We have been talking about Godly change. Change that will impact us and those we are closest to first but also hopefully extend to the world around us.
The world needs God. People, all of whom were created by God in His Own Image, to do good works He has prepared ahead of time, need to invite Jesus to touch heal and restore.
God both prunes and disciplines.
We have our part.
We have been looking at some prayers that we can choose to pray to invite God to remove all bad roots.
We do NOT want any lingering roots of bitterness in our lives.
Bitterness defiles us and others.
We are using an original prayer by Sylvia Gunter, but I am bringing us the Scripture references to ponder. We are pondering a section each week.
Remove the root of walking in the flesh (carnality, divisions, envy, jealousy, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness).
We are going to look at some suggested verse related to this but let’s pause.
The list given us to repent of includes: carnality, divisions, envy, jealousy, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness.
Which one stands out to you?
Where might you personally need to focus?
I think it is interesting that we are talking about this tonight and indirectly the same sort of things have come up on Tuesday nights and the Ladies Study as well. None of us planned this, but I bet God did.
With the world like it is right now, people are so divided, even Christians. Divisions among the Body of Christ are a ploy the enemy uses to make us weak.
Just like a lion prowling about watching for the weak member of a deer herd in order to kill it. And isn’t there a verse that says almost exactly that?
Another rampant in our culture one is carnality. LGBT, abortion, lust of the eyes, lust for food. All things our flesh desires in its unregenerate state. We want what we want, when we want it, because we want it and we do not (in that moment of carnality) care what God has told us or how it may impact other people.
1 John 2:16 KJV or all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the other one which caught my eye and which has been an ongoing chat topic is bitterness. The rest, envy, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy…not dealt with lead directly to bitterness. A bitter heart is ALWAYS a miserable heart.
One of my Life Verses is Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
I do not want a bitter angry spirit. I never want to defile others and I also do not want to defile myself or dishonor God.
But if we do not deal with envy, anger, jealousy and unforgiveness right away, that is what will be the end result. We will become bitter. God’s love will still be there, but we will not be able to receive recognition of it and even worse, we will defile/hurt others.
Yes, we will get angry. All of us. Some things should make us angry. But we can go to God with our anger. There is a verse of great counsel found in Ephesians 4:26-27 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
Do you want to invite the devil to muck about in your life? As in “give him a legal foothold” on you? I don’t.
I read this quote recently: What Paul says is, "Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil." What he is saying here is that we can get angry. Anger is a natural human emotion and not a bad one in and of itself. The problem is what we do with the anger when we do feel it.
Dodi Note: We can go home now. This is a lot to consider/ponder.
But we have not yet looked at the suggested verses from our author to back up her suggestion that we repent from and ask God to remove the bad roots of:
Remove the root of walking in the flesh (carnality, divisions, envy, jealousy, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness).
So let’s see.
1 Peter 5:8 KJV Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Dodi Note: We hit this one. Division does that. We can agree to disagree on various topics, as long as they do not pertain to Jesus as LORD and the ONLY way of Salvation. We can disagree and still be polite and even friends.
One reason I can do that is I trust that Holy Spirit will do his job in each of our lives and one of His job descriptions is, “to lead us into all truth”. John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Galatians 5:19-21 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Dodi Note: Whoa this is strong. Look at that list: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
Do we see any of these in the culture? Worse do we see any of these in our own lives? If so the cure is simple. Repent and be forgiven and ask God to help us. And if we do it again or are tempted, go right back into the loving arms of our Abba for cleansing and healing of the root cause.
Because we sure do NOT want to be among those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
That means the unsaved. We who belong to Jesus may slip but we also have an advocate. And a counselor. And the One who forgives and cleanses us.
Galatians 3:1-4 3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Dodi Note: Personally I love this. And I think it addresses pride and envy and jealousy. We can never ever never be good enough to earn God’s love or Salvation. God just loves us. Guess what? He also loves those who are our worse enemy. He even loves the unsaved.
