2021 Establish Roots Year
2018 – Restoration – identity as sons and daughters – Galatians 4
2019 – Wild Frontier – freedom in the Holy Spirit – 1 Corinthians 2
2020 – Deep Dive – listening to the Good Shepherd’s voice – John 10
2021 – Establish Roots – Jeremiah 17
Establish Roots (Jeremiah 17:5-8) – Fruitful Trees
Extract (Psalm 40:1-3) – Rescue Mission
Exchange (Luke 5:36-38) – New Life
Ensure Endure (Matthew 7:24-27) – Suffering Preparation
This is what the Lord says, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5-8 NIV)
I waited patiently for the Lord’s help; then he listened to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a rock and made me secure. He taught me to sing a new song, a song of praise to our God. Many who see this will take warning and will put their trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:1-3 GNT)
Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one rips up a new garment to make patches for an old, worn-out one. If you tear up the new to make a patch for the old, it will not match the old garment. And who pours new wine into an old wineskin? If someone did, the old wineskin would burst and the new wine would be lost. New wine must always be poured into new wineskins.Yet you say, ‘The old ways are better,’ and you refuse to even taste the new that I bring.” (Luke 5:36-38 TPT)
Jesus said, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27 NLT)
On the last and greatest day of the festival of tabernacles, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 8:37-39 NIV)
Prepare For Establish Roots Year
Some questions to consider:
What is the condition of the soils of my heart today?
What truly, genuinely satisfies my soul? Is Jesus honestly all I need, or do I really seek to be gratified in happy in other sources?
What’s been happening lately in my heart that needs to go, that I need to be delivered from?
What Holy Spirit exchanges and transformations need to happen in my soul so that I can be more like my Savior? despair into hope, frustration into joy, anger into love, bitterness into compassion…
What are the typical rhythms of my calendar week, and where can I fit more of abiding in Jesus and listening to him? Where in my week can I prioritize more time with my family and less time focused on myself?
