Rooted in God –
A Prayer For Strength
A Prayer of Blessing

I came across this beautiful cedar of lebanon tree – many centuries old – in Great Missenden, UK in 2010, in the grounds of a former abbey.

Christian Articles For Rooted in God’s Love:

An Original Prayer By Paul, The Apostle

My Adaptation Of The Prayer For Personal Use

Our Roots Go Down Deep

God’s Love Is The Solution

Other Bible Quotes On Roots And Foundation

My Journey To Put My Roots Into God's Love

An Original Prayer By Paul, The Apostle

This is the original prayer from the Bible by St Paul.
I pray this prayer of blessing and prayer for strength for all of you who are here now on this page:

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;

that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

(Ephesians 3:14-21, KJV esword)

My Adaptation Of The Prayer For Personal Use

Isn’t that wonderful? I pray to be rooted in God. I am rooted in God.

I feel like shouting Allelulia just typing it here now!

What do I love about this prayer?

Our Roots Go Down Deep

I love the way this bible quote refers to things of the earth and nature, as the Bible so often does. I, like so many of you, find it easy to find God in nature.

And I find it easy to relate to the idea that if I am rooted in God, rooted in Love, I am able to withstand elements of my life that might otherwise destroy me...

This for me is a real prayer for strength.
Like a plant, I am not just restricted to what is seen - my own limited idea of who I am.
I have roots.
I am drawing on an unseen source of nourishment and strength - God.

God’s Love Is The Solution

“May my roots go down deep into the soil of your marvellous love.”

As the Beatles sang: All you need is love....

I would add that is only God’s love that meets every need. Love that stays when the love of others has gone and your love for self is difficult to find.

Love is the solution.

We can find it hard at times to believe that anyone can help us:
We tell ourselves:
Too much has happened. We have become too damaged. It is too late.
We might tell ourselves we are too special to be helped. Special because we are too good or too complex. Or special because we are too bad – we have done too much wrong.

Can I please tell you? You can be helped.

The image of seeing ourselves rooted in God’s Love helps us believe what I have just said, and to have hope.

Why?
Because a seed is an amazing thing. It contains life. Although two seeds may look the same on the outside, inside they are different. They have the potential to become very different types of plant.

But does this difference mean they need different earth? No, it doesn’t. The same earth nurtures very different seeds and allows them to break open, grow roots and shoot up on their journey of growth.

A prayer for love is a prayer for strength.

To grow, all I need is love.
To grow, all you need is Love.
In an environment of love, growth is natural.

You may not be getting enough love from yourself and the world around you. But God, Spirit, the Divine is a source of Love that never runs out.

Other Bible Quotes On Roots And Foundation

There are so many Bible quotes which use nature to allow us to see how we can become less dependent on external circumstances, as we become more dependent on God.

Here is another:

“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
(Psalm 1:3, KJV esword)

Just as we prayed to be rooted in God before, now – in this Bible quote – we choose where to plant ourselves. We choose to plant ourselves next to the rivers of water – the river of God’s love. Our roots allow us to tap into this water even when the elements of life would otherwise destroy us.

And, of course, one of the most famous Bible quotes about being rooted in God refers to us as choosing the foundations of the building which is our life:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
(Matthew 7:24-27, NIV)

My Journey To Put My Roots Into God's Love

In 1993, the walls of my life fell with a great crash: I lost my health, my emotional strength, my job and many important relationships.
I became motivated to build my house on the rock of God’s love.

I had been rooted in the things of this world including my own self-image. These did not sustain me through a difficult time.

Instead they were dug up, and I became willing to be rooted in the good earth of God’s love.

One of the ways I did this was to pray this wonderful prayer of blessing and prayer for strength: “May my roots go down deep...”

What I receive is mine to give.
A reminder then that I bless you:

May your roots also go down deep into the soil of God’s marvellous love. Amen.

Move from Rooted in God to the next daily prayer I used to say - Prayer For Leaders.

Click here to see A List Of Prayers.

Return to the Contents List for What Is Prayer?