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The Father's Business Podcast
The Father's Business Podcast
Devotional-Getting To the Root
Real change starts beneath the surface. This devotional from The Father’s Business shows how God, the master gardener, uproots harmful roots—division, pride, prejudice—and replaces them with Christ himself. Drawing on passages like Romans 11:16 and Matthew 15:13, it reminds us that lasting transformation isn’t our work but God’s. Through prayer and obedience, He removes what’s destructive and plants holy roots that bear good fruit, uniting us as His dwelling place.
The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God. Thank you for listening to this devotional. As we look at our culture today, you can hear the hearts of many crying out for deep and systematic change that will get at the root of the issues. It's a principle we see in Scripture. In Romans 11 16, Paul says, If the root is holy, so are the branches. Jesus said, Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots in Matthew 15, 13. Amos 2.9 says that God destroyed the fruit of the enemy of his people and the roots below. We cannot achieve this in our own strength and efforts. Our heavenly Father's strength can destroy every evil root. But God doesn't just pull up the evil roots. In Revelation 22, 16, Jesus says, I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. Our role is to start with our own hearts, asking God to search us and pull out any evil roots we have allowed to grow, letting God do a deep work in each of us. Then ask the root of David, the bright and morning star, to fill us with Himself, so that through prayer and obedience we can replace the evil roots with holy roots that will produce fruit. God wants the body of Christ to stand against separation energized by Satan, whether those are on a national scale or the separation that is formed in our personal relationships. In Matthew 12, 25, Jesus says that every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. Christ brought down the wall of hostility between God and man, Jew and Gentile, black and white, east and west, male and female, young and old, so that in him we can all be built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. God commands us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of peace as much as possible, to live at peace with all men. God wants us not to regard anyone after the flesh, but to walk in the ministry of reconciliation that God has given to us. Use this prayer as a starting point for your own conversation with God. It's not a list to be rushed through. Take your time with each line and listen to what God wants to reveal to you. Father, forgive me for the ways I have allowed evil roots to have a place in my heart and mind. You are the gardener of my heart. You search me and know my every thoughts. Please shine the light of your glory so that anything that is not of you can be uprooted and removed. I ask that you remove all roots of prejudice, favoritism, discrimination, tribalism and tradition, and replace them with the fear of God, godly wisdom and the ministry of reconciliation. I pray that you would remove the roots of walking in the flesh, carnality, division, jealousy, anger, unforgiveness and bitterness, and replace it with walking in the spirit and being rooted in love and filled with all the fullness of God. I pray that you remove the root of soullish talk, criticism and curses, and replace them with speaking, blessing, and cultivating restoration. I pray that you would remove the root of bondage, of control, greed, exploitation and oppression, and replace them with Christ's humility and having no other gods before you. I pray that you would remove the root of pride and replace it with a heart of repentance and humility. I pray that you remove the root of deception, of hypocrisy and lying, and replace it with knowing and receiving you who is the truth. I pray that you remove the root of deception, hypocrisy and lying, and replace it with knowing and receiving Jesus, who is the truth. I choose to repent from each of these roots and any others you reveal to me in all of my relationships. I also cry out on behalf of the church that we as the body of Christ would repent from these roots for the sake of the nations. God pull up these roots of the enemy and establish the names of our Lord, who is the victor and redeemer. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom, and we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. For more on this devotional and for scripture references for each of the roots that we mentioned, please go to Prayer Portions by Sylvia Gunter, available at www.thefathersbusiness.com.
