Not many are willing to admit that they have ever had a problem with bitterness, but the truth be known, we all have had our moments of dealing with this dangerous and sometimes devastating emotion.

Bitterness often comes from a perceived wrong, whether real or imagined. If you’re older than 5 you’ve probably dealt with some type of disappointment, or you’ve had someone offend you or do something you’ve perceived as offensive toward you. God’s word contains many scriptures that help us understand and deal with bitterness.

Ephesians 4:29-32 (NKJV) 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Recognize the symptoms!

One of the first signs of a bitter person is their speech…

We’ve all come to realize that there are many different dialects for nearly every spoken language. For instance, you can often recognize what part of the United States someone lives simply by listening to them speak. It’s not only the accent that gives them away, but often the words they choose to use.

In much the same way we can determine the spiritual condition of a person by their speech. In fact, Jesus said, “From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks!” (Luke 6:45) So, according to Jesus, our heart condition is revealed by our speech! If a person’s speech is consistently littered with complaining, murmuring, criticism and fault finding, then chances are good they are harboring bitterness. On the other hand, a spiritually healthy person will speak graciously, having their speech filled with words of kindness, hope, optimism and thanksgiving!

The word of God clearly tells us in Ephesians 4:29 to let no corrupt communication proceed from our mouths, and to only speak that which is useful for edification. Obeying that verse alone would probably eliminate 90% of the words that many of us speak in a single day! Nevertheless, we are to keep watch over our mouths and be very careful of how we speak! This will be a much easier job when our hearts are filled with the Spirit of God and not bitterness. After all, out of the abundance of the heart…well, you get the point!

Bitterness can and will destroy you from the inside out! I once read that if you make a rattlesnake really angry and upset that it will literally bite and inject itself with poison. Interestingly enough, that’s exactly what we are doing when we allow bitterness to poison our spirit! Hebrews 12:15 tells us, “…lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” So we find that bitterness has a root. If allowed to continue, the root of bitterness can entangle itself around our hearts and our spirits until it finally chokes and destroys our spiritual life.

We cannot allow bitterness to have a place in our lives! We must recognize bitterness and allow the Holy Spirit to heal us from all past hurts and offenses. (Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.) We must put it away from us. We can rid ourselves of bitterness by choosing to forgive. Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Forgiveness doesn’t come easy when we are wounded by an offense. It’s not a natural reaction to forgive. And yet that’s exactly what we are ‘commanded’ to do by Jesus Himself! While teaching His disciples to pray, Jesus said that we should ask God to forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Therefore, forgiving others is a requirement that must be met before we ourselves can enjoy forgiveness. Choosing to forgive will bring healing and freedom to a wounded heart.

Consistent prayer and communion with God, as well as allowing the Holy Spirit full control of our hearts and lives are key in ridding ourselves of a bitter spirit. Romans 5:5 tells us that, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Wow! Imagine…the love of God floods and permeates our hearts through the working of the Holy Spirit! Since God is love as the bible states, then it would only make sense that the closer we get to God, the closer we get to love! More God, equals more love!

If someone has wronged you in some form or fashion, don’t allow the devil to trick you into dwelling on it and replaying it over and over again in your mind! Do not allow the bitterness to take root and take over!

Choose to forgive and live!

• Isaiah 38:17 (KJV) 17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

written by Pastor John Mobley

“Honey,” she replied with a grin, “without my glasses, you still look pretty good too!”

In a sense, our vision dominates our life. While moving, the object on which we focus nearly always dictates our direction of travel. Anyone who has ever driven a car and become distracted by something to the right or the left can attest to this fact!

Have you ever seen a horse wearing peripheral blinders? Basically, blinders are used to keep the horse focused on what is in front of it. Since the horse can’t see everything in it’s peripheral vision, it keeps the horse from becoming distracted or scared. Often blinders are used in situations where there may be a lot of distractions, such as public places.

I would be willing to venture that there are more than a few wives that would love to buy a pair of those ‘peripheral blinders’ for their husbands! The fact of the matter is, we can all be distracted at times and lured into focusing our attention in a direction we did not intend.

Not only can we become physically distracted, we can also become spiritually distracted!

The bible gives us clear instruction to keep our eyes and our focus on Jesus! In fact Hebrews 12:2 reads, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” Is it any wonder the devil tries so hard to distract us?

You see, he knows that if he is successful at tricking us into looking away from Jesus, it won’t be long before we are heading in the wrong direction!

Looking back stops forward progress!

For instance, he may try to lure you into looking in the direction of your past.

