Rooted In Love

ROOTED IN LOVE

a prayer to open

Here I am, Lord. Remind me who I am.

I am loved. I am known. I belong to you.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 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. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

When we are rooted in God’s love, we are strong. Storms and trials may shake us, but they will not cause us to fall; we are rooted deeply in life-giving soil. But when we allow ourselves to be distracted or seek to root ourselves in temporary success, the affirmation of others, or the rightness of our own opinions, we begin to weaken. The force of God’s love no longer empowers us, because we’ve distanced ourselves from the source of our power and ability to bring love into the world. How do we stay rooted? We remind ourselves of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection; we set aside time to rest in God’s presence so he can remind us, heal us, and hold us; we gather with other Christians and experience the presence of Christ and his love in community; and we pray that God will open us more and more to grasp his love as much as we are able.

• Reflect on a time you felt overwhelmed by God’s love. What caused you to recognize his love so clearly? What practices help you return to the experience of his love in a similar way?
• Ask God to call your attention to someone who needs this prayer (Ephesians 3:14-19) spoken over them this week. Who did you think of? How might you pray this prayer over that person in a meaningful way?
• Take a moment to quiet yourself in God’s loving presence. Ask him to open your eyes and heart to the ways he wants you to live more fully into the truth that you are rooted in his love. What did God bring to mind?

Father, help me grasp the fullness of your love. When I doubt my worth, when I distrust your care, and when I turn my eyes away from you, keep me rooted and rested in your love. Your love covers all, never leaves or leaks, and binds me to you forever. Let me be a light of your love, a carrier, a dispenser. Let no one leave my presence without knowing that your love remains and guides and leads and heals. All else fades and fails. Amen.