Planted

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.

... Psalm 1:3 NKJV

There should be a whole lot of planting going on in the life of a believer.

Planting yourself:

Where are you planted? I'm thinking of that old saying "the three most important things in real estate is location, location and location." I feel location is important for the believer as well.

Have you planted yourself where you can receive life-giving Water and Bread? Jesus told Martha that one thing was needful: sitting at the feet of Jesus, drinking in His presence and feasting on His Word.

Planting in your heart:

Speaking of the Word, it's vital that we be rooted and grounded not only in the Word, but the One who is the Word. Today's culture sucks out everything in us and we need both His presence and life-giving scriptures to renew, replenish and restore us.

The benefits of being rooted are faith ...

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, 

so walk in Him, 

rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, 

as you have been taught, 

abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6-7 NKJV

... and love ...

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; 

that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 

may be able to comprehend with all the saints 

what is the width and length and depth and height— 

to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; 

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19 NKJV

Planting in others:

Once you are rooted and planted, you will begin to produce fruit. We were never meant to keep the fruit for ourselves, though. Fruit kept too long rots. We are meant to share!

The Great Commission tells us to make disciples and the only way to do that is to plant, or sow the seeds of the gospel, everywhere we go. It's up to Him to make it grow.

We also need to share encouragement with other believers. Growth and maturity happens when we strengthen each other with the Word, testimony and fellowship.

And then, there is the planting He does! If you believe as I do, then you know the Lord orders the steps of His children. He establishes us. We are planted right where He wants us.

Therefore, we are the planting of the Lord. A planting ... He does the work, He gets the glory.

To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

... Isaiah 61:3 NKJV

The NSRV translates trees of righteousness in Isaiah 61:3 as oaks of righteousness. I'm a curious person, so I looked up how old the longest living oak tree. According to Wikipedia, it is The Pechanga Great Oak Tree in Temecula, CA, which is 2,000 years old. Alive since the time of Christ, it put down roots deep enough to survive centuries of storms.

I want to be a tree of righteousness, a deep-rooted tree, standing strong through every storm of life. 

How about you?

I'm sharing this post at Soul Survival, #TellHisStory and TrekkingThru.