Having Deep Roots and Hidden Treasures: Becoming the Good Earth for Christ to Grow

We believers in Christ need to let Christ take root deeply in us and we need to be rooted in Christ, dealing with our heart to be the good soil for Him to grow in us; we need to not expose our roots bu have hidden experineces and gain hidden treasures of Christ without boasting of them to others, so that we may be kingdom people.

Lord Jesus, we allow You to take root deep down in the soil of our heart. We open our heart to You and we turn our heart to You. Make Your home deep down in our heart. We want to spend time with You, dear Lord, and send our roots deep down in the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. May we absorb more of Your riches today. Amen, Lord, keep us in You, not exposing our roots and not boasting of what we have enjoyed and experienced of You! Amen!

The kingdom people are those who live in the depths, in the hidden, secret, personal, intimate fellowship with God, never exposing to others what the Lord reveals to us in secret and never showing our roots to them.

The Lord Jesus did not tell us the secrets that God revealed to Him; He exercised daily to be with the Father, even spending the whole night often before the Father, and He was one with the Father in what He did and said.

He even told us that He wanted to tell us so much more, but we could not bear it, so He will reveal these things to us as the Spirit, after His death and resurrection.

Now we believers in Christ have the Lord as the Spirit of reality in our spirit, and He guides us into all the reality.

However, He doesn’t just guide us in our daily life with its decisions; He guides us inwardly, even intimately and personally, in our time with Him, for us to know Him and abide in Him.

He exposes our sins, our shortcomings, and our unwillingness to obey Him and follow Him, and He enables us to cooperate with Him. But He cannot do this unless we spend time with Him.

We need to spend time with the Lord. We need to take time to behold Him, even to be in secret with Him, having a personal, intimate, private, spiritual time with the Lord often.

We need to leave all else aside, even seclude ourselves to spend time in private with the Lord.

He will then reveal to us what is on His heart. He will make us one with Him. He will live in us. We will be close and intimate with Him. As we do this, we should not expose our roots nor let others know how much we spend time with the Lord, and we should not publish abroad what He has revealed to us.

Deal with our Heart to be the Good Earth for the Lord to Speak to us and Grow in Us for His Kingdom

In the matter of the kingdom and being before the Lord personally for His kingdom to increase in us, we need to realise that our heart is the soil for the seed of the kingdom to grow.

However, as seen in the Lord’s speaking in Matthew 13, our heart has many problems.

According to the Lord’s estimation, our heart is the soil, the earth, for the word of God as the seed of the kingdom to grow; however, our heart can be of four categories or in four main conditions.

Our heart can be like the soil beside the way, which is hardened by the traffic (v. 4); this refers to the fact that our heart can be hardened by the workdly traffic, and it is not open to understand or comprehend the word of the kingdom.

Especially these days, with all the worldly traffic through the apps we use on the phone, the news, the entertainment, the sports, etc, we need to realise that our heart can be hardened, little by little, and the kingdom seed may not grow in us.

So we need to deal with our heart and choose to stay away from the worldly traffic, even spend time with the Lord in secret, without the fear of missing out what is happening in the world.

Verse 5 speaks of soil that has rocks underneath; it is a thin layer of soil, and the seed grows quickly, but once the sun comes, it withers, for it has no depth, no root. Oh Lord!

The rocky places that don’t have much earth signify the heart that is shallow in receiving the word of the kingdom.

It is possible for our heart to be shallow, for we have some good earth, but within the heart there are some rocks, that is, some hidden sins, some personal desires, a lot of self-seeking, and much self-pity, all of which hinder the seed from taking root in the depths of our heart. Oh Lord!

As we spend time with the Lord, He exposes all these things hidden in our heart, and we need to deal with them by agreeing with the Lord’s light and allowing Him to purge them from our being.

We want to have depth, even to live in the depths, and let the Lord grow deeper in us so that He may be rooted in us and bear fruit in us.

Another condition of our heart is found in verse 6, the seed that fell among the thorns, whose growth is choked by these other plants around it.

The thorns signify the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches; as we are anxious for what others are anxious and we chase after riches, possessions, and money, the word of God cannot grow in us.

