The Power of Gratitude
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Sometimes gratitude hurts.
Life isn’t always kind, and when we find ourselves struggling over circumstances we wouldn’t choose, we don’t naturally feel grateful. In fact, we tend to get angry. Even bitter.
Yet our opening scripture suggests that God desires for us to give thanks in all circumstances. Every one. That includes the good and the bad.
This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, beloved. Gratitude.
Why would gratitude be so important to God? Perhaps the next verse offers some insight.
Do not quench the Spirit. Verse 19
Ingratitude stops the flow of the Spirit, hindering God’s work in our midst. Praise and thanksgiving, on the other hand, release God’s Spirit to move.
Ingratitude stops the flow of the Spirit in our lives. Gratitude releases it. Click To Tweet
You see, thanksgiving carries us into His presence.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! Psalm 100:4
When we choose gratitude—even when we’re hurting or don’t understand our present circumstances—we choose to enter into God’s goodness. That choice—to focus on what is good instead of what’s presently lacking—removes the enemy’s power and invites God in. You see, perspective is everything.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22
According to Jesus, how we view something directly relates to what we experience in our body. The light we long for comes from seeing with a healthy perspective. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. When we view things through a faulty lens—the lens of negativity—our body takes on the darkness of our wrong perspective. It actually gives the enemy a position of power in our lives—and permission to torment us.
“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” Matthew 6:23
I wonder, dear one, if you wrestle with the pull of the darkness in your own life. Hopelessness, anxiety, and depression are crippling lives in greater measure than we’ve ever seen, particularly within the body of Christ.
Yet we have this promise about our Savior,
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5
Do you want to live the overcoming promises of God’s Word, beloved? Do you want to dwell in the power of the light? Choose gratitude. Find something to be thankful for, and dwell on that. Let your lips offer a sacrifice of praise, especially during times of sorrow. You will discover that gratitude ushers you into the presence of God.
I’ve watched this happen in the life of my mother-in-law over the last couple of years.
Pain in her body has kept her from doing many of the things she loves to do. She spends most of her days at home. Hurting. But I have watched a sweet peace fall over her, as she’s chosen not to dwell on what she’s lost, but rather all that she has.
She tells me, “I have so much time, time to think of all the blessings God has given me. My beautiful family. His faithfulness to us.”
And I’ve watched a beautiful miracle unfold through her. You see, the presence of God falls on her and flows through her when she speaks. A friend of mine visited her recently wanting to encourage her. Instead, she was profoundly blessed by the encouragement she received! God’s presence flowed to my friend and lifted her own weary heart.
Why? Because my mother-in-law has spent the last years dwelling in the courts of her King. Her gratitude ushered her through His gates, allowing Him to minister to her soul. And that allows Him to show up without her even trying. Her heart is already engaged with His, and He’s right there, ready to give.
When our hearts stay engaged with God's Spirit, He shows up without our even trying. Click To TweetAs we celebrate this Thanksgiving season, I wonder if we can go a little deeper. Beyond pumpkins and lovely wooden signs declaring thanks, what if we engaged our hearts? Let’s fill our bodies with light as we look at our lives through the lens of gratitude and declare our thanks to the Giver of every good gift.
As you enter His courts with your praise, He may just surprise you.
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The Power of Giving Thanks
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Sometimes gratitude hurts.
Life isn’t always kind, and when we find ourselves struggling over circumstances we wouldn’t choose, we don’t naturally feel grateful. In fact, we tend to get angry. Even bitter.
Yet our opening scripture suggests that God desires for us to give thanks in all circumstances. Every one. That includes the good and the bad.
This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, beloved. Gratitude.
Why would gratitude be so important to God? Perhaps verse 19 offers some insight.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Ingratitude stops the flow of the Spirit, hindering God’s work in our midst. Praise and thanksgiving, on the other hand, release God’s Spirit to move.
You see, thanksgiving carries us into His presence.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4
I don’t know your present circumstances, dear one, but I do know a God who desires to reveal Himself in the midst of them. And sometimes—when life seems hardest and the view seems darkest—offering a sacrifice of praise may be the very thing that ushers God’s presence into your mess and changes things.
How do I know? It happened to Paul.
In one of his darkest moments, wrongfully imprisoned and chained in stocks, Paul offered God a sacrifice of praise.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. Acts 16:25-26
Beloved, perhaps God’s ready to release you—and even those around you—from whatever oppressive prison has been holding you.
Depression. Bitterness. Illness. Fear.
Thanksgiving may be the key that unlocks your miracle.
