Ephesians 4:29-32 (NASB) “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
A person can go years without ever realizing that there is a deep-seated root of bitterness dwelling within their heart. I did! And I had no clue that it was that bitterness and anger that was blocking the Holy Spirit from giving me true freedom in my spirit. Let me explain.
My teenage years were something special. I lived under the peace and protection of Christ and was full of the joy of the Spirit. My church loved to worship and honor Christ. We had constant miracles, healings, and salvations. But we grew so fast that we didn’t know how to fit all the people that were coming. The elders started to organize things, and the Spirit did not like the way they did it. We quenched Him and He left us to ourselves. I could tell immediately that He was gone, and I got extremely mad!
It was in my anger that bitterness took hold. Each day my resentment towards the church grew stronger till forgiveness was no longer an option and I left. That kind sweet kid that I was disappeared, and my heart became hard as stone. Yes, the elders made a terrible mistake accidently, but the hardness was my fault. I lived that way for almost fifty years. And although I returned to the love of Christ and the Spirit began to speak with me again, I did not know that my unwillingness to pardon the church was still deep inside me. And it was so strong that only the Holy Spirit could rid me of it.
Bitterness is hard to break. There is usually something inside us that causes it to not let go. Mine was judgment, blame, and condemnation. Those were the things that the Spirit had to help relieve me of. So, He began to work on those unacceptable traits. As they started to loosen their hold on me, I noticed my heart softening. Freedom to love reentered my spirit. And guess what? The bitterness was gone!
Again, bitterness is a symptom of a greater ill. If you have bitterness, look for the root cause. That is the thing you must put in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Let Him free you. I wasted fifty years. How long will you wait?
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