Every time you start to feel good about your relationship with God, you hear a little voice whispering in your ear, “Remember all of those times you failed God!” Soon your mind becomes flooded with memories of times when you had fallen short. The final result is, you can’t imagine God ever blessing you or wanting to help you at all because you feel like such a miserable failure!

No one can really drive forward using the rear view mirror. Don’t even try it…it’s impossible. You will certainly end up in an accident!

With that in mind, we can’t allow ourselves to be tricked into looking back and dwelling on our past mistakes and failures. It will only paralyze our forward progress and we will certainly end up in the ditch!

Jesus said these words found in Luke 9:62 “… No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” And, how can we forget Lot’s wife? She disobeyed God’s order not to look back at burning Sodom, and was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).

Paul wrote this in Philippians 3:13-14 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Using Paul’s example, we must forget the things that are behind us and reach forward to the things that are ahead! When you are tempted to look behind and you are reminded of your past failings, consider these scriptures from the precious word of God:

• Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

• Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

• 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Looking to the left or right will cause us to stumble!

The word of God reads, “Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” (Deuteronomy5:32)

Most of us have seen the lights of Las Vegas, whether in person or on television. The light show on the Vegas strip is a sight to behold! Magnificent monuments and spectacular light shows as far as the eye can see! Each business on the strip tries to come up with something more spectacular than their competition.

These magnificent light shows and monuments are all designed to attract your attention and lure you in to their place of business.

Don’t think for one moment that the devil won’t use this tactic to lure you away from God! In fact, I believe its one of his favorites! He wraps sin in a beautiful package, complete with ribbon and bow. We are attracted to it’s false beauty and we take the bait. But as many have learned, when we unwrap the beautiful package it’s filled with rotting garbage and we realize we’ve been duped!

The devil wants to tempt you and draw you away from God, but we must resist and keep our eyes on Jesus! Proverbs 4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

Looking at difficulties will cause us to sink!

The word tells us that when Peter stepped out of the boat and began to walk on water, his focus was taken away from Jesus by the stormy seas surrounding him. He took his eyes off Jesus only for a moment and immediately began to sink! (Matthew 14;29)

Like Peter, we too can easily lose our focus when the storms of life are raging all around us! We are tempted to place our focus on our problems and not on the problem solver! Thankfully, when Peter realized he was sinking, he immediately brought his focus and attention back to Jesus, and cried out for help. Of course, Jesus happily obliged and Peter was rescued!

When our storms become overwhelming, we must continue to keep our eyes on Jesus. We can’t allow our focus to be shifted from God to the storm!  As we look to Jesus, we begin to have our eyes opened even more to this reality; He is bigger than any trouble or trial that we will ever face!

When Elisha and his servant awoke to find themselves surrounded by a great army, his servant began to panic and cry out, “Master! What shall we do?” Elisha responded, “Don’t worry! The army with us is much greater than their army!” Then Elisha prayed that his servants eyes would be opened and he would be able to see as Elisha. When his eyes were opened he saw a vast army of horses and chariots of fire all around them!

I’ve often felt like Elisha’s servant. Overwhelmed and feeling hopeless I’ve asked that same question, “What shall I do?” But I have learned that if we can keep our eyes on Jesus, even in the heat of battle, we can and will have our eyes opened to this truth; “…He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Don’t look at your problems-look at your problem solver! Look to JESUS!

What are you looking at today?

Pastor John Mobley

He took his new job very serious and was doing very well. Still, after a couple of weeks on the job his supervisor brought him into the office and explained to him that someone was making off with their product on his watch and he suspected that it must be one of the employees. He advised him to be extra watchful and try his best to stop the thievery.

The next night he came to work determined to find the culprit and become the hero he had always dreamed of being. As the workers were leaving he watched each one carefully but never noticed anything unusual except for one man pushing a wheelbarrow with his jacket draped over it. This hadn’t seemed out of place before his meeting with the supervisor. After all, he had watched him do the exact same thing night after night. He began to think to himself that this man must be hiding something in the wheelbarrow, so he approached him and said, “Sir, do you mind if I take a look under your jacket?” The man agreed and he lifted the jacket to find the wheelbarrow empty. He quickly apologized to the employee and sent him on his way with a smile.

The next night he reported to work confident that because of his vigilance the thievery had ended. But as he came in he was met once again by an irritated supervisor who advised him that someone was still taking their product and it was happening on his shift! The man didn’t understand how anyone could have made off with anything. After all he had carefully watched each person one by one as they left the night before!

