“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith ― that you, being rooted and grounded in love” (Eph. 3:17).
“Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col. 2:7).
It’s one thing to know union with Christ as an initial revelation, but quite another thing to be rooted and grounded in it in love through faith.
As the Lord has His way with us, we have to wait upon Him because there is always so much noise between our ears that tends to pull us into an illusionary direction as it tempts the heart.
My life is His business and He walks as me, though all my outer circumstances may cry out the opposite. That’s where we learn to pull off the dust of an illusionary separated life and constantly need to express our hearts towards Him in thanksgiving. Our hearts are central. We have not only been given a new spirit but also a new heart. ‘Heart’ is SPIRIT. The heart is the center of our new birth, not of our souls. The Holy Spirit is birthed in our hearts. The heart has two sides; one side fixed, the other side is subject to temptation. So the heart can act in unbelief (Hebr. 3:12), but it’s the soul that sins, not the new heart given to us. So a believing heart expresses through my spirit His will AS my will in oneness with God’s Spirit. In this way Christ dwells in our hearts through faith.
Being rooted in Him comes from knowing by trials and testings that Christ is our center as He hammers out our lack of recognition that would produce life. The dust of the old garments need to be cast off, that little of the flesh here, that little of the world there. Personally I have decided for 2018 to put the focus of my heart to abound in thanksgiving and rest in Him. Especially when nothing appears to be happening, it is REST 101, i.e. to have entered into His marvelous Rest (Hebr. 4:10). This the high road to be established in the faith. So my 2018 kicker is REST 101, with all the hammering out, dusting off and throwing away the old garments!
