September 11, 2001 was a day that rocked America to its core. It was a terrifying day to say the least. It was a day that caused many to question their security and live in fear. It was a day that left its mark on anyone who was alive.

On that day, four planes were hijacked by terrorists and steered towards major American targets. Two of the planes crashed into the twin towers in New York City destroying both 110-story buildings along with the 47-story world trade center tower. Those two planes also caused significant damage to 10 other buildings in the area.

The third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and the fourth plane that was originally headed towards Washington, D.C. crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after its passengers courageously overpowered the terrorists.

The destruction of that day was estimated at $10 billion dollars in property damage, 2,996 people killed, 6,000 people injured, 343 firefighters killed and 72 law enforcement officers died. It has been described as the single deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. And it has been said that it changed the landscape of life, as we know it in America more than any other event in American history.

I still remember exactly where I was that day. I remember feeling afraid, helpless and vulnerable. I remember how desperate my prayers were that day. And I’ve often wondered how some of the Biblical authors would have prayed that day. Maybe Paul would have prayed the prayer he prays in Ephesians 3.

Look at Ephesians 3:14 – 21…

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Now to be fair, Paul isn’t praying this prayer in light of a national emergency such as the one we experienced in America on September 11, 2001. But he is praying from prison. He is praying against the backdrop of severe religious persecution. He is praying for Christians in Ephesus who more than likely live each day with a sense of fear and insecurity. Some commentators have noted that the Ephesian Christians were more than likely very poor and enslaved. Each day would have been a new set of troubling circumstances for the Ephesian believers. Their newsfeeds would have looked no different than ours. Their social media posts would have been just as discouraging.

Think about what you long for…

We are nearly 17 years removed from the horror of 9/11. We are not enslaved to cruel masters. We experience relative ease when it comes to living out our faith in America. But the truth is, we still desire the same things the Ephesian believers desired. We desire security, safety, freedom, fulfillment and friendship.

Diseases still ravage the bodies and minds of our loved ones and us. Our news feeds still churn out one horror story after the next. The divorce rates are still at an all-time high. Broken families are still living in nearly every home on every block. Depression is still a very real mountain. Loneliness is still one of the leading causes for suicide. Addictions of all shapes and sizes from workaholism to substance abuse still leave their marks on society.

It doesn’t matter where you live. Whether you live in the suburbs or you live in the inner city or you live in the country. Whether you live in affluence or you live in poverty. The world we live in is broken. The people you know are broken. The person next to you is broken. You are broken.

How do you pray in the middle of all this brokenness?

And what do you pray for? Sometimes it seems like I’m just praying to survive. There are some seasons where that just seems to be the only way to pray. But I got to thinking about this last week as I studied. And I became convicted that I need to pray through my desire to survive until I begin to thrive. What if my human insecurity was transformed into godly confidence? What if I prayed through my human sadness to a place of godly gladness? What if I prayed through my human fear to a place of trusting that God was near? What if, instead of my human flyby prayers for survival, I actually sought God for revival?

I think these kinds of questions against the backdrop of the suffering of humanity are part of what drove Paul to pray the way he did. I see Paul kneeled out of desperation for other believers. I hear him praying in light of the knowledge of our identity in Christ. I hear him asking the Lord for a manifestation of true spiritual power. I hear him asking the Lord to settle down in our hearts. I hear him asking the Father to root our hearts in Christ’s love.

And Paul also prays that our lives would be built or established or founded or grounded like tall buildings in the love of Christ (vs.17). But what does it look like to be grounded in the love of Christ?

#1: If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will build your life on the love of Christ

The word love is a funny word. It gets misunderstood often. We often want to define the word love according to what we want rather than letting the true definition of the word transform what we want. When I define the word love according to what I want then my life gets built on pursuing the fulfillment of my desires.

With this kind of foundation I use people to fulfill my desire for acceptance. I chase things to fulfill my desire for status. I pursue goals to fulfill my desire for achievement. I only love people, things and goals for the way they make me feel. This is a faulty foundation built on a faulty concept of love built on my broken desires.

You might remember the words of Jesus in Luke 6:46 – 49 where he said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

In this passage Jesus describes a contrast between a foolish person who builds his life on sand and a wise person who builds his life on the rock. It’s a simple story that communicates a timeless truth. The building of your life must be grounded or founded or established or built on something solid if it is going to weather the storms of this life.

And the proof that your life is built, established, founded or grounded on the rock of Christ is that you live a life of obedience to the Words of Christ. The words of Christ could be summed up in one word. Love. Christ said that all the commands of God hang like clothing on a coat hook and the name of that coat hook is love. In other words, if you want to build your life on the rock of Christ’s love then pay attention to his commands. Do what he says to do in his Word.

We are called to love Christ who is the essence of love. We are called to love him with every ounce of our beings. We are called to love our neighbors (especially our enemies) the same way God has loved us. We are called to pursue goals based upon our love for God because he first loved us. If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will build your life on the rock of the love of Christ.