Tomorrow we celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. Don’t let the holiday pass without fixing your thoughts on the One from whom all blessings flow. Whatever you’re going through, offer Him praise.
And if praise feels like a sacrifice, beloved, offer it anyway. Because when circumstances suggest that God has abandoned you yet your lips offer praise and thanksgiving, hell trembles.
And heaven releases power-packed grace.
No Offense, But…
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Proverbs 10:12
Last week we looked at the power of forgiveness. Christ’s blood poured out from a cross at Calvary so you and I could escape the destructive power of sin. The promise of the cross doesn’t just pardon sin’s penalty, dear one. It conquers the present compulsion for sin in our day-to-day lives.
Beloved, you and I have been empowered by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to live driven by Christ’s love rather than sin’s hate. We’ve been given a new nature—Christ’s nature—and that nature offers the power to dramatically change our present circumstances. When walking in that nature, we enjoy the beautiful fruit the Spirit provides.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you love to live each day feeling your heart swell with love and bubble over with joy? Wouldn’t you love the peace of God to wash away your anxiety and worry? Don’t you long to find yourself empowered to patience instead of blowing up at the people you love?
Unfortunately, that isn’t where most of us live. Instead, we far more readily suffer the fruit of the flesh, spending much of our days tied up in knots, feeling frustrated, angry, depressed, and overcome by the circumstances we find ourselves in. Our families end up baring the brunt of our misery.
What are we missing? Perhaps Matthew 6:14-15 will shed some light on the root of our struggle.
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Powerful words. Jesus said if I refuse to forgive others, God won’t forgive me. Let’s put it another way. If I refuse to release others, God won’t release me.
No wonder so many of us feel stuck.
Harboring bitterness in your heart will keep you from experiencing the grace of forgiveness in your own life. That means the power God offers through forgiveness gets held back, and you’re left relying on your own strength.
You may have noticed. Your own doesn’t get you very far.
Dear one, God’s command to forgive those who wrong us isn’t about letting them off the hook. It’s about allowing God’s power to continue to flow into our lives. Bitterness blocks the flow of His love, and love empowers everything God does.
Love empowered Christ’s words as He hung from a bloody cross.
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
The people screaming, “Crucify Him!” weren’t sorry. They hadn’t apologized. It wasn’t even over. They shouted insults while He bled for them. They celebrated His agony while He struggled to press His nail pierced feet into the wood of the cross, lifting His torso enough to gasp out the words, “Father, forgive them.”
The love released through that act of forgiveness shook the earth and tore the veil. It crumbled the barrier that separated man from God, and it made the way to conquer sin and death in the heart of man so love and life could flow in its place—love that empowers, love that redeems, love that transforms and heals.
When we choose bitterness, we embrace the spirit of the world—of hatred—rather than the Spirit of love Christ poured out. We choose our sin nature instead of Christ’s nature. Jesus always forgives.
You and I don’t deserve forgiveness, dear one. We’re guilty. Nothing we do can earn our way into it. But Jesus offers it anyway and asks us to receive it by faith.
Yet we don’t want to extend that grace to others. We want them to earn it. And we won’t offer forgiveness freely because whoever hurt us doesn’t deserve it.
I won’t argue with you. Nobody really deserves forgiveness. The very fact that we need to extend it means that a wrong has taken place.
But God’s not asking us to let people off the hook when He asks us to forgive them. He’s asking us to let Him bear the burden. He’s asking us to trust His promise in Exodus 14:14,
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)
When we trust God to keep His Word and surrender our bitterness, a beautiful thing happens. He moves on our behalf. And trusting Him accesses the grace of God to provide the fruit of the Spirit in us. Love replaces anger. Joy replaces bitterness. Peace overshadows strife.
Forgive, dear one, so you can be forgiven. Release your captors so you can be free.
Opening the Gift of Joy
. . . I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:11-13
Last week we discovered in scripture that we are abundantly blessed and lavished in grace. In case you missed it, take a moment to revel in the wonder of Ephesians 1:3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
God the Father has spoken every blessing available to us in Christ over each of our lives. Do you know what that means, dear one? Nobody has a greater blessing than you.
I know what you’re thinking. You see a lot of people with sizeably greater blessings. You have friends who have better jobs. Your neighbor has that great car. There’s that one family at church that always takes those amazing vacations. Your sister has those perfect kids.
You don’t feel equally blessed. Perhaps you even feel forgotten.
I’d like to suggest to you that’s precisely how the enemy wants you to feel. That’s the reason he continually shifts your gaze to worldly blessings. If he can convince you God has not blessed you, you won’t walk empowered by your blessing. Then he can keep you right where he wants you: defeated under his oppressive yoke.
