When I pray for young Christians, I often ask the Lord to lengthen your root and strengthen your foundation in the Lord. This involves being:
Rooted and grounded in love – Eph 3:17 – see Eph 3:19, also. We love him because he first loved us. In our ministry, we put a lot of emphasis on knowing the word of God. But we must be careful not to overemphasize this knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth [1 Cor 8:1]. In Deut 6:6-9 we are to teach the words of God in our homes. But notice, this command follows the command to love God [Deut 6:5]. Loving God is what really roots you and grounds you. When you love God, you keep his words [Jn 14:23-24]. When people stray from the Lord’s words, you know they didn’t love him.
Grounded and settled in the faith – Col 1:23 – this is where you get grounded and settled in the words of God, by faith in the words of God. Believe them and live by them. You will see that they are true, that they give you light, and that they communicate with you through the day. They settle you through the trials and temptations of life. They strengthen your trust in God.
Rooted and built up in him – Col 2:6-7 – when we are saved we are “in Christ.” We are rooted in him. Therefore, we can never lose our salvation. The root of the righteous shall not be moved [Prov 12:3]. But we are also to be built up in him, by walking in him. This is how he personally builds us up, like he built up his disciples when they walked with him. It’s like having a personal trainer with you every day. He’s the potter; we are the clay. So, we are built up like clay is molded by the potter. He conforms us to his image [Rom 8:29] not to the image of the others around us.
Grounded in the truth in the church – 1 Tim 3:15 – that’s why a good Bible believing church is so important. It’s in a good church that you really begin to learn the Bible and grow. We have seen that the people who grow the best and who are the most faithful to serve the Lord are the ones who are grounded in the church. They love the Lord, they believe his words, they are being conformed to the image of Christ and they are always in church.
When you are rooted and grounded, the result is:
The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit – Prov 12:12 – you become fruitful in your life. You have the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of Jesus’ righteousness, the fruit of the word of God, and the fruit of your good works. Your root is deep and your tree is very fruitful.
The fruit of righteous is a tree of life – Prov 11:30 – the fruit of your life becomes a source of help to others. Through you fruitfulness, they get saved, they begin to grow and they get into your church.
Conclusion: this is the best way for Christians to grow and to begin to serve. When they are rooted and grounded in love, in the faith, in Jesus and in the church, they will be fruitful and their fruit will be a tree of life to others.