YOU HAVE RESILIENCE WHEN YOU’RE PLANTED
A guy was late to work for the 3rd time in a row. His boss sarcastically asked: What’s your excuse this time?
He said I’m so sorry but my wife asked to drive me to work. I told her she didn’t need to but she insisted saying she could be ready in 10 minutes. But then when we left the bridge was out and I had to swim across the river, fighting off alligators, and a helicopter picked me up put me on top of the building, I ran down sixty flights of stairs and I got here as quickly as I could.
His boss shook his head and said: you expect me to believe that? No woman can get dressed in just ten minutes.
I’m going to talk to you about the fact that WHEN YOU’RE PLANTED, YOU ARE RESILIENT.
RESILIENT: Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions, of an object able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching or being compressed.
Ps 92:12-15. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, 15 To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and
When I look at this verse, and interpret it with New Covenant realities, (which is how we should interpret all Scripture in the Old Testament) I see so much in it that’s the plan of God for you and me.
First of all it talks about the righteous. How did you become righteous?
You believed in Jesus Christ that He came in the flesh, died for your sin and that God raised Him up from the dead for your justification (being made righteous) and you made Him the Lord of your life.
As a result, you were born again and became a new creature with the gift of righteousness in you.
You were DELIVERED out of the kingdom of darkness and translated into God’s kingdom of light.
You became righteous:
Our opening scripture says, the righteous shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. The righteous shall GROW! The righteous are meant to grow up to maturity! That’s God’s plan for them.
So in Eph. 4:11 we know that God gave us the five fold ministry gifts:
Eph. 4:11-15 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ
Then our opening Scripture talks of: those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in those courts.
Both your spiritual growth and your flourishing (in your business, in your career, in your family, in your ministry) are all tied up and very much dependent on your being PLANTED in the house of the Lord.
God chose ZION…a type of the church.
Ps 132:13-18 For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: 14 “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. 15 I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation, And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 17 There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed. 18 His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.” NKJV
It’s in the Church that there’s an abundance of provision. The poor are fed!
The N.C. admonishes us to:
Heb. 10:23-25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. NKJV
No better place to be in the last days as in the body of Christ represented by the local church in your area…
And some assembly is required…gathering together, worshipping and making His will happen…
Heb. 12:22-24. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
IN THE CHURCH, WE HAVE COME TO SO MUCH!
To Jesus, to an assembly of people who are registered in heaven, to Blood covenant and the entire supernatural realm.
Furthermore, it is by hooking up in the local church that you receive nourishment and edifying so you can grow, and you’re equipped so you can serve effectively in the local church and out of the local church reaching outside the 4 walls to the community.
As you serve you grow up and begin to be effective in the kingdom of God.
Eph. 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ
This shows us that it’s in the church that you are equipped so YOU and not just the pastor can do the work of the ministry.
Back to our opening Scripture: Ps. 92:14
They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing,
As you hook up with this PLAN of God, maturity through belonging and serving in the local church, you will last to old age…this is for a lifetime…and you bear fruit longer. You remain fresh and flourishing.
Ps 92:12
The righteous shall flourish…
FLOURISH:
- Develop in a healthy vigorous way especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment.
- Develop rapidly and successfully. Rise to the height of your career.
- Develop in an impressively successful way.
Have you been born again recently?
Have you been delivered from the oppression of the enemy recently?
The way to remain free is to get PLANTED in the house of the Lord and to grow in the things of God.
And put your hands to work.
As a result,
Ps 92:12-15. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
CEDARS
- Solomon used Cedar wood to build the temple. The cedar is symbolic of the pillars in the house of the Lord.
- Cedar trees symbolize resilience, immortality, strength and elevation. They grow really tall.
- Cedar trees survive five millenniums…they live long. They’re known for longevity and vitality.
- The cedars can survive in a challenging environment. They’re actually resistant to decay.
- Cedars have deep roots: for every 10ft of height, they grow 30ft of depth.
The righteous shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.
PALM TREES
The palm tree matches some of the characteristics of the cedar tree especially resilience.
- The have such a bounce back adaptation that they can survive a 100-mile per hour winds.
- They grow close to the coast where strong storms such as cyclones and hurricanes occur.
- God designed the palm tree to withstand the storm. Unlike other trees, the palm tree is able to bend so it doesn’t break.
- It can bend all the way over to the ground and still not break.
- During a hurricane, it can bend like that for hours. The wind keeps blowing and when the winds die down, that palm tree comes right back to where it’s supposed to be. It stands right up again.
So, you could say that during the storm, the palm tree doesn’t worry. Storm after storm comes and it seems the palm tree knows who “he” is and that it is unbeatable.
Studies tell us that when the palm tree is being stretched and bent like that, its root system puts on strength to prepare it to stand up again when the winds are over.
It comes back up stronger than it was before.
When you’re going through a difficult situation, start planning your comeback. You’ll come back stronger.
Brethren, God could have said we would flourish like a mango tree or an avocado tree.
One fell in our backyard the other day because the avocados were getting too heavy for it.
Do you want to grow vigorously in every area of your life?
Get rooted and grounded in the house of the Lord. It will give you a bounce back in your spirit.
If you’ll stay in agreement with God, no matter how hard the winds blow, they cannot uproot you, they cannot topple you, they cannot make you poor, and they cannot destroy you.
As you continue to serve the Lord (one of the ways we serve the Lord is in our giving), no matter what’s going on in your life, no matter how slow the business may be, no matter what the challenges, YOUR attitude should be:
It’s just a matter of time.
Things are turning around for my good.
As you give, commit to serve the Lord with all your heart.
CONFESS:
- I have the DNA of a winner. The DNA of an overcomer.
- There’s no challenge that’s too hard for me or too difficult.
- I always come out of every challenge better than I was before.
- No storm can keep me from my God-given destiny.
- Nothing can stop me
- I’m not ordinary, I have a bounce back in my spirit
- I was created to live in victory
- I have God’s DNA.
- I was made to thrive and flourish
- To the top of my career
- To the top of my calling
- I will bear fruit EVEN in old age.
- I expect to live long and thrive in every season of life.
- As I serve the Lord by giving today. I worship You Lord.
- You’re upright, You’re my Rock and there’s no unrighteousness in you.
