The Anchor

Col.2:⁷ “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

To occupy until Jesus comes, you first have to take the territory and secondly, be planted. Every Christian should be planted in a local church. There is nothing like a floating or a roving Christian. It does not exist, check the Bible. To be a Christian without a local church is to be an orphan, on the way to becoming a vagabond. Hard? Yes, I know but it is the truth. When you are planted in a church, people are going to step on your toes. Can you take it, or will you insist on everybody minding their own space and respecting themselves? Guess what? People stepping on your toes is part of the process of dying to yourself. Otherwise, that seed can be polished, washed, cleaned, and even shiny but it will not produce. Except a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone [John 12:24]. A Christian without a local church is an orphan.

You have to be planted in a local church. It is one thing to take possession of the territory, but it is another thing to settle in it. God is saying, you will take possession and you will settle in it. Num.33:⁵³ “Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy.” [emphasis added]. The settling is important; you need to settle in the land. To occupy, you take the territory, be planted, and the third thing is you need to Grow Roots. You need to take root; it is so important. When you are planted, just leave the seed in the ground. Do not go and excavate the seed claiming you want to check if the seed is okay. You wait for a little and then plant it and come back again tomorrow and repeat the same thing all over again. You have to leave the seed in the ground and let it germinate. It is called death – let the seed die.

Basic biology, when you plant a seed, the first thing that grows is the root and the root grows downwards. Why is it so important that the first thing to happen to a seed when it is planted, is for it to grow roots? The seed does not sprout until the root anchors in the ground. The challenge with a lot of us is we want to sprout without growing roots. We want to be seen; we want to shine. Social media is a big blessing, and it is very useful. However, social media has become an epidemic, a big challenge for our generation. So many people have lost themselves to social media. What knocks them off to sleep is social media. When they wake up, the first thing they check is social media. Social media has become their god.

The first person you should talk to and like when you wake up, and the last person you should talk to and like before you sleep, is the Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with having a social presence and sharing your pictures. However, sometimes you need to hide yourself. It is not all about shinning; you must grow roots before you grow your shoot. The root is arguably the most important part of the plant because it comes first. But the root stays where? In the ground.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace to occupy – to take possession of the land and settle in it, to be planted, die to self and take root downwards, in Jesus Name. Amen!