Rooted in the Word

Bible Verses, Christian, Devos and Inspiration, Faith, mel's world, melissa mashburn, speak to my soul sunday's, Thoughts, Women's Ministry

Jeremiah 17:8 – They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

I am so excited about today’s word that I can hardly stand myself. You see, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Sunday mornings. I know that this is the one day where I can go to church and be with my brothers and sisters in Christ to worship, study, and learn more about Him. It’s a day that is like no other day, but it is NOT the only time I should be spending time with God. Today is special in another way simply because I am sure that this is something that we could all take a piece of and apply to our lives.

You see, getting close to God doesn’t just happen on Sunday’s (or Wednesday nights depending on your church), we should be drawing near to God each and every day. Check out what it says in His word about this in James 4:8 – 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

I have not always done a great job with spending time in His word. As a matter of fact I would say that in the fourteen years that I have been on my walk with God that only in the last five years or so did I even start to dig into the Bible to try and figure things out a bit. Oh sure, I had a Bible, I even had the rainbow colored tabs (all lined perfectly up, mind you) and had even memorized the books of the Bible and the order they went in (thank goodness my kids went to a private Christian school…I studied that when they did), but I never really understood much of what was actually in the Word. I poked around in the Bible, became somewhat familiar with some of the more talked about stories, but never went any further than that…until one day when I was looking up something for one of the kids and all of the sudden it was like a light bulb went off and I started to put some pieces together.

The gospel is like a lion. It doesn’t need to be protected, it needs to be turned loose. -Unknown

All of the sudden there was this desire, this passion, this drive to know more. I would read my Bible here and there, but never as if it was the MOST important book I owned. I was “intrigued”, for sure, but it didn’t define who I was or how I would live my life until I made the conscious decision to make it the most important thing I owned. You see, I believe that God has been waiting for me (and you too) to want to know Him more. For us to call out to Him to show us how to live, how to raise our kids, how to be godly wives and mothers. There is a point where He is actually waiting for us to stop trying to live our lives “our” way and to seek His way.

Ephesians 3:16-18 – 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

I have been so blessed as I have walked this journey. My first Bible was actually given to me by my mother in love, Brenda, when I was first married to her son. It was a big ole beautiful Life Application Bible, I still have that Bible. It is filled with all my notes, thoughts, highlights, and writing in the margin. I can’t imagine where I would be without that Bible. I also have my Slimline New Living Translation Bible. It is where I have spent the bulk of my “growing” season with Christ. I have read it cover to cover and spent many hours with it glued to my side. Now I have started reading yet another Bible, this one is so very dear and special to me. It was actually my Pap-Paw’s Bible (Charles). When he passed away in 2005 (just two months before my son went into the hospital) it was actually one of the things that was passed on to me. My family knew just how much I would appreciate that gift.

The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts. -A.W. Tozer


So now I am spending time in my Pap-Paw’s 1979 New King James Version Bible. It is old, it is worn out, and it is full of his notes, thoughts, underlines, and special bookmarks. (See the picture above of my Bible and my Pap-Paw’s Bible) It blows me away when I sit and read God’s word and know that for so many years my grandfather held that very same Bible, praying, crying, studying, and drawing near to God. I am sure that neither one of us would have ever dreamed that one day I would be using his Bible, and yet I can not even begin to tell you how much beauty is in knowing that even though we were not on the journey at the same time that we both have taken God’s word to heart and have a desire to be more like Christ.

Being rooted in the Word doesn’t start out with you spending hours studying God’s word. If it did, then I would have failed. I think so many times we believe that it has to be all or nothing…it has to be amazing, long, deep, and rich, when in all reality God just wants us to spend time with Him through His word. Don’t listen to the negative talk that runs through your head telling you that you don’t have ______ (fill in the blank with time, money, patience, understanding, etc.) to spend time reading your Bible. If you want to know how to live your life and are tired of trying to figure it out on your own, then you owe it to yourself to make it a priority…start small, fifteen minutes a day is more than enough to start that journey to being “rooted in God’s Word”. You’ll see, you will start having a desire, a drive, and a passion for more that you just won’t be able to deny…just get started.

Every day before my kids walk out the door for school they see this verse. I have it posted up by the back door for them to remember to stay rooted in Him and His word. I’ll leave you with it today too…

Colossians 2:6-8 – 6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Rooted in Him,
Melissa

3 Comments

  1. Great post! I love that you are studying your Grandfather’s Bible! How special.

    Thank you for reminding me that I need to be MORE rooted in His word.

    Hugs,

    Susan

  2. You drew me right in with the Jeremiah scripture. I love that WORD!!
    So cool that you are using your Grandfathers Bible. It is my prayer that someday my G’s will use mine. What an honor!!
    Blessings on your week,
    Pat

  3. Mel,
    This post touched my heart. I’m not even sure how to put it into words. Over this past year, I have been learning in such a deeper way how important & powerful God’s Word is. Eph. 3:18 “…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” – this is something that excites me every time I open my Bible & find something new.

    Thank you for sharing today!
    ~ Leanne

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