"Jubilee Cards" about Roots
One-minute exercises to make your day
Jubilee Cards put SYNC content at your fingertips in a form you can use for a quick exercise routine. If you print a copy, you can do the exercise to set the tone for your day before you even pick up your phone in the morning.
Or do them on your phone whenever you can seize a window of opportunity--at the breakfast table, in personal devotions, in a one-minute pause before you get in your car, or in many other settings alone or with friends.
Set a positive lively tone for your day
The cards help you exercise your right to declare what kind of a day you are going to have instead of letting your circumstances impose it on you. Let these seven Roots cards remind you who you are--a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
Stay attached to the trunk and the fruit-bearing will take care of itself. But lose connection with the trunk and you can't produce a thing. Unfortunately there will be plenty of things in your day that keep trying to break you away from the trunk. The Roots cards defend you.
Using a Jubilee Card to set the tone for your day is like humming an old favorite song, moving with its rhythm. And you go dancing out into your day, knowing you are part of God's ancient strategy to bring good to the world and he has your back. The truth in the cards is working for you, even on days when it seems everything is going against you.
Seven Bible verses about Roots
Seven of the 50 "Jubilee Cards" help us catch onto the Roots Rhythm. The seven verses on these cards below are snippets from all over the Bible that get us started in seeing God's complex and vibrant "Abraham Strategy", working through the spiritual descendants of Abraham to bless the whole human race.
If we had only one Bible verse to help us catch onto the tempo of the Roots Rhythm, it would probably be the first one of the seven, Genesis 12.3: All families on earth will be blessed through you (Abraham).
It takes some time to get our minds around it, but that doesn't matter. We can love it before we understand it all. We just move with the rhythm as far as we understand, and we gradually get better at it. These seven verses on the Jubilee Cards are a great starting point.
How hard is a Jubilee "workout"?
It is actually very relaxing. In about a minute the workout helps us get the truth about ourselves and our role in God's campaign onto our minds. We see ourselves as life-bringers, fruitful branches, etc., but we do not see those roles as things we have to try harder to do.
Forcing ourselves to play those roles is as impossible as forcing ourselves to go to sleep. The harder we try to sleep, the more awake we stay. We have to relax. It is the same with “seeing ourselves in Christ.” We just relax and welcome the identity that God is giving us. And that’s what the cards help us do.
Simplest workout technique: pick up one Jubilee Card from the stack. As you start to glance down, say to the card, "Make my day." Then read it.
Stay alert but relaxed during the day: always be watching for opportunities to connect, heal, or bless people, and keep asking God for more. The more blessing you get to deliver, the better you feel at the end of the day. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20.35)
Remember, however, this is not a project you design or a contest in which you compete. This is God's campaign. Don't work frantically and don't get stressed out. You are not alone, not for a minute.
Decompress in the evening: Thank God for who you get to be in Christ and for any chances you had today to be a life-bringer (or whichever word was on today’s card). If you have some mistakes to confess, you can pray, “I’m sorry, Lord. I only made that mistake because I forgot who I was. Thank you for who I am by your grace, and let me live tomorrow more like the real me.”
Don’t make the Jubilee Cards a burden, and don’t worry if you miss a day or two. You are not trying to score any points or prove anything with your exercising. You are trying to develop a new way of seeing yourself in Christ. Your aim is slow permanent change of your outlook on life.
Jubilee Cards for Roots Season
Sunday
Jubilee Card 8
God's Word
All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you.
Genesis 12.3, The Message
Our Response
Thank you, Lord, that as we bless others, we are part of the fulfillment of your ancient promise to Abraham.
Make your day with this Roots Declaration:
I see myself in Christ as a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
I see this day as a day to bear fruit, blessing others as Christ helps me.
Monday
Jubilee Card 9
God's Word
Some of the tree’s branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root gives you no cause to gloat over the pruned branches.
