Bitterness

“Let all bitterness…be put away from you” (Ephesians 4:31).

   Bitterness is often called righteous indignation. It demands one’s rights. It is a dark, debilitating, deadening disease. It will kill you and it will kill others.

     Many of us, as James Mallory says, have an “emotional hall of injustice,” and we like to visit it often. We like to polish the statues of those who hurt us. We like to  mull over all of those incidents where we were treated unfairly and unjustly. We don’t say it but many times we are really upset at God.

      This must be rejected. By the act of the will, a child of God must turn from this great sin. We need to turn to God and confess it is a reality in our lives. When you go to God in prayer take those who are on your hit list, those who make you angry and bitter, take those things which have come into your life, and allow the God of glory to teach you through it. You will see yourself and you will see God.

 

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  • God Does Not Budge

    “Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me. My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth” (Jeremiah 15:1).

    One would think that God would hear the prayer of His servant Moses and Samuel in any circumstance. But here we learn that the people of God were resilient in their behavior unfavorably before God. They were recalcitrant and rebellious.

    Jeremiah is heavy in heart. He is running out of steam. He has prayed, prayed, and prayed some more and yet he is not seeing the God of Israel move. God doesn’t even seem to care about saving them out of their upcoming judgment and Jeremiah is also caught in the judgment.

    What do we do when America doesn’t seem to understand? What do we do when our children and grandchildren do not understand and we don’t seem to get our prayers answered? We have to be taught like Jeremiah to run with the footmen, and to contend with the horses. Don’t wear out where you are but look up to where God is.

    Our source of grace is found in the Lord. Our strength is found in Him. Things are going to get worse but we need to get better. Don’t run from your assignments because it doesn’t matter where you are God has you there to train you, to form you, and to fill you.

    Though the world loves to wander away from God, nor restrain their feet from living in pleasure, don’t you do it? Keep on the line with God. Let God toughen you! Things are going to get worse but let God make you the man or woman of God you need to be.

  • A Long Obedience In The Same Direction

    “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance” (Psalms 89:15).

    The enemy of our soul would like to sucker us into thinking that the “easy” way is the best way. But it never is. Strong people fail. But weak souls who depend upon another don’t fail. Not until we tap into Ultimate Strength, Limitless Wisdom, the Fount of Courage, the Source of Perseverance, will we find what we need.

    The very gates of hell cannot make any one of us stumble unless we choose to remove ourselves from God’s protection and power. It is “His divine power that has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

    Where is the finish line? It’s different for each of us. The finish line that I have in mind is when we go to be with the Lord Jesus in glory. You might have forty years before you die, or you might have six months. That’s the interesting thing about this race. No one knows where the finish line is and that is what makes this race much tougher.

    Runners and swimmers want to know where the finish line is. It doesn’t matter if it is running the 5K or swimming the English Channel, they must know where the finish line is. And when that finish line is located, they block out everything else and fully concentrate on the tape. This helps with the pain and exhaustion and gets them to the finish line.

    The Christian doesn’t know where the finish line is. So what do we do? We finish strong by fixing our eyes on Jesus. We are in the boat with Jesus. He will encourage us, and He will instruct us. And then one day–in an instant–the race will be over! We’ll cross the finish line, and life as we know it on earth will be over. And because we have listened to Him (His Word), because we have obeyed Him (His Spirit), we will realize that we didn’t just finish. We finished strong!

     

  • The Third Day

    “Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off” (Genesis 22:4).

     

    Abraham’s son, Isaac, was the child of promise. All the hopes and desires of nations rested upon this son. Out of Isaac comes Jacob and out of Jacob the twelve tribes, and out of the tribe of Judah King Jesus. And still God told Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him. Would Abraham hold too tightly or would he loosen his grip on his son? Would he trust God or hold tightly?

     

    Corrie Ten Boom said, “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” Do we trust God in all things? Is He all we need? Will God fail us? Has He really promised that if we bow to Him He will honor us?

     

    Abraham traveled three days with his son knowing the time of sacrifice was ahead. Look at Abraham’s fingers for they were not clutching to Isaac. Every step his fingers were opened. On the third day Abraham’s eyes saw the place far off and said to the others to stay behind for he and his son were going to worship and come again to them (Gen. 22.4).

     

    The power of the third day is this: When we walk with our hands open and hold to things and people loosely we can worship God. And what we give back, God takes, and what God takes, He cleanses, and what He cleanses He will use. And what He will use He gives back in a more powerful, pure, and purposeful manner.

  • Courage

    “Now it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth” (I Kings 18:1).

    A little lady by the name of Amy Carmichael spent her life for the gospel in India. Amy became aware of the terrible practice that was so common in the Hindu Temples. Little girls as young as six and seven would be sold by their parents into lives that prostituted their little bodies. Amy Carmichael was shaken to the core of her being. So she decided something must be done

    Through miraculous means, the first girl was brought to her in 1901. The little seven-year-old girl showed Amy her hands that had been branded with hot irons because she had tried to escape once before. By 1943, Amy was taking care of eight hundred children, and she was the hated woman by a powerful system of prostitution. God protected this woman who stood for Him and His Word.

    Oh, if men, God’s men, would rise up and have just a tenth of the courage of this woman then we can change our churches and our homes. Why? Because God would stand up for these mighty men as He stood for Stephen as Stephen stood for Him. It is going to take courage and holiness for this new era of American history. That is why some of you are going through trouble because God is getting you ready for leadership.

     

     

     

     

  • Standing on the Promises

     

    “And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?”  —Nehemiah 6:3

         Have you heard the music boxes that plays music after it is wound up? There is one box that plays that old song “Standing on the Promises.” When it is wound up to full strength it chimes with vibrant enthusiasm. The song and sounds are beautiful.

        After a while the music box begins to wind down. It can stop even before the tune is finished. Instead of playing the familiar song all the way through, it no longer is standing on the promises; it is now sitting on the premises! So many christians mistake the one for the other! Standing for sitting

         It is possible to stand on the promises in such a routine manner that we become so orthodox in our teaching, living, and behaving that we really are sitting on the premises. No longer resting in the promises and living day by day in the strength of God’s Word and prayer, we slow down and finally stop. I don’t want to run down in the middle of the song or in the middle of life. I want to stand on the promises of Christ my Lord. What about you?

  • When Pain is Allowed

    “Saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:21).

    Being confident in God doesn’t make the pain we experience less deep but it can become less broad. If you and I have some things settled with God, there are boundaries around the field of pain we experience. With God our pain doesn’t have to spread out into the endless spaces of limitless meaning. God allows the touch of pain to test us and to see if we will trust Him and find His reward to be better.

    God set His plan in motion before the foundation of the world. His glory is seen in this aspect of His omnipresence. Before time was, He was. He sits upon time and He spans all time, history, and future. He circumscribed all things to happen to His people.

    We mainly think of the glory of God when it comes to OUR salvation, but have you ever thought of the glory of God because of who He is? God overturns all things to bring glory to His name. He sets all things into motion. Therefore our salvation is to His glory.

    If we confess Christ as the Son of God and Savior, and take up our cross and follow Him, He will reveal to us His kingdom and His glory. When you and I experience the glory of God, the demands of discipleship become blessings that carry us along in joyful obedience. Passing the test means loving God to the end.