How To Be Rooted In God’s Word

Your faith is tested by the trials and challenges that you face in your life. How you react to your trials and challenges is a reflection of your spiritual maturity.
So when you encounter a trial, a problem or a temptation, it is not enough to have a mental knowledge of the Scriptures. Instead we must have a Christ-centred approach to dealing with our problems by obeying the very Scriptures we claim to believe.
In other words, the evidence that we are truly rooted in the word of God is when we become doers of God’s word and not just hearers.

How Rooted Are You?

In Luke 8:4-15 Jesus spoke and explained the meaning of the Parable of the Sower. In this particular parable, there are 4 kinds of soil in which the seed attempts to grow in order to bear fruit.

There’s the seed that fell on the hard path (Luke 8:5), then the seed that fell on the rock (Luke 8:6), the seed that fell among thorns (Luke 8:7) and finally the seed that fell on good soil (Luke 8:8).

In the Parable of the Sower Jesus explained that “the seed IS the word of God” (Luke 8:11). So the seed is not money or a monetary offering. Instead the seed represents the word of God alone. The seed is the Scriptures according to Luke 8:11.

Then the type of soils represent the hearts of people and their individual ability to both receive and obey the word of God.

Therefore you are the soil. But what type of ground or soil are you? How rooted are you in the word of God?

Jesus explains the Parable of the Sower by saying that the seed that fell on the path are those people who hear the word of God but “then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12).

Then the seed that fell on rock are people who receive the word with joy but these people do not have any strong foundation to stand on when they face temptation or various kinds of life challenges (Luke 8:13).

Jesus also explains that the seed that “fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

So how rooted are you in the Scriptures? Are you the type of Christian or church-goer who is hyped up, happy-clappy and joyful on Sundays and during the church service? And then from Monday to Saturday you’re a totally different person who lives contrary to your Christian faith and is allowing the temptations and value systems of this world to influence you?

Jesus says that we should be like the seed that fell into good soil which eventually could bear a great harvest of fruit (Luke 8:8).
In Luke 8:15 Jesus explains that the seed that fell in the good soil “they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

Therefore in order to be rooted in the word of God, we should all aim to be like the good soil that is mentioned in the Parable of the Sower. Our hearts must not be hardened. Our hearts must welcome God’s Scriptures and we must allow His word to transform and change us so that we become more like Jesus.

Jesus Himself was tempted by the devil, but when tempted, He was rooted in the word of God. Christ gave us an example of how to overcome temptation by responding to each temptation with a proclamation of the written word of God (Matthew 4:1-11).

Are you doing the same?

How to be Rooted in God’s Word

1. Meditate on God’s word DAILY. Psalm 1:2-3 says “…But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he MEDITATES day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper”.
A tree planted by the river will obviously have its roots benefiting from an abundant supply of river water.

2. Trust & Believe God ALWAYS. Do not believe only when there are no problems, but believe God’s word despite the circumstances. Jeremiah 17:7-8 says “Blessed is the man who TRUSTS in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

3. Walk in the Holy Spirit and NOT the flesh. The evidence of walking in the Spirit is when we obey the word of God instead of obeying our sinful or fleshly impulses.
Galatians 5:16-18 says “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

Therefore in order to be rooted firmly in God’s word you need to mediate daily and believe God’s word at all times, no matter what your circumstance. Also allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and He will give you strength to overcome and obey God’s word.