I think this is a perfect opportunity to ask God to help us “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
You see, the blessings available to you in Christ are far greater than the fleeting blessings the world offers. That fabulous car can be smashed to rubble in one terrifying moment of impact. That great job can disappear tomorrow. Truth be told, so can those perfect kids.
And our emotions can spiral in a frenzied plummet from overjoyed to nearly suicidal as what we trusted for our happiness reveals its frailty. What we imagined was so sturdy and certain suddenly cracks and shatters in an instant. Our joy shatters right along with it.
Until Christ returns in perfection and restores this earth to its sinless state, nothing is certain. Nothing, that is, except Jesus.
And He offered up His life on the cross to pour out blessings in your life that are otherwise unattainable. What’s more, they can’t be taken from you. You can only lose them if you deny them or give them away.
Maybe we should take a minute to count some of those blessings.
Salvation, forgiveness, redemption, holiness, love, adoption, purpose, joy, peace, power . . . the list goes on.
Let’s settle on joy for a minute, a blessing we all long for that often remains elusive. Joy is a spiritual blessing spoken over you by God and guaranteed through Jesus. Jesus Himself spoke of His priority for joy in your life in John 15:11.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Beloved, your heavenly Father has blessed you with joy—the fullness of joy. It’s a gift of grace poured out through His Son that He desires to see manifested in your life.
Listen carefully, dear one. No one has been blessed with more joy than you. Joy is not a blessing God gives to some but not others. He didn’t skip over you with that one. His Word tells us He blessed you with every spiritual blessing. Your circumstances don’t dictate it. No matter what is happening in your life, you are meant to experience the fullness of joy.
Do you, beloved? Or do you find yourself chasing after it, hoping to attain it with various things? That relationship . . .that house . . . that degree . . . that acclaim . . .
We have allowed the enemy to convince us that we can only have joy if the circumstances in our life cooperate to provide it. We translate the blessing of God to mean we and our family members will remain healthy, and that our financial needs will not only be met for today but also all our tomorrows—in advance.
And when we don’t experience those blessings, we believe the enemy’s whispers that God has forsaken us. We feel crushed under the weight of it, and our misery creeps into every aspect of life. It hurts our relationships. It pulls us from our purpose. Our bitterness empties us.
What if you and I chose to start believing God for the blessings He’s already given? What if we stopped allowing the enemy to rob us of the joy we are equipped for and meant to experience?
How? We shift our gaze from our lack and settle it on the abundance of what we have. Our heritage as believers is to experience the miracle Paul described in our opening scripture.
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Philippians 4:11
Can you imagine it, dear one? Being content in whatever situation you find yourself in?
Do you know what Paul is describing, beloved? Peace, another one of those great spiritual blessings only available to you in Jesus. A heart at rest whether facing abundance or need. A blessing that God has spoken over your life and is waiting for you to receive.
Don’t let the enemy convince you you’re not blessed, dear one. You are. Abundantly.
You are extravagantly loved, adopted into the family of God and coheir to the inheritance of the King of Kings. You are saved, delivered from the hand of the enemy in this life and the next. You are empowered by God Himself dwelling within your heart by His Spirit. And you are lavished in grace that provides all that you need.
Believe Him.
The Power of Ingratitude
“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.” Exodus 13:21
Did you ever notice how God becomes just what we need from Him in any given moment?
Perhaps you haven’t noticed. Maybe, like the Israelites, you reap the benefit of His presence without ever giving it much thought. They were often so preoccupied by what they lacked, they didn’t appreciate what they were given. Instead of thanking God for His rich provision, they grumbled.
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:2-3
Really? They spent their time in Egypt sitting around pots of meat? Isn’t it amazing how quickly the human mind forgets and distorts. Perhaps you’d like to see what caused God to send Moses to get them out of Egypt in the first place.
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. Exodus 2:23-25
God added these words when He called Moses from the burning bush.
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering . . . I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.” Exodus 3:7,9
The memory of their groaning in backbreaking slavery quickly faded to illusions of grand feasts. Why? They were hungry. A desire of their flesh rose up and wasn’t satisfied, and that one thing became the entire focus of their thoughts. They forgot the extent of their suffering, as well as God’s miraculous displays of power on their behalf. And their momentary hunger made them twist His intentions. They threw God’s plan to rescue them back in His face, claiming He meant them harm.
