November 17 2025

Monday November 17

“Rooted and Grounded in Love”

Ephesians 3:14-19

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Today we're continuing to look at the prayer, the petition, that the Apostle Paul prayed for the saints there at the church of Ephesus. The first thing he prayed for in verse 16 is that they would “be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man”. They'd have spiritual energy to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and to do the will of God. Secondly, Paul prayed, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love”. So, the second thing now Paul is praying for is the depth of their spiritual experience in Christ. How deep is your spiritual life?

You know, so many Christians are like a mile wide and an inch deep. They display a lot of Christianity until they end up in a different situation, a crisis, then it's revealed they have no depth to their Christian life. That's what Paul is praying for, that there would be depth in their spiritual walk with God. He uses three words in verse 17 to speak of this depth. The first word is “dwell”. Then the second is “rooted”. The third word is “grounded”. 

The word “dwell” is a word that speaks of Christ being at home in our hearts. What Paul is praying for is a deeper experience between Christ and His people. He yearns for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts—not a surface relationship, but an ever-deepening fellowship. Not only are we at home in Christ, He's at home in our hearts. Abraham is a good illustration of this. When God and the two angels came to see Abraham after He has promised him a son, God felt at home with Abraham. He sat down to have a meal with him. He conversed with him. He talked with him. But then, God had another thing on His agenda, that was the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He didn't go to Lot's house. He sent the two angels because He didn't feel at home in Lot's heart. So, my friend, to dwell in our hearts means Christ is at home. He has a place where He can commune and fellowship with us. Jesus is always a welcome guest.

Now, already we are saints. That's what Paul addressed these Christians at Ephesus with in the very first verse of the book: “To the saints at Ephesus”. So, they're saints already. They are already in Christ. Christ is already in them. But the question is, does Christ dwell in your hearts? Is He abiding in your heart? “If you abide in me”, Jesus said, “and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit and my Father will be glorified” (John 15:7-8).

The second word that we see here is the word “rooted”. The verb rooted moves us into the plant world. The tree must get its roots deep into the soil if it is to have both nourishment and stability; and the Christian must have his spiritual roots deep into the love of God. Psalm 1:2-3 is a perfect description of this word: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper”. Jeremiah 17:5-8 is a good commentary on it. One of the most important questions a Christian can ask himself is, "From what do I draw my nourishment and my stability?" If there is to be power in the Christian life, then there must be depth. The roots must go deeper and deeper into the love of Christ.

Thirdly, we see the word “grounded”. Grounded is an architectural term; it refers to the foundations on which we build. There's only one foundation that can be in our lives and that's the foundation of Jesus Christ. We know that the experiences of life, the trials of life will expose if we're building on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. Which means we have depth. Jesus said it this way in Luke 6:47-48, “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock”.  

We're dwelling in Christ. Christ is dwelling in us. We have deep roots into the foundation, Christ Himself. “Christ is our life” (Colossians 3:4). “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  That is then the story of our life. It's a Christ-like life. It's exchanged life, as Hudson Taylor put it.

My friend, that's what we need to have. That's why Paul prayed for the depth, the depth of our love in Christ. We should pray for that not only for ourselves, but for others.

God bless!