One of our Inspire Missioners sent this reflection after the January day of fasting and prayer.
“As I was fasting and praying I was reminded of this scripture:
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit
Jeremiah 17: 7-8
The Lord then reminded me of something from Lectio 365 recently entitled ‘Direction’ that said, “In our lives we often set off in one direction, aiming to reach one destination only to end up somewhere completely different.”
In Mark 6 53-56 after Jesus calmed the storm the disciples arrived in Genneseret. Jesus had actually told them to go to Bethsaida and Genneseret was on the other side of the lake much further south. The same also happened to Paul when he was shipwrecked on Malta en route to Rome.
In both cases they were not where they thought they would be, but God used them powerfully right where they were. Good things happened. Healings and miracles happened.
There are people in the Inspire Movement now who are not where they thought they would be. That may be geographically or maybe they knew where God was leading and they are now being taken in a different direction that maybe they don’t understand right now.
But then the Lord brought me back to the Jeremiah reading. No matter how far off course we are blown, no matter how different our destination is from where we were aiming at times, what brings fruit for God’s glory is that we trust the Lord and have hope and confidence in Him. This happens when our roots reach down deeply into His living water.
I felt God saying that for us as individuals within the Movement to grow in Him, we need to focus on deepening our roots in Him so we are prepared for wherever we might find ourselves.
It also linked a little into the question about fruit. Not a specific fruit in itself, but that we will bear fruit where it is least expected, Like a tree that remains green in the desert. Because of our deep rootedness and this fruit will be a powerful witness to those around us
I was left pondering the questions: What does deep rootedness look like? Both individually but also as a Movement?”
Read another related reflection: Rooted In…?