But I believe, and you can disagree, that because we DO belong to God the “works” we do, the things we think and say, the way we act will continually be transformed to line up with those GOOD WORKS he has prepared for us to walk in. Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Continuing with Sylvia’s suggested verses:
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Dodi Note: Again we are invited to ask ourselves if we have any bad roots…or need pruning in any area. And it is likely we all do.
Galatians 12:25-27
Jude 16-19 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
A Call to Persevere
17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
Dodi Note: Do we see this? Uh-oh, sometimes even in chat do we do some of these things?
The list is: grumblers, malcontents, people who follow sinful desires, loud-mouthed boasters, scoffers, division causers…oh my.
Some of that list we would never do but sometime…well sometimes…I can be inclined to grumble a bit. Whine?
How about you?
Maybe something needs healing?
Ephesians. 4:31-32 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Dodi Note: I LOVE this reminder too. Let’s just read it again and in private maybe save it? Ask God to help us live it?
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Then she used my favorite, it is worth repeating over and over and over.
Hebrews 12:15 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
Dodi Note: Wasn’t that fun? Maybe not. But convicting? Or an excellent reminder of how temptation can come during hard seasons. Maybe if we are watching the news later tonight? Or the next time someone upsets us?
We have resources to ask ourselves …what is going on. You know when “they” make us “mad” it really is MORE about what roots, what hurts, what unmet needs we have than what “they” did or said.
Now the good part. The action part. The prayer to invite God to REPLACE bad roots and behaviors.
Sylvia said: Remove the root of walking in the flesh (carnality, divisions, envy, jealousy, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness).
And replace it with walking in the Spirit and being rooted in love and filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19, 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.
Dodi Note: This, especially verse 17-19 are well worth memorizing and praying over ourselves and others.
We need, we want, we earnestly desire to be….rooted and grounded in love, to have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to KNOW the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
“Know” does not mean head know. It means intimately know. “in-to-me-heart-mind-soul and spirit KNOW” that we ARE the BELOVED of God.
Once we know….”know”…that we will find it much easier, almost natural to act like who we really are. We are beloved sons and daughters of God. We are WHO God says we are and what others think, say or do does not change that. And once we live like who we are, from our true identity…everything changes. It is glorious and my prayer for each member of this community.
2 Corinthians 2:10-11, 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Dodi Note: Do you see a why we forgive? Of course we do it because God says so. But ‘here is another reason and a very good one, “ so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
1 Corinthians 1:10, Divisions in the Church
10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
Dodi Note: Guess what? If we belong to Jesus, and we do, then “church” includes chat and other Believers around the world.
Galatians 5:16-18, Keep in Step with the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Dodi Note: See the “how”? Walk by the Spirit. We do that by trusting, leaning, and relying on the God we love. And we love Him in part because we spend time with Him. In the Word, in Worship, in simply being with Him.
Galatians 5: 22-26 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Here is one more suggested verse that came up in chat this morning and fits well.
Ephesians 5:18-21 - English Standard Version (ESV)
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Dodi Note: Giving thanks in ALL circumstances. Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is such a help in replacing any and all bad roots.
Our brains can only hold one thought at a time. Scientific data has proven that.
As we know, we are instructed to “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;)
So if we are doing what this verse says, speaking to one another not of our trials, sorrows, or woes, but instead psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
And praising God for what we do have, for His goodness, For the hope we have in Him, then we will in a sense be capturing those thoughts.
One practical way is go about our day, noticing little gifts. A smile from a stranger, a lovely garden, a cute animal, a nice cloud formation that blocks the sun on a hot day…the list is endless. If we become aware of the lovely things God has placed all around us, expecially in the small things and pause and thank God for them, we will have our focus changed.
We have a lot to digest, so we will stop here.
Have a blessed week and Be a Blessing as you chat, interact with family or friends or whatever you do.