If we have the anxiety of the age and allow riches to deceive us, the word of God is choked in us and cannot grow in us, not being able to bear fruit.

We need to come to the Lord again and again and deal with Him concerning our heart; we need to allow Him to become the most precious one so that all the other things would fade away and our unique focus would be just on Him.

Finally, verse 8 tells us of the good earth, where the seed can grow and bear fruit even a hundredfold.

The good earth signifies the good heart that is not hardened by worldly traffic, that is without hidden sins, and that is without the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches.

We need to deal with our heart before the Lord in prayer, in our hidden and private time with Him, so that our heart be the good earth for His word to grow in us.

Even more, we need to offer Him depth, deep soil and good earth, for the roots of Christ to go deeper in us.

A root is a growth that occurs beneath the soil, and leaves are growth that occur above the soil.

For us to have roots is for us to have a hidden life with the Lord, and for us to have leaves is for us to have a manifest life.

The trouble with many Christians is that, while there’s much apparent life, there’s a lack of a secret, hidden life.

If we as Christians don’t have anything in the depth of our being, if we don’t spend much hidden, private time with the Lord, we have no root.

We will not be able to stand in the day of trial and temptation. May the Lord work in us and may we cooperate with Him so that we can take root downward.

May we allow Him to enlighten us and expose any problems, and may we allow Him to deal with anything that His light exposes in us.

May we go deeper with Him and gain Him in secret, allow the Lord to deal with us in secret, have hidden experiences and revelations of Christ, and develop a rich and fine root system in the Lord in our time with Him.

Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You today; grow in us and increase in us so that Your kingdom may increase in our being. Amen, Lord, shine on us and expose any worldly traffic that hardens our heart. We choose to come to You and develop deeper roots into You to absorb Your riches. Expose any hidden sins and worldly pleasures, Lord; we want to cooperate with You to give You more ground in our being for You to grow in us. May we have a secret, hidden life with You in prayer and opening to You so that we have roots. May You work in us, Lord, so that we can take root downward. Grow in us, Lord. Expose any anxiety of the age and any deceitfulness of riches. We agree with Your shining. Expose and remove anything that hinders the growth in life. May Your kingdom come in us. May Your word grow in us. May we have deep roots in Christ so that we may also express Christ. May our heart give every inch of its ground to receive the word and grow, bear fruit, and produce even a hundredfold! Go deeper in us, Lord!

Having Deep Roots, Hidden Treasures and Experiences of Christ, and Not Uncovering our Roots

If we do not have deep roots in Christ, we do not have any hidden treasures of Christ in our hidden life with Him, and we do not have any hidden experiences of Christ. Oh Lord!

We believers in Christ love Him, and we experience Him; many times we touch Him and He reveals something to us, and many times we have a rich experience of Christ in our daily living.

As we open to Him, He touches us concerning different matters, concerning our love for money and for the world, and concerning our attitude toward others.

So we deal with things, we agree with His shining, and He has a way to go deeper in us. In this way, we develop a root system with the Lord.

We have hidden treasures of Christ, for He reveals to us secrets, infuses His riches into us, and grants us answers to our most intimate questions.

In our hidden life with God, we have hidden experiences of Christ, and we may even touch something of Him in the way of a trance.

The apostle Paul was such a one; he had experiences and heard words in a domain that is not permitted for man to be, in the third heavens (2 Cor. 12). Wow!

However, he did not reveal these things right away, nor did he describe them in detail for all to know and see and glorify God.

Rather, he mentioned that he had such experiences and heard such words more than fourteen years after the fact.

He did not uncover his roots, nor did he disclose what the Lord revealed to him intimately.

On the one hand, we need to have personal, hidden, intimate, wonderful experiences of Christ, and we need to gain the riches of Christ, even have rich treasures of Christ in the depths of our being as we spend time with Him in secret.

On the other hand, we should not expose our roots, for as soon as we uncover them, death comes in. If we testify of our roots, if we publish abroad what the Lord has revealed to us, death comes in, and our roots wither. Oh Lord!

