RootedSample

Day 3

God didn’t create you to be a one-hit-wonder. His plan for you isn’t that you lead strong for one season and then fizzle out. Our faith isn’t measured by medals, degrees, or awards, but by endurance. We were created to go the distance, even when the wind is against us.

The Bible says the person who trusts in their own strength is like a tree living in a parched place (Jeremiah 17:5-6). But the person who trusts in God isn’t immune to dry seasons either. Everyone experiences wilderness seasons — seasons when it feels like we don’t have enough and we aren’t enough.

But God doesn’t want you to be bothered by those seasons because He wants you to be so deeply rooted in a source that never runs dry.

Jeremiah 17:8 paints a picture of a person who doesn’t stop producing, even when they’re under pressure.

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.(NLT)

God’s heart isn’t that you would settle for surviving the drought — He wants you to be a source of shade for others, even in the drought.

The Lord says the person who trusts in Him “never stops producing fruit.”

That means when your eyes are fixed on Jesus, you won’t lose sight of your priorities while you’re under pressure.

That means when you’re leading from a place where you don’t feel like you have enough (i.e., “long months of drought”), instead of pouting, you’ll keep pouring what God’s given you. And as you simultaneously reach for God and pour out what He’s giving to you, you become a spring of life for those around you.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” In the same way, perfect conditions never developed the character of a leader.

You may be in a season where things have been stripped away from you that you thought you needed — but it’s possible for you to keep producing joy, patience, faithfulness, and kindness in that place of pain and frustration. And who doesn’t want to follow a leader like that?

God calls us to be with Him before He ever calls us to lead His people. If you will make Him your treasure and send your roots down deep into His Word, you’ll never run out of things to pour and fruit to produce.