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Wednesday, 28 September 2016

A ROOT OF BITTERNESS

                                    Bitterness

Towards the end of St Paul’s  1st letter to the Thessalonians  he writes ‘always be joyful, pray constantly and in all things give thanks, this is the will of God for you  in Christ Jesus.
In other words everything we go through in life we have to give thanks to the Lord for (1 Th 5:18)
He mentions this again in his letter to the Romans (Rm 8:28)where he says that in all things, God works for the good of those who love and who have been called according to his purpose. 
That means that when we sanctify something through our prayers and thanksgiving, we do so, so that God can touch it. God cannot touch anything that is unholy (Hag 2:12) If something that is holy touches something that is unholy then it becomes contaminated. In other words we have to sanctify everything so that God can touch it.
 
We need to do things from a right attitude of heart, because that’s what God looks at.  In Exodus 15  the 1st healing Covenant God made was at Marah where He declared himself to be the great physician.
He had just delivered his people from nearly 400 years of slavery and oppression and there was great rejoicing in being liberated and the first place he brings them to is 'Marah' !!!... Why would he do that? Marah means bitterness (to be sad, embittered, discouraged, despondent, hopelessness, despair, disappointed or to grieve) are all descriptions of being bitter. If we don’t understand why we go through all the situations and trials of life then we can become bitter. All those trials they had gone through in Egypt left them very bitter and the Lord wanted to deal with their bitterness, otherwise they would be unfruitful in the land of Canaan. They had taken on a slavery mentality and that needed to be dealt with. They needed to learn how to become overcomers  in a land that was full of enemies.
  •  In Colossians 3 :19 you have Paul telling husbands not to be bitter towards their wives,  here bitterness is in contrast with love, where harsh words reveal bitterness in the heart.
  • In Romans 3:14  bitterness is linked to murmuring and cursing.
  • In Ephesians 4:31 bitterness is linked to rage anger and malice.
  • In James 3:14 bitterness is linked to envy and jealousy. All these areas tell us that a person has not dealt with the Marah in their life.
  • In 1 Samuel 1:10 Hannah was barren and this caused her bitterness.
Job asked the question in (3:20) "Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come"? Here we have unfulfilled death wishes  'O Lord I wish I were dead' which we often hear people say is  = bitterness toward life.
(Pro 17:22) a broken spirit dries up the bones (bones represents the emotions in the scriptures) = bitterness will lock your emotions so that you can’t express love to anybody or joy so you can’t share what’s on your heart.
 
(Jeremiah 15:18) The prophet Jeremiah asked ………Why is my wound incurable. Why have you deceived me, when you promised to heal me?
Jeremiah was bearing the pain of the whole nation. Because of their inability to hear the word from God, he was chastening them, not punishing them. God doesn’t punish us. Why would he punish us when he has already punished his Son on our behalf?
 
But he uses all those negative things that come upon us to show his mercy and love to us. Like a father he corrects and chastens us. As we respond to his chastening then it brings forth his character within us. He wants us to react the way he reacts. He wants his children to be like him in character and in nature. God will nurture us through the pain. He revealed himself as El Shaddai (the big breasted one)
His nature is to nurture us through our pain if we turn to him and not be bitter towards him.
 
If you look at the story of Naomi, her name means ‘the happy go lucky one’ she would be the 1st person you’d ask to your house if you were having a party. She would be the one to liven up the place.
But when the famine came she left Israel and went to Moab. There her husband and 2 sons died. When the famine ended she returned and the people said ‘here comes Naomi’ and she replied ‘don’t call me Naomi call me Mara’. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak and she said ‘the Lord has afflicted me he has made me bitter’.
The Lord didn’t tell her to go to Moab. In the midst of the drought he would have supplied all her needs as he supplied the needs of his people in many desert experiences. It’s in the midst of desert experiences that we have to learn to lean on and trust in the Lord.    
(Hebrews 12:15)………..Don’t let a root of bitterness defile you.  
(Acts 8) The story of Simon the Magician where it says that he became a disciple through Philip’s ministry and then when Peter and John arrived and when Simon saw that people were receiving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands; he offered Peter money for the power so that he could lay hands on people to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter rebuked him and we are told that Peter perceived that Simon had a gall of bitterness and bound in iniquity and he was told to repent. In other words Simon had not dealt with a lot of negative things associated from the time when he was under the power of witchcraft. A gall of bitterness can be linked physically to gall trouble.
 
Things that happen to us physically can be linked to our emotional responses to the trials of life. If there is a root of bitterness within then I have to renounce it. The axe has to be laid to the tree so that it can be cut off.
Sins are dealt with by confession and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness
but iniquities which are the lawless part of our nature are dealt with by renunciation and it is the cross of Christ that sets us free. When you renounce something then you consider yourself to be dead to it by speaking it off.
 
So if you think that you have a root of bitterness within then I believe that the Lord is saying that you need to renounce it, go back and place it where it belongs and nail it to the cross hand it over to the Lord . That’s what Moses did, he placed a tree into the bitter waters of Marah and the waters became sweet. Place Christ into that bitter situation and he will sweeten the waters of your life and set you free.
 
Lord by your cross and resurrection you have set us free you are the Saviour of the world, Amen.

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