do you know the devil had to get permission? He has asked to tempt you, so he got permission. So was the Lord mad at Peter, saying, I'm going to get him, I'm going to straighten him out? No. The Lord saw somebody that he had called in his kingdom, but he was relying on his old identity way too much. And so we know what happened. The Lord said, you're going to, before the cock crows, before the rooster crows, you're going to deny three times you even know me, and he said, never. Never do that. Of course, he did, and he wept bitterly. And then we know how the Lord reached out to him more than one occasion. Tell my disciples and Peter, I'm going to Galilee. And he went there and they they met him on the shore there after they'd done some fishing. He says, Peter, do you love me? And he went through that that business with interacting with Peter. And Peter, you know, just, of course, you know, I love you. But then he says the key thing. When you were young. You addressed yourself. And you went where you wanted to go. So what was Peter doing? He was living out his earthly identity. Circumstances of life, family, whatever it was, his own personality, his own abilities or lack thereof, had formed a person who lived according to those principles

and thought he was OK and could serve God. And Lord said, hey, that ain't it. That's not what I'm depending on. So he says, when you were young, that's how it was. But when you were old. Another will dress you. And carry you where you wouldn't go. I think that's all of it. Anyway, that's the essence of it. You're not going to be so full of it and full of confidence and self-confidence and thinking you're something and you can do it. You're going to realize every resource comes from heaven. And you are loved. Now, did Peter have here's Peter in a major failure. I mean, you talk about a failure that caused him to no doubt think he's done with me, I have utterly failed. I promised and I failed. Anybody here ever done that? Do you really believe in your heart of hearts that God still loves you? Do you believe in your heart of hearts that he has allowed that because he loves you and because he wants to take you to a better place in him? I mean, we all we know to do that. But I think we all get it. Anybody who knows the Lord has known the Lord for a length of time. You know, this is an easy thing to say. But when life happens, that's when it matters. When we can look up to the Lord and say, Lord, I don't even understand why this is going on, but I know you love me. And instead of running and trying to find the answer somewhere,

I'm going to dig into you in a deeper way because I know you love me. I know the soil you planted me in is not law. It's it's grace, it's love. I know I am safe running to you in spite of what's happening. Peter didn't even understand that at the time. The Lord had to reach out and get ahold of him. Oh, I thank God for his mercy. He's not going to lose one of us, is he? That is really ever given their hearts to him. He knows how to bring us safely all the way through. Wouldn't it be good if we understood his ways more? And we understood why stuff happens and we understood the soil that he has planted us in. Wouldn't it be good if every time something life happens, our roots go deeper and we learn more about the reality that he actually loves me? You think that would make a difference in our lives? Do you think that if we drink in more of his love, more of it would come out? And we'd be set free from self in our relationships. Do you think that that this is what we said during the meeting? If the Lord allows a conflict to arise. What's his purpose in that? Is it so that we can straighten out the other person, or is it so that we can look in the mirror and say, Lord, you did this because you love me and you want me to learn how to manifest your life and your heart in this and not contribute to the conflict, but to be a source of help and a source of life. But you think about the people that God reached out to. Who in the world would have reached out to Mary Magdalene? I mean, a broken woman.

We don't know her story. We've seen how it's been portrayed, but it was a whatever it was, it brought her to a place where she had seven demons living in her. She probably looked for love in all the wrong places. Desperate for to find out, who am I? I'm just I'm just the worst of the worst. People use and abuse me. Nobody cares about me. But God did. God did, and He sent Jesus and cast those spirits out of her, and she became, she became a believer. And you think of so many others that Jesus reached out to, the worst of the worst. He was criticized for reaching out to the sinners. But oh, what a Savior we have this morning. What a Savior we have. I just pray that God will get our hearts to the point where we begin to realize it's not just a doctrine that, oh, there's inexhaustible love, but it's something that can actually make a difference in how I approach life, and how I act, and how I react when stuff happens. Because stuff happens, and it's going to, and God's going to allow it because He wants us to come into a deeper experience of His love. And if we're going to be a light in this world, we're going to have to get out of the old, we're going to have to cut off those old roots and stop depending on who we are, and getting our security and our sense of who we are from any of that, that doesn't matter. Your joy, your freedom, your happiness does not depend upon what people think of you. And that goes even to the body of Christ. God helped us to grow in that area. But it doesn't depend upon that because we're imperfect people always in the process of God changing us. And so there's going to be a lot of imperfection.

But God wants to bring every one of us to a place where our sense of strength, our security, our well-being, our very identity is in the fact that I'm His child. I can have joy even when people don't treat me the way I, or circumstances don't happen the way I think they should. I can still be free. I can enjoy His love and know that it's okay. And if I run face-to-face into what's wrong with me, and I will, I don't have to give up in despair. I don't have to wonder, oh, does He really love me? Could He possibly love me? Will He forgive me? I've got to make it right. I've got to do this. I've got to do that. Oh, God. Either Jesus paid it all, or ... And He wants us to come as we are and just say, Lord, my life is in Your hands. I'm trusting in You. I believe in this inexhaustible love that You want me to grow up and be rooted in. Rooted means that's where I am fixed. I am planted. It's the same imagery that you get in different ways in the Scriptures, being built on a rock and all those kinds of things. But this is an interesting idea, rooted. Where are you rooted? How much of your roots try to go into what you are naturally, and that's where you're trying to get your nourishment and your well-being and your identity and all of that, and how much of it is in the Lord and who He's making you and preparing you to spend eternity with Him. Oh, praise God.

How incredible, we've talked about this before, but how incredible is it that Jesus sees you and me as His brothers and sisters? But is that how you see yourself? No, it's quiet. Jesus, I know I mess up a lot, but I'm Your brother. And not only that, you're not even ashamed of that. Think about the amazing grace and love that He could look down on somebody like us. He allows us to go through things, but that doesn't mean He doesn't love us. He's taken us through the wind to make the roots go deeper. I'm saying the same things over, but I want to learn how to explore that love and just take my identity and my strength and my security from that and not from anything else that this world supplies. And the more we do that, the more we're going to be full of Him, and we're going to have the power to be what He wants us to be, toward one another and toward the world. To Him be glory. Can He pull off what He set out to do? Does He have what it takes? Is there any limit to His love? Is there any limit to His power? Do we actually believe that, personally? That's where it's got to come down to. That means me too, and all that's lacking in me. He is able to finish what He started, and He is committed to that, and I praise Him today. I rest in Him. This has been the Midnight Cry broadcast. If you would like a DVD or CD of today's message in its entirety, please request it by program number. While it is not required, a donation is available. $10 for DVDs and $5 for CDs is suggested to help with expenses Also for those who request it we will send you our quarterly publication the midnight cry messenger free and postage paid

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