Are you an annual or a perennial?
God recently gave me a powerful word to share and coupled it with a simple and clear vision. I believe this is specifically for one, if not several, of you. So I pray you’re reading with a receptive and open heart, as God may just be reaching out to YOU.
Are you struggling at work…or with a friend…or a spouse?
Maybe you’ve been asking God to change your circumstances?
Maybe you’re feeling closed in and restless…desiring change, but not knowing why?
Or maybe you’re feeling, in a million different ways, an overwhelming urge to just run. Because if you stay where you are, you’ll become too stable…too comfortable. And that terrifies you.
Something God has recently laid on my heart to pray around is this generation’s lack of steadfastness. Generally speaking, we are a generation without roots.
We struggle to appreciate stability in the mundane, and we believe the lie that we must constantly chase the next thing. We can’t savor the moment at hand, because we’re too busy striving for the next. We can’t enjoy what’s right in front of us because we’re too eager and restless for what’s ahead. We can’t catch our breath because we’re always running. But hear me, friend. That’s not what God desires for you. Especially not in this current season or issue you’re facing. He doesn’t want you to run. I believe God wants you to stay. That thing on your mind you’ve been praying about…the thing you want to run from right this minute, because it’s too comfortable…too mundane…
God is speaking over His people: Don’t run. Stay.
“…I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” -Ephesians 3:17-19
God gave me an image of an annual and a perennial plant. An annual is a type of plant that is colorful, flashy and eye-catching. It is vibrant and appealing, but that flash eventually fades. Its shallow roots curl up and it dies. It’s mesmerizing for a moment, and then with the season it passes along–a new plant having to be completely repotted each year.
A perennial, however, is less flashy, but its roots run deep. It anchors in the ground and is stable and steadfast. Its condition changes with the season, but its roots stay in tact and become more complex. It weathers the mundane and the unpredictability of each year and consistently comes back stronger, heartier, and more mature. Perennials stay.
So, are you an annual or a perennial?
I believe God is posing this question in this timing so His words will reach you before you make a mistake. I believe God is calling someone to stay where they’ve been planted. He’s asking you to establish roots. To become a perennial…and to faithfully come back. To find beauty in consistency. And to understand that within positions of stability and longevity, we grow.
I fully believe we should have a spirit of willingness to go when called, but I also believe we must pray for a spirit of discernment that can recognize when it’s God truly calling us to move, or simply our own restlessness running away from establishing roots.
God desires that we would know consistency. That we wouldn’t be afraid to grow roots and flourish in the place we’ve been planted. To care for others well for the long haul. And that we would come into full maturity, rooted and established in love.
“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect, the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” -Ephesians 4:14-15
Stop running friend.
This time, God wants you to stay.
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” -1 Corinthians 15:58
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