Uprooting and Planting
Welcome to Peniel CrossRoads, where we embrace Jesus’s heart and together live out the call to biblical unity!
While we were still living in Asia, during the early morning one summer, our city experienced rare typhoon-level winds and rain. Our area had seen flash floods like that before, but never with such powerful gusts of wind. Trees along the road and embedded in sidewalks were uprooted and turned completely on their side, dirt clinging to their tendrils, blocking the usual thoroughfare of cars and passengers. Road crews immediately got to work clearing brush and debris.
Several days later as I walked through the neighborhood park, I observed what had been cleared and what was still being broken apart for removal and replanting. A potted tree whose pot had fallen on its side in shards had been replaced and set aright; trees that once blocked the path were sawed into several large chunks, awaiting someone to carry them away for burning or recycling.
Without the uprooting of something old, we cannot receive the Spirit’s planting of the new.
This morning, as I meditated on the Scriptures the Lord used to call Chris AND me to prophetic ministry (Jeremiah’s call was our separate calling before Chris and I even knew one another!), I was reminded of God’s faithfulness to accomplish His own good work.
At first, when Jeremiah heard God’s call, he felt unqualified because he was so young. God’s reply was, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 1:7-8
Yahweh went on to touch Jeremiah’s mouth to put His words there. He fortified Jeremiah’s faith through His touch and His promise: “See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” Vs. 10
Although Jeremiah had received a touch on his mouth and heart, God encouraged him once more with a vision: a vision of a branch of an almond tree, assuring Jeremiah that God was “watching” (which sounds like ‘almond’ in the Hebrew) to see that God’s word was fulfilled.
I am encouraged that God is STILL watching to see that His word is fulfilled, not only in our individual lives, but in what He is accomplishing in and through the Church!
In my own life, it seems that right before God wants to do something big, I tend to wrestle with thoughts of inadequacy and feeling too small or unimportant. In the same way, we have seen churches kicked in the gut through tragedy or transition. When an event shakes our sense of control, we may be tempted to say, “I’m too young,” or “Our church is too small,” or “We’re too weak.” So God’s word to Jeremiah admonishes us, “Do not say, “I’m too __________. I will be with you, and I will rescue you”!
The more we visit with pastors and churches, the more we notice that God is purifying the Bride right now, and it is so that God can make room for something new! He is clearing out the “storerooms” of our pasts—whether that past was good or not so good—to make room for something better! We see the Spirit of Jesus awakening the Church to desire to come together to accomplish what we could not do on our own: to join in the renewal of the people of God for the revitalization of mission to our communities and cities. God’s vision is rising in His people everywhere with a zealous passion! It has begun; can we now perceive it?
Will we say, “I am too ____________,” or will we join the New Thing God is doing? Will we allow Him to uproot so He can plant? Will we trust Him to complete His work in us? Will we take His words, with confidence in His Spirit, to the places where He is already moving and awakening? May God help us to trust Him for greater things than we’ve seen before…
Lord, we praise You for choosing us despite our age, weakness or limitations! We believe You are doing a New Thing in your people and we want to perceive it! Show us how to step into the anointing You have already given us by Your Spirit to uproot and overthrow, to build and to plant. In Jesus’ Mighty Name we pray, Amen.
“The LORD said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.’ “ Jeremiah 1:12