The fruit above and the roots below

I destroyed the Amorite …
though he was tall as the cedars
and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below
Amos 2:9

What an amazing statement of the Lord’s work of healing and deliverance, in our lives!

We’re having a bumper harvest of raspberries, this year! And it’s also going to be a good year for figs! Earlier, we had blackcurrant profusion! Going by the many requests we see from others to “please come and help yourself to our fruit/veg”, this looks like a year of fruitful harvests, all round. Even our tomatoes, that usually end up splitting on the plant, are beautiful and complete, this year!

How good it is and how thankful we are, when we can enjoy such abundance of good fruit. Then we know that the roots, too, must be good.

There are times, though, when we see the evidence of bad fruit in our lives. This may be in the form of negative self-beliefs, or damaging behaviour we can’t avoid, or relationships that are a constant source of hurt, or that nothing ever seems to go right, or any number of other negative experiences we seem unable to shake free from. And we know that the root bearing this fruit, lies deep within. And the root is not good. Yet we seem powerless to do anything about it.

The great news is that God’s promise holds true! In His words through Amos, the “Amorite” represented the enemy of His people. His promise is that whatever wars against us – the bad roots, however they got there, and the damaging fruit they produce – HE has destroyed, on the cross of Jesus, by whose wounds we are healed. We don’t need to live with bad fruit, nor with the roots that continue to produce them. As we take hold of the healing and deliverance available through the cross, we WILL receive and live in freedom!

At the 2016 Encounter Weekends we are exploring this in greater depth and uncovering the tremendous riches of Isaiah 53. There are still places available if you’d like to join us or know someone who would benefit. We’d love as many as possible to have the opportunity to be renewed, refreshed and restored!