Ever been there? That’s the nature of the unredeemed heart, dear one. It deceives. No wonder Jeremiah 17:9 states,
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
And that deceitful heart left unchecked brings bitterness to the soul.
Perhaps this is why scripture continually points the people of God toward gratitude. Gratitude shifts our gaze and changes the direction of our thinking. Instead of emptying the soul by dwelling on what we lack, it fills it by celebrating what we possess.
Sadly, few consistently choose the path of gratitude. Our own hunger for things we desire clouds our view and overshadows our many blessings. And that’s dangerous. Scripture teaches that refusing to acknowledge God with thanksgiving leads to futile thinking and a hard, dark heart.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1:21-22
Ingratitude made the Israelites fools—fools that desired to run right back to the oppressive captivity they had cried out for deliverance from. Amazing.
Before we start casting stones at the house of Israel, it might be wise to shift our gaze to the nearest mirror. Is your heart content in the journey God has you on, dear one? Do your lips offer praise for the Light that marks your path, or are you preoccupied with an area that remains in shadow? Are you hungering for something so ferociously that all that God has already poured into your life feels empty?
God wants to see your heart at peace, beloved. He longs to satisfy your soul with a contentedness only He can bring. You see, dear one, only God Himself can satisfy.
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:14
Do you want a little joy and gladness that carries you all your days? It comes as the result of a choice. Choose to look at what God has done, not what He has yet to do. Offer Him praise and gratitude. You may just find that you encounter God Himself.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4-5
Praise and gratitude usher us into the presence and power of God. Thanksgiving allows us to enter His gates. Praise carries us into His court. And when we encounter Him, we discover just what we needed. Emptiness fades. Our hearts fill with His very presence.
And we are satisfied.
Death: The Door to Life
“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24
Death scares most of us. We spend the majority of our lives trying to avoid it. And no wonder. Death represents an end, ceasing to exist in the way we’ve known. What follows is unfamiliar territory. And most of us prefer the comfort of familiarity, even when what’s familiar to us isn’t all that great.
Like the way we feel about our sinful nature.
We don’t want to let go of it; it’s what we know.
It deceives us. It hurts us. It even harms the people we love. But we can’t fathom life without it. We fear the death of it more than we fear the pain it causes. So we rebel against Jesus’ command to crucify it.
Yet Jesus forever changed what death means for us as believers. He came to the earth and shared in our humanity,
. . . so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15
In Christ, we should no longer fear death. Jesus has conquered its power! Instead, He asks us to embrace it. Even seek it.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25
Jesus challenges us to lose our lives for Him.
We read those words and our flesh kicks up. We don’t want to lose our lives. That’s death, and we’ve always been afraid of death.
But Jesus has freed us from that fear. In Christ, death isn’t an end, dear one. It offers a new beginning.
And Matthew 16:25 extends a clear promise: When you lose your life for Him, you will find it.
You will find your true life, beloved, when you’re willing to lose the one you have.
It doesn’t make sense to us. Logic wars against it. Everything in us screams to hold onto who we’ve always been. After all, it’s what we know.
But when you and I fear the death of our old nature and try to protect and preserve it, we settle for a less than life.
How can I say that? Jesus said it first.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
Jesus wants you to experience life to its fullest extent. That happens when you stop living from your old nature and allow Christ to live through you.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
When you and I cease to live—when we put to death our sinful nature—Christ lives in its place. And that scares the enemy of our souls, because he knows he can walk all over us as long as we still live through our old nature. He governs that nature and can easily manipulate us.
But the enemy can’t do anything against the power of the living Christ. Jesus need only utter a word, and he’s undone. He’s powerless… feeble… nothing. And so he does all he can to convince you to remain in your own weakness. He whispers that you should fear death.
Beloved, Jesus has released you from that fear. It’s time to walk in the fullness of life Christ offers. Death has become your catalyst to abundant life!
Imagine it for a moment. What if you crucified your insecurity and let Christ’s assurance of who He Is reign in its place? What if you let go of bitterness and experienced the flooding of His love equipping your heart to feel joy again? What if you buried your self-centeredness so Jesus could replace your impatience and agitation with His perfect peace?
Abundant life awaits, dear one. You need only trust His Word.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4
Will you walk through that door and trust Jesus for your new life?
Shining Like Stars
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:14-15
Jesus called you and me the light of the world. It only makes sense, really, since He is the “the true light that gives light to every man” (John 1:9) and now He dwells within us. As His body, saved and redeemed by His blood, He asks us to shine His light. And according to Matthew 5, that light should never remain hidden. Instead, it should light up the sky like a city on a hill.