The Lord Jesus healed many people, and sometimes He told them not to tell anyone about it, while at other times He told them to go and report to others what great things God had done for them (Mark 5:19).

He always directed the glory to God, not to the fact that Jesus healed them. We need to do the same.

We have to testify and bear testimony of what the Lord has done in us and for us, but we must not publish these things abroad as items of news.

If we do this, if we disclose the hidden things God has done for us and boast of them, we will expose our roots, and they will wither.

It is important for some of our experiences to remain covered, for if we uncover everything, we lose everything.

Paul boasted of his experiences out of necessity, though indeed not expedient (2 Cor. 12:1).

When we boast of our experiences in an improper way, drawing attention to our faith or ourselves, Satan comes in to attack us, for we are exposed.

For example, we may be quite sick and the Lord may come to heal us; we may then testify for the glory of God, but our testimony is actually not for God’s glory but a testimony of our faith.

As a result, Satan may come in to attack us, and the sickness will return. Oh Lord! God covers those who cover their roots, and God doesn’t protect those who disclose their roots.

When David in 2 Samuel 24 numbered the children of Israel, death came in to attack the people.

May we be delivered from exposing our roots and uncovering the hidden things God does in us and for us.

In Isaiah 39:2-8, we see Hezekiah who trusted in Jehovah, and Jehovah did two great miracles for him: He destroyed the army of Assyria, and He healed Hezekiah’s sickness, giving him fifteen more years. That is amazing!

But Hezekiah did not have deep roots and he was eager to expose his riches to the enemy who came to flatter him, and he lost everything. If we receive gifts from the Lord and immediately tell others of these gifts, we uncover our roots.

If we cover ourselves, testifying only one with the Lord and in a proper way, the Lord will cover us. We need to be one with the Lord.

When He moves in us to reveal something, we need to not withhold it, but speak it one with Him, yet covering our roots.

We need to minister life to others and even share something of our experience of Christ with them, but not uncover our roots nor expose our hidden treasure.

May the Lord shine on us in this matter so that we may grow in life properly, normally, and continually, and so that the enemy would have no ground in us!

Lord Jesus, we love You and we love to spend time with You to gain more of You! You are the most precious One. We exercise our spirit to contact You, Lord, and we send roots deep down into the rich Christ to absorb these riches into our being. Amen, Lord, may we gain hidden treasures in our hidden life with the Lord. Grant us to have many hidden experiences of Christ in our personal and intimate touch with You in secret. May we develop deep roots in Christ to absorb the riches of Christ and express Christ. Oh Lord, we want to be one with You in testifying of what we have experienced of You. May we not disclose to others what You want to remain covered. May we not publish abroad our hidden life with You, thus exposing our roots. Oh Lord, save us from uncovering our roots, thus inviting the enemy’s attack. May we be one with You and let You move in us and speak in us what You want to speak. Keep us covered in You. Keep us hidden in You. Keep us growing in You. Keep us one spirit with You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 37, pp. 37-44, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crucial Aspects of Matthew 5 through 7 (2025 September ITERO), week 5, The Kingdom People having the Experience of Praying in Private to Contact their Heavenly Father in Secret and have some Secret Enjoyment of Him – day 5.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – I come to His presence afresh / Ere the night has passed into morning; / And His face I see as it shines on me— / The Lord within is dawning. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And with sweet delight I partake of Him, / My hunger has passed away. (Hymns #554 stanza 1)
  – Lord Jesus, soften us; / You know the source from which we came. / By calling on Your name, / Lord, let no earth unturned nor rocks remain— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. / Lord, how Your light makes clear / That we could not but e’er fail You; / Yet there’s a message true, / The seed of life within us will break through— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132 stanzas 3-4)
  – Precious Lord, my flask of alabaster / Gladly now I break in love for Thee; / I anoint Thy head, Beloved Master; / Lord, behold, I’ve saved the best for Thee. / Dearest Lord, I waste myself upon Thee; / Loving Thee, I’m deeply satisfied. / Love outpoured from hidden depths within me, / Costly oil, dear Lord, I would provide. (Hymns #1159 stanza 3)