"PLANTING YOURSELF IN THE LORD"

Good Evening to All!

The scripture text tonight is Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD.
For he shall be like a tree planted
by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

According to the reference section of the NKJV, the term blessed is used often in the Psalms and Deuteronomy to describe the benefits that accrue to one who is devoted to the Lord and His Word. The words translated trusts and hope are related in Hebrew. In verse 17:8, planted is used as the imagery of a fruitful tree derives directly from Psalms 1:3 which teaches that one who trusts in God will not be free from trials and adversity, but that God will bring fruit and blessing in and through those difficulties (14: 1-9 , 15: 18-21).

I can't help but feel that this passage is telling me that if I am firmly planted in the Lord, the deeper my roots are in the Lord and the more I trust in Him, the more blessed my life will be. I am not speaking necessarily of material things, but increased faith in Him, love for others, my life spiritually and physically will be richer for it. I mention physically because there is so much sickness associated with stress, worry and nervousness. The closer we are to the Lord, and the more faith we have in Him, the less stress and worry we will have on ourselves. He does say to "cast all our cares upon Him".

I know that is "easier said than done", but we must get in the mindset that the devil does not want us to rely on God. He wants us to worry and be stressed out because in so many words, when we do that, we are essentially saying that God can't handle it, or we are showing pride not wanting to ask God for help.

We need to get it into our heads that God WANTS us to ask Him for help. He wants to help us, and NOTHING GOOD can come from allowing these negative devilish thoughts into our brain, and of course we all know that what goes into our brain also gets into our heart.

This passage is talking about having trust in God. Another reference it brought me to was Isaiah 26:3 which says: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose ;mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.

As long as our faith and trust is planted securely and firmly in the Lord, He will bring us through any problem or situation we come into. I am definitely NOT saying that everything will be rosy, because we learn through our trials. I am saying that sometimes we may not like what we are having to go through, or we may not understand why God is choosing to do things the way they are happening, but He always knows what is best for us. We must always keep that in mind, no matter what we are going through. He sees the "big picture". He sees from end to beginning, so He knows what is in store for us down the road of life. It is best if we just give Him the "steering wheel" and let Him be the driver. If we don't we may take a wrong turn and end up "walking in the desert for 40 years like the Israelites did. Did you know if they would have been right with God during that time, that they weren't very far from the Promised Land? Yet even when they were walking around the desert, (to teach them a lesson) God did not let there clothes wear out, their shoes wear out, He didn't let them starve, He was still their provider.

While we are having to go through our trials, God will be there for us as well.

Speaking of being Planted, I just thought of something my preacher said to us a long time ago. We should "bloom where we are planted". Some take this to mean to "be happy' where you are and what you are doing. I choose to think of it as to "be fruitful " where I'm planted. Let God's light shine through me to others wherever I am. Just like a fruit tree blossoms and has blooms that is the way we should be. We should bloom and share our knowledge and experience of God's Word with others so that our blossoms can bear much fruit. The key here though is that we must be Planted Firmly in God's Word so that our "roots" grow deep. I like to think of myself as a tree and God's Word being the Plant Food that I need to nourish my root system so that they (my roots) will grow strong.

I would like to thank you for "hanging in there with me" while I have been unable to work on my blog this past week. I have really missed doing it. I have however, been being FED the Word of the Lord plentifully. What's even better, is that Brother Welch has consented to stay and preach through Tuesday night. I will however try not to neglect my blog more than I already have.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!