Bitterness Part 2

Bitterness-Part 2

In yesterday’s article we learned that Bitterness is a poisonous root.  Hebrews 12:15   We learned that this poison, when left undealt with, can penetrate into every spectrum of our life.   We saw that bitterness can quickly be dismissed in our lives, when we think of it as being wise.  But, wisdom comes from the Lord, Bitterness comes from the devil.  Wisdom knows to trust Christ first in order to form an opinion, Bitterness only forms opinions spawned by poisoned thoughts.

Today, we will cover the following areas concerning bitterness:  Why do we let bitterness take hold in our lives, and begin seeing the first step we can take in removing it from our lives. 

Why do we let bitterness take hold?

When we are hurt, we want an instant resolution to the matter.  We want someone or something to make the pain of being hurt go away.  The latter part of Exodus 14:14 speaks of our need to wait upon God.  Honestly, when you are hurt, about the last thing you want to do is practice patience or grace.     Trusting in God goes against our fleshly desires.   Trusting God takes faith.  The pain that you feel in life is very apparent, every day, you wake up with it “wrapped” around your heart.  Trusting God is something that we have to clothe ourselves in daily.  You don’t just decide to trust once and that’s all the effort you have to exert towards it.  But, by bitterness, you can be hurt badly once and it take root in your life very deeply.  It is similar to eating something that you is going to cause you to gain weight.  It takes only a few minutes to eat the item, but it is going to take you hours of hard work to get the weight back off your body.  Bitterness shows up in a single event in life and in an instant can transform your viewpoint.  Trusting God takes effort, and a constant application of prayer, communication, faith, and surrender, to keep trust active in our lives.  In order to fight bitterness, you will have to work daily at keeping it out of your life.  I think this very requirement is why many people just allow it to form the foundation of their opinion.  They just get tired of forgiving, practicing patience, grace, or turning the other cheek.  (Matthew 5:39)   

How can we remove bitterness from our lives?

1.       Ask Christ to be the Lord of your desire to overcome the bitterness.  The only way to approach anything in life is to remember a very core thought, apart from Christ we are nothing.  (John 15:5)  I believe that this scripture serves as a reassurance to us.  We are not alone in any struggle in our lives.  Jesus is right at our side, but if we are unwilling to invite Him in, we have cut ourselves off from the source of strength that we needed in order to overcome the weakness. 

• Example of how to apply this to your life:  Susan has lived for years with deep resentment towards her mother.  She had a very difficult childhood.  Her mother pressured her to be perfect.  Each time Susan came home with a good grade in school, her mother would neglect celebrating it with her, and instead critique her for the grade not being perfect.  When Susan came home with perfect grades, her mother would say, “You should have been doing this all along.”  Each step of Susan’s life thus far, had been spent with her mother Lording over her with a dominating, mean spirit.  Susan, in the natural has every right to be bitter.  Remember, I said in the natural, meaning in the human way of looking at things.  God expects that Susan will lean more on His love for her, than the pain that Susan’s mother is causing her.  Susan has not done this yet in her life.  Susan recently became engaged.  She is a very defensive person.  Her fiancé is a very loving, kind man, and yet she keeps finding herself so full of bitterness in her life, that no matter what he says, she is sure it is meant in a critical and mean spirit.  Recently an event took place where Susan was able to see that she was transferring bitterness from her childhood onto her new life with her fiancé.  She knows she does not want to bring the baggage of her life with her mother into her new relationship, but how does she do this?

Idea for a prayer of healing

Susan is told that the first way to start anything in life is to begin by asking the Lord Jesus Christ to be the source of strength that upholds your desire for change.  Susan comes to her knees in prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, my life has been so broken.  I have not wanted to become a bitter person.  I have wanted good in my life, and strived to do the best I could by my mother, but it never seemed enough Lord.  I know that you see the wrongs that were done in my life, and I know that you love me.  I am asking you to help me to remove the bitterness in my heart from my life.  I know it will not be easy.  I have a great deal of fear and defensiveness built up in me due to the damage my mother has caused me, but I am committed to YOU, Jesus.  I know that you are faithful and whatever you begin in me, you will bring to completion.  I know that by removing bitterness from my life, I will draw closer to you, and my relationships will be blessed.  I know that although my mother may never know what pain she has caused me, your HEALING will have more effect on me than her apology ever would.  I love you Jesus.  Please walk me out of this trouble. Amen”

This example of a surrendering prayer exemplifies how we take an identified problem to the Lord Jesus Christ, and involve Him in our first desires for change.  Tomorrow we will move on to the next step in removing bitterness from our lives.  The Lord Jesus Christ is willing to take the journey with us to remove bitterness from your life, are you?  Pastor Daniella