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Root of Bitterness

3/22/2018

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"Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God’s best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you, for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives."
​--Hebrews 12:15(TLB)

Last weekend my family and I went to see the movie, "I Can Only Imagine".  If you are not familiar with the movie, it details the origin of MercyMe's popular and beloved song, "I Can Only Imagine".  It is a film certainly worth seeing because it speaks to a subject that most of us can identify with--forgiveness.  If you have ever experienced hurt, pain, and  brokenness in your life, than you may have also experienced the internal turmoil and struggle that comes with grappling with forgiveness and bitterness.

​When we are hurt and broken, we often feel like we are living in a bubble; all alone in a lonely journey of enduring personal pain.  Yet, nothing could be farther from the truth.  Bitterness is not isolative, nor does it put us in quarantine. Bitterness, unforgiveness, as well as unresolved hurt, pain, and offenses directly impacts those around us and our ability to establish and maintain healthy, mutually satisfying relationships.

​The Bible warns us to diligently guard against bitterness, because our unresolved bitterness directly impacts those around us.  (As was the case in the movie.)  Bitterness causes trouble in our relationships and interactions with others.  When we are bitter, we defile others in word and deed.  Further, we miss out on God's grace, kindness, good-will, and bounty.  Bitterness is acrid and will soundly destroy, leaving one in a place of lack and longing.

​If any of this resonates with you, then there is good news for you! Forgiveness is not a feeling, but a choice.  When we willfully and deliberately choose to release the one (a parent, sibling, teacher, employer, etc.) who has brought distress to our hearts and in humility side against our albeit deep and very real feelings of hurt, pain, and brokenness we move into a place of God's supernatural grace and peace.  The peace  that  God offers passes all understanding and enables us to walk in divine wellness, wholeness, provision, security, and rest (Philippians 4:7).

​Take the challenge and accept God's invitation.  Who do you need to forgive?  Who are you defiling as a result of your own personal root of bitterness.  Is your spouse the recipient of misdirected anger?  Perhaps your children have suffered from undue harshness and rage.  Maybe you have become emotionally withdrawn or desensitized.  Maybe your erratic and unpredictable in your behavior.  Perhaps you "hit first" before any perceived attack comes your way.  No matter your MO, it all qualifies as defilement; tainting, polluting, and contaminating others.  Repent of it.  Ask God to forgive you.  Make a decision to destroy the root of bitterness in your life.

​Greek Word Study (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance)
  • ​diligently (G1983) episkopeo: to look carefully, beware
  • fail (G5302) hystereo: to be in wanting, to lack, fall behind, be deficient 
  • bitterness (G4088) pikria: bitterness hatred, extreme wickedness, acridity
  • trouble (G1776) enochleo: disturbance, to trouble, annoy
  • defile (G3392) miaino: to dye with another color, to stain, pollute, soil, contaminate

​Prayer
​Father, in the name of Jesus, I confess that there is a root of bitterness in my life.  I thank you that you give me the power and the authority to destroy the root simply by confessing it.  I renounce its power in my life.  I humble myself before you and come into agreement with your word.  I pray that you would forgive me for defiling others as a result of my personal pain.  I thank you for your grace that is sufficient and for your strength that is made perfect in my weakness.  I receive the peace, healing, wholeness, wellness, rest, and safety that you have so freely offered.  Amen and so be it according to your word.

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Fruits, Shoots, and Roots

3/11/2018

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"See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down,
to build and to plant.”--Jeremiah 1:10(NKJV)

We can spend a lot of time and energy trying to overcome a habit, hang-up, or proclivity in our lives only to become weary, exhausted, and annoyed at our own futility and lack of progress.  If you're feeling like you are spinning your wheels and getting no where fast in your quest for change, it could be that you are focused on the wrong thing.  Are just picking off fruit or trimming back shoots in your life? In order to experience change that lasts, it's important to purse the right thing with laser focus, precision, and accuracy.  Essentially, we must identify the root--not pick fruit or cut back shoots. 

Consider a natural example.  We live in New Jersey, the "Garden State".  Near our home is a very popular farm market.  In the Autumn, this farm offers hayrides as well as apple and pumpkin picking.  It's a fun time for all--corn mazes, warm apple cider, cider donuts, face painting, and music.  Families leave with bags of freshly picked apples and pumpkins by wagon loads.  Soon, the Fall festivities are over; all the apples and pumpkins have been picked.  The fields that were vibrant and full of activity are now desolate and quiet.  The season is over; the trees are bare and the ground becomes hard and cold.  But, are the apple trees still apple trees?  Of course.  Why?  The fruit has been picked and the shoots/limbs have been pruned and cut, but the roots remain intact.  Unless we remove the roots of the apple tree, it will begin to blossom, flourish, grow, and bear fruit again.  So is the case in our lives.  Unless we get to the root of our issue, habit, or hang-up it will remain in our lives.

​One of the challenges we see so often is that of people endeavoring to remove a fruit or cut back a shoot in their lives, erroneously believing it is the root.  Take procrastination, for example.  One may know that this is a problematic area in his/her life and there may be great effort to become more organized and task oriented.  This person may purchase day planner, set reminders on a phone or device, and even have a "To-Do" list.  Great effort is taken to make positive changes.  Yet, invariably procrastination creeps back, and along with it comes guilt, shame, frustration, and embarrassment. Why?  Procrastination is not a root, it's a fruit.  Perhaps its shoot is disappointment.  Perhaps the root is rejection.  If we do not identify the root of rejection, the fruit of procrastination will continue to abound. Allow me to illustrate the point:

A young man with terrible academic struggles throughout his school career, has a teacher who is committed to his academic success.  In time, this student's grades began to improve and his confidence in his academic ability grows.  For the first time, he receives an A in one of his classes. He excitedly and proudly shows his report card to his father.  His moment of joy was abruptly halted when his father snatches the report card out of his hand and coldly says, "It's about time!"  Ouch, right?  Unbeknownst to the father, his words were like seeds in his son's heart.  Soon, a root of rejection grows and begins to bear fruit in that young student's life.  Harsh and insensitive words cultivated the ground of his heart; a shoot of disappointment ("My hard work went unrecognized") and fruit of procrastination ("Why bother or put forth effort?") would soon follow.

​Yet, there is good news today.  Even in our deepest rooted hurts, Jesus in His love, compassion, and care gives us the capacity to identify the roots in our lives and courageously pull them up.  Consider Gideon in Judges 6.  At the root, Gideon identified himself as poor and inferior.  This produced a shoot of fear and fruits of deception and hiding (from the Midianites).  But, God called him a mighty man of valor!  Gideon received that word and went on to become a judge and a warrior!

​We are no different from Gideon and God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).  What he did in Gideon's life, he will do in ours when we are vulnerable, transparent, and open before him.  When we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the roots in our lives, we have embarked on a path to the victorious, zoe life that Jesus speaks of in John 10:10.

Prayer
​Father, in the name of Jesus, I confess that there are fruits and shoots in my life.  I pray that you would reveal the root.  I believe that it is your desire that I live a full, abundant life.   I thank you for your supernatural peace that passes all understanding as you give me the grace to do the hard work in removing roots from my heart--roots of rejection, abandonment, fear, and bitterness.  I thank you for replacing them with your joy, love, acceptance.  Thank you for a healing work in my heart.  Amen and so be it according to your word.
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    I am a wife, mother, and Christian counselor who believes that God can heal and restore our broken hearts and put us on the road to wholeness, purpose, and productivity in our lives when we follow and trust his "GPS".

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