I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power.

Ephesians chapter 3, verses 17 through 18.

Welcome to today's encouragement from our daily bread.

Our reading titled Deeply Rooted in Christ was written and read by Amy Boucher Pie.

Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through 21.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen

you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your

hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love

that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to His power that is at work within us,

to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Deeply rooted in Christ.

Beloved Pastor Andrew Murray shared how in his native South Africa various diseases affect the orange trees there.

To the unpracticed eye, all may seem fine, but an expert arborist can spot the rot that heralds the tree's slow death.

The only way to save the disease tree is to remove the stem and branches from the root and graft them

onto a new one. Then the tree can thrive, producing fruit. Murray connected this illustration to the

Apostle Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. From prison in Rome, Paul wrote a letter that

wonderfully summarizes the gospel of Jesus Christ.

His pastoral heart shines through when he prayed that the believers would be strengthened with power through Christ's spirit in their inner being

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