If you have been to Yosemite or Sequoia National Park you have enjoyed the beauty of the majestic Redwood. They are so huge that cars can drive through them and dances can be held on their stumps.

There is an interesting fact about the giant Sequoia Redwood trees. These trees, which reach so high you can't see their tops, have a very shallow root system. The roots practically lay on top of the ground. When you consider the height and weight of the trees and the high winds in the Sierra Nevada's, it is amazing that these trees don't come crashing down during the first storm.

Why Don't they?  The forest saves the trees.  No, I haven't suddenly gone "ethereal" on you.  It is the grove factor, the tree growing in close proximity to one another, that help the great Redwoods to withstand nature's onslaught. What happens is the roots reach out in all directions and they get tangled up with the roots from other Redwoods. The roots grow together, intertwining with each other and creating a stabilizing root bed that helps each tree continue to stand. A lone Redwood tree growing by itself wouldn't last long, but a Redwood forest can last for thousands of years.

That's the way it should be with us as believers. We need to be "knit together in love" to grow strong, to be stable and to be able to stand as Christians. God has established the forest, which we call the church in which we are to grow. We sink our roots into the local body and become entwined with each other's lives. Then when the storms of life start blowing, we too, are stabilized and able to withstand the winds of affliction, temptation and persecution.

Based on a devotional by Terri Mann..

You Need To Get Rooted..

Every Christian needs to be rooted in a good Church. The Church is God's ordained program to change the World. Jesus makes that clear when He tells Peter how He will build His Kingdom.. "..and upon this rock, I will build My Church.. and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)

It is the Church that is to do the work of evangelism, to build and strengthen new believers and to join together to worship the Lord. It is the Church, described by Paul as the body of Christ, that is to unite and hold one another up in prayer, in the gifts and in the ministry of love.

You need to be part of Christ's Church.. So if you are not already a member of a good Church.. go to your Telephone Book and find a good, Bible believing, full gospel Church and go visit. Then get involved and be a blessing and you will find the rich blessings of God flowing back to you.