Feeling ashamed and disappointed he promised the supervisor that he would try to do a better job. As he turned to clock in, he asked the supervisor, “Hey, what is it that we make here anyway?” The supervisor replied, “Why, wheelbarrows of course!”

We laugh at the old security guard but sadly many of us make the same mistake every day! Because we don’t know what belongs to us as children of God the devil is able to make off with our posessions daily!

“Do you know what you’re missing?”

Jesus described the devil as a thief in John 10:10. In this verse He makes us aware that the devil’s true mission is to steal, kill and destroy! Simply stated, the devil wants to rob you of all your possessions and utterly and completely destroy you!

Our first defense is to take inventory using the word of God and become ever aware of what belongs to us as children of the King! Yes, you read it correctly! If you are born again and washed in the blood of Jesus you have been adopted into God’s family. You are a child of the King!

In fact we begin to gain a clearer understanding after reading the following verse:

Romans 8:14-17 (NJKV)14. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God. 15. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God, 17. and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together.

Isn’t that amazing! When we are adopted into God’s family, we litterally become an heir of God and joint heirs with Christ! If that doesn’t make you want to dance I’m not sure what will! There is no denying your royalty. To do so would belittle the suffering of our Lord on the cross! He suffered and died so that we might have an abundant life! John 10:10

As we read the following passage of scripture we see that the Apostle Paul’s longing and prayer for the church at Ephesus was that they might realize to the fullest who they really were in Christ and what belonged to them as heirs of the kingdom!

Ephesians 1:15-21(NKJV) Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,  do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,  the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power  which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

In simple terms, Paul is praying for them to see and understand who they were in Christ. He very much wanted them to understand all of the wonderful treasures available to them as the children of God! In order to keep ourselves from being robbed blind we simply need to find out what is ours and refuse to let go of it! The bible is our deed to the treasures of the kingdom.

For instance, joy belongs to you as a child of God!

JOY…

• Psalm 35:9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
• Psalm 63:5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
• Psalm 98:4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
• Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation
• John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

These scriptures and more give us undeniable rights to JOY! Yes, true joy is ours! This is perhaps one of the first of your possessions the devil will go after. Why? Because he knows that if he can rob you of your joy he has succeeded in snuffing out your light!

I ask you, “What is attractive about a joyless christian who goes around looking like a bull dog baptized in lemon juice?” If you have no joy, you have no attractiveness or ‘light.’ God wants you to have joy!

When I was 14 years old I can remember coming in contact with a Christian that was overflowing with joy. He didn’t have a voice for singing but that didn’t stop him. He sang, whistled and almost seemed to float on air everywhere he went. He didn’t need a bumper sticker or a t-shirt to advertise. His testimony to the world was the indescribable joy that God had placed in his life! Because of the joy that I saw in his life I gave my heart to the Lord declaring that I wanted what he had!

Thank God it’s mine! I now have a joy that doesn’t come and go with the changing of circumstances. No, this is an everlasting joy that endures even through the roughest of times! The prophet Habakkuk declared…Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NKJV) 17. Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Joy is yours! Don’t allow anyone or anything to take it away!

PEACE…

Jesus possessed a supernatural peace. We are told in Mark 4:35-41 that Jesus along with the disciples boarded a ship to cross over to the other side of the sea. Sometime during their trip a violent storm arose and the disciples fearing for their lives look for Jesus. Where did they find Him? Asleep on a pillow in the back of the ship! Now thats an amazing peace!

And here’s the best news…that very same peace that Jesus possessed, the same peace that alllowed Him to sleep through the raging storm now belongs to you and I! You may ask, “How can that be?” The answer is found in this verse: John 14:27 (NKJV) 27. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Satan doesn’t want you to know that peace belongs to you as a child of God, but we must realize it IS ours! It’s a part of our inheritance!

VICTORY…

The word of God is filled with beautiful promises of victory given to those who trust Him! Here are just a few…

• 1 John 5:4 (NKJV) 4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith.
• 1 John 4:4 (NKJV) 4. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
• Psalm 118:6 (NKJV) 6. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
• Romans 8:31 (NKJV ) 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
• Isaiah 41:13 (NKJV) 13. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
• Isaiah 45:2-3 (NKJV) 2. ‘I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. 3. I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the Lord, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.

You absolutely have the victory! Like the experience of Elisha’s servant the devil wants you to see only his attack. He wants you blind to the forces that are with you. But remind him the victory is yours and greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!

I want to encourage you to read the word and learn more about all that is available to you as a child of God! Don’t let ole slue-foot rip you off!

“Do you know what you’re missing?”

by Pastor John Mobley