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Rooted

Ephesians 3:17

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

Last month I took a quiz to discover my word for the year of 2023, I have done this for the last three years and this year my word is ROOTED and I thought this would be a good month to talk about what it means to be rooted in love and in Christ word. In Ephesians 3:17-19 it says; ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, ¹⁸ be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; ¹⁹ and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].The definition of rooted we are going to use is “deeply felt”, God desires our love for Him to be deeply rooted in faith and in word,

I am using the Amplified Bible for these verses. In this book Paul was conveying encouragement to the leaders and church of Ephesus while in jail in Rome, Paul had three fruitfull years of ministry, speaking bodly and doing miracles through the strength of God and had come to care deeply for the leaders and people there. Paul shared the deep love of God that he has for us all. These verse feel like a love letter to us, a very beautiful letter.  I can’t help but feel a deeply rooted joy and love for God when reading these verses, Agape” is one of several Greek words for love. When the word “agape” is used in the Bible, it refers to a pure, willful, sacrificial love that intentionally desires another’s highest good. This is just one kind of love God the he desires for all of us.

Our love for God and His word should be deeply rooted in our minds,hearts and souls, may we show that love to others through words , thoughts and actions. may you be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].

Dear Lord, May we keep your word and love deeply rooted in our heats, my we experience the hights and depths of your love. As we trust you Lord to make a home in our heart, to grow deep down into your love and keep us strong.

Saved To Live A God Styled Life,

Maggie P

Lamentations 3:24

What does portion mean? a part of a whole; an amount, section, or piece of something. To divide (something) into shares to be distributed among two or more people.When I think of this word I think of the weight loss journey I am on and think in terms of food portions or the term portion control.

In college and probably before then I let portion control go out the window, I used food as a soother for all the horrible emotions I experienced, in the 80’s that seems to also be when fastfood and restaurants decided to supersize their portions, so now you could upgrade your portion to supersize, I don’t know about you but McDonalds french fries back then were my passion, oh my who knew that they could taste so good and be supersized, that was the beginning of the end for me, samwiches also became supersizeable, in 1986 I was pregnant with our daughter and mid-way through my pregnancy I craved Stombolies, these samwhiches were served on a basic small loaf of italian bread, a carb lovers dream! While carrying our daughter I believe she enjoyed them as well and I contribute that to her coming into this world with a head full of hair and of course the heartburn that would follow eating a stromboli.

So what does this have to do with God being our “portion” it is simple when we allow God to be our portion and our control(guide) our lives are not perfect but we experience a life centered and balanced, just like when we use portion control in our eating habits, our bodies get the right nutrients and we are healthier for it. When we live our lives with God as our portion, we allow Him to work through us and He guides our paths, forever and always my portion you,God alone will be.

Lord, Great is your faithfullness, your mercies are fresh every morning, you are my portion, my hope is always in you! In your name I pray this. Amen.