Romans 11.17, The Message
Our Response
God of Abraham, thank you for grafting us into Abraham’s family tree and letting us get nourished by that root.
Make your day with this Roots Declaration:
I see myself in Christ as a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
I see this day as a day to bear fruit, blessing others as Christ helps me.
Tuesday
Jubilee Card 10
God's Word
Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him.
Colossians 2.7, The Message
Our Response
Thank you God for our deep roots in Jesus, through whom we become members of Abraham’s family.
Make your day with this Roots Declaration:
I see myself in Christ as a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
I see this day as a day to bear fruit, blessing others as Christ helps me.
Wednesday
Jubilee Card 11
God's Word
I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you . . . the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.
John 15.5, The Message
Our Response
Thank you for our living attachment to Jesus the Messiah, the source of a fruitful life.
Make your day with this Roots Declaration:
I see myself in Christ as a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
I see this day as a day to bear fruit, blessing others as Christ helps me.
Thursday
Jubilee Card 12
God's Word
But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.
Galatians 5.22, The Message
Our Response
Thank you that a fruitful life comes not by us trying harder but by accepting your Spirit’s influence.
Make your day with this Roots Declaration:
I see myself in Christ as a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
I see this day as a day to bear fruit, blessing others as Christ helps me.
Friday
Jubilee Card 13
God's Word
Since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.
Galatians 3.29, The Message
Our Response
Thank you that we get to be heirs in Abraham’s family, sharing in all the promises you gave him.
Make your day with this Roots Declaration:
I see myself in Christ as a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
I see this day as a day to bear fruit, blessing others as Christ helps me.
Saturday
Jubilee Card 14
God's Word
Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider . . . slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ . . .
Colossians 3.11, The Message
Our Response
Thank you for making us all equals in the family of Abraham. We won’t look down on anyone today.
Make your day with this Roots Declaration:
I see myself in Christ as a fruitful branch on the Abraham family tree.
I see this day as a day to bear fruit, blessing others as Christ helps me.
FAQs
What is the point of making the "Roots Declaration" on the card?
For Self-defense: By making a Roots Declaration, we affirm that God has defined us as part of his campaign team (or global movement). No one can take those roots away from us because no one can undo what God did through Abraham. The Declaration reminds us how secure our identity is.
For Significance: Because the purpose of the campaign team is to bless the world, it is a very significant group to be part of. And every time we bless someone in any way, we are part of the fulfillment of God's ancient promise. No one can tell us that any other group loyalty or any other cause is more significant than that.
To prevent waking up grouchy: As for this negative way to start your day (which a OnePoll study said is true for the average American about 300 days per year!), we humans were never designed to be content when we are feeling insecure or insignificant. We don't sleep well. We don't look forward to a day as it begins. And we feel bad about being grouchy, which makes us even more grouchy.
When we do wake up grouchy, the Roots Declaration raises our sights. It gets our attention back onto our privilege of being rooted in God's promise to Abraham. Our purpose is great--to bless everyone we can. With that mission, we feel good about ourselves. We will never be aimless or bored, two other common sources of grouchiness.
As people in SYNC with Jesus, we are authorized to declare that God's campaign is designed to connect, heal, and bless the whole world. His strategy is to use the campaign team or God-movement to bless all other groups.
So if you are in SYNC, go ahead and use your authority. Shape your world. Make your day by repeating whichever version of the Declaration works best for you. (If you aren't sure what "in SYNC" means, see "Campaign prayer of Jesus" under "God's campaign".)
Can I honestly make the declaration on the cards if I'm not convinced that Abraham even existed, much less that God made any such promise to him?
Not really, but you can still live this day experimentally if you are so inclined. Suppose it's true that Abraham existed and that God made that huge promise to him. Suppose God is using the "Abraham Strategy," working through his own team of humans and directing that team to bless all humans?
Imagine how your day would be different if you saw yourself as part of that ancient and modern campaign team. Then, as far as you are willing, live your day from that perspective and see what happens.