#2: If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will praise him for who he is and for what he has done…

The love of Christ always begins with who God is and what he’s done. I am so easily tempted to refashion God in my own image and make him into a weak or unloving or distant god. It’ way too easy to become self-focused when pain, suffering, temptation, unbelief or sin creeps in the back door of my life. It’s too easy to become shaken and distracted by the storms of life. But if I am grounded in the love of Christ then I will praise God for who he is and for what he has done no matter what storms roll through my life.

David describes this really well in Psalm 103:1 – 13. He says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; so far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”

If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will praise him for who he is and for what he’s done. God is holy and righteous and just. He is the essence of perfect, permanent, unconditional and unfailing love. If you have trusted in Christ as your Savior, he has forgiven every sin you have committed and every sin you ever will commit. He has healed you from the effects of your sin. He has pulled you out of the pit of your sin. He has removed your filthy sin-stained clothing. He has crowned you with his perfect love and mercy. He has given you what you do not deserve. He has withheld what you do deserve.

God’s not interested in giving you everything you ever wanted. He’s interested in being the satisfaction for every desire you have. Loneliness, security, success, strength and acceptance are all satisfied in the presence of Christ. He has spoken his word to you. He has placed his anger for your sin on the shoulders of Christ at the cross. He is kind towards to you in the work of the cross. His presence in the room with you is that of a loving, compassionate and gentle father.

Everything that would separate you from his love he (not you) has removed from you as far as you can imagine. Your failure yesterday doesn’t change your standing before God. Your sin today doesn’t change his disposition towards you. Your sin tomorrow will not catch him by surprise. If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will praise him for who he is and for what he’s done.

#3: If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will be secure in his presence…

Our family takes a vacation every year and it’s always my job to pack the truck. When you pack for a camping trip for seven kids and a mom and a dad the job can get real tricky in a short-bed truck. We usually wind up looking like the Clampad family rolling down the highway with an overloaded truck.

The trick to being successful with the load is using the tie down straps appropriately. If you get one of those tie down straps in the wrong place and if it’s not cranked down tight enough the load won’t be secure and it will lead to a mess in the middle of the road. The same thing happens when my heart isn’t grounded securely in the steadfast and trustworthy love of Christ. When I am not secure in Christ’s love I wind up making a mess of my life and other people’s lives around me.

This is what Jesus prays for in John 17:20 – 26. He prays “I do not ask for these (the disciples) only, but also for those (every other believer) who will believe in me through their word, that they (the disciples and every other believer) may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also (every believer) may be in us, so that the world (all who will believe in Christ) may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world (every person who will believe) may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world (those who don’t believe in God) does not know you, I know you, and these (the disciples) know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will be secure in his presence. Jesus prayed this prayer for every disciple that was following him and every disciple who would follow him later. He doesn’t pray this prayer for people who will never believe. He prays this prayer for every believer that his Father securely gives to him. And the essence of his prayer is that every believer that the Father gives to Christ would be grounded securely in the love of God. United in the never-ending love of God. Tied together irrevocably in God through the unconditional love of Christ.

If you have trusted in Christ as your Savior from the penalty of your sin then there is nothing in all of creation that can separate you from his love. If the Father has given you to Christ then you will not be lost. You will stumble and fall. You will struggle in sin. You will suffer. But if you are united to Christ then you are securely woven into his death at the cross and his resurrection from the tomb. There is total security in the love of Christ. If you are grounded in the love of Christ, you will be secure in his presence.

Conclusion…

If you want to bring a tall building down then all you have to do is weaken the foundation. Every tree must have roots that proportionate to its height and width. Every building must be grounded on a foundation that is proportionate to its height and width. If the building of your life is not grounded, founded and established on the love of Christ then your life will crumble when the storms of life come your way.

Paul prays that our hearts would be grounded in the love of Christ. So, what part of this foundation needs the most work right now?

How would you define God’s love to a stranger right now? How do you define God’s love to your own soul when life is hard? Is your definition of God’s love based on what you want? Or is what you want being transformed by God’s love?

Are you grounded in the love of Christ? Does the love of Christ drive your prayer and your praise? What do your day-to-day rhythms of prayer and praise look like?

Do you find it difficult to feel secure in the presence of Christ? What does God’s presence feel like to you? Are you fearful of God? Bored with God? Anxious in God’s presence? Insecure with God? Restless around God? What does that tell you about what you believe about God?

God paid the highest purchase price for you. He didn’t skimp on the price of your sin. He didn’t negotiate a better price. When he spent the blood of his Son, Jesus, on you, he got exactly what he wanted. You may not think you are worth much but the cross of Christ says you are worth infinitely more than you could ever imagine. Jesus loves you more than you can imagine.

If you are grounded in the love of Christ your life will be built on the rock of Christ’s love. You will praise him and you will be secure in his presence.

Let you heart be grounded in the love of Christ today. Let your heart rest securely in the love of Christ. Let your heart praise him for his great love towards you.