Do you shine, dear one? Are you giving Jesus what He asked for?
I can’t help thinking of the song I used to sing as a little girl in Sunday school. We’d proudly hold up our hands with fingers pointing toward the heavens and proclaim, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.”
But it didn’t shine. I never let it out.
We often make the mistake of trying to act like Jesus. We think we shine His light by imitating what He would do. Only we don’t have the strength to act like Him all the time, so that inner “self” we try to hide through our good behavior reveals itself more often than we’d like it to. And the watching world looks at our version of Christianity and calls it hypocrisy.
Can we really blame them?
You and I aren’t supposed to act like light, dear one. Jesus intends for us to become light.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
… God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5
Jesus carried the burden of our sin to the cross so that we could become His righteousness. He gave it to us the moment we put our faith in Him and received His Spirit to dwell within us. Now we need to let Him out. We need to yield to the power of His Spirit within us and let Him take over.
You see, beloved, Jesus shines through a transformed heart.
Have you offered Him your heart to mold and change, dear one? Have you told Him you’re willing to let go of your bitterness? Have you invited Him to circumcise your heart to love with His selfless love?
It’s time we stopped pretending and let Jesus set us ablaze with His light!
Times are changing. Evil seems to show itself in increasing measure. Scripture foretells of astonishing things to come—some of them terrible, some wondrous—but all of them remain certain.
Yet in Christ, we have glorious hope!
But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. Daniel 12:1-3
When will these things be fulfilled? God made this astonishing announcement to the prophet Daniel centuries ago.
… When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.” Daniel 12:7
When the power of the holy people has finally been broken? What on earth does that mean?
Consider for a moment the power struggle that rages within you. Each day you must choose whether to bow to your own self-will, or to bow to the leadership of the Spirit. More often than not, your own desires win the battle, quenching the Spirit’s power.
Yet in the last days, the power of the Spirit will rise victorious. Christ’s own will finally learn to overcome and claim the victory Jesus purchased for them through the cross. As in the days following the church’s conception, believers will choose to abandon self-will, leaving its power broken. Christ’s church will rise, yielding to His Spirit in glorious surrender, uniting in the love and unity glimpsed at the birth of the church and restored in time for the return of the King.
Beloved, you and I can hasten His return.
You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. 2 Peter 3:11-12
As we choose to surrender to the work of the Spirit in our lives, allowing Christ to sanctify our hearts and renew our minds with His purpose, we move us toward the fulfillment of God’s great plan of redemption.
Like the Disciples who first answered Jesus’ call and paved the way for us, will you choose to live radically for Jesus, abandoning all else to the rise of His glory? I pray that you will, beloved,
. . . so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. Philippians 2:15
Then our eyes will finally gaze upon our Lord and King without a veil. Glory rises, dear one. Will you allow Christ to release it through you?
The Bitter Root
Perhaps you can’t relate to this, but occasionally, I get angry. And when I do, I have a list of very valid reasons that explain why I have every right to feel that way. If I choose to feed that anger, it can turn into something pretty ugly. Just ask my husband. After nineteen years, he’s witnessed a few of my less than godly moments.
Those moments, however, are always the ones I look back on with regret. Have you ever noticed how they usually come back to bite you?
Today my friend Wendy Blight, author and speaker with Proverbs 31 Ministries, shares her own experience with holding bitterness. I pray her story will encourage you to trust God and extend grace when you feel wronged by someone. Remember, God’s instructions don’t always feel natural, but they are always for us.
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13
The Bitter Root
By Wendy Blight
"See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." (Hebrews 12:15 NIV)
How dare she ask this of me?
I reread her email, which only fueled my fury. Rather than reply immediately, I decided to forward the note to my husband for his advice. Any words I would've written to her at that moment would not have been kind.
Bitterness took root as I typed a note to my husband, spewing out my frustration. When I finished, I reviewed my message with great satisfaction. I'd expressed myself well to a safe person. Then I pressed send.
In that moment, I glanced at the "to" box. I was horrified when I realized I'd hit "reply" instead of "forward." My heart sank. All my hurtful words and anger were now en route to her, not my husband.
I felt sick. What should I do? I picked up the phone and called my husband at work. We both agreed I needed to email her, explain what happened, and ask forgiveness. It was the hardest email I've ever written.
Her gracious response astounded me. She thanked me for my apology and closed her response with these words, "I forgive you, so let's just put this behind us." Her words of forgiveness melted the bitterness that had consumed my heart just an hour before. I'm sure she was hurt. My words were harsh. Yet she chose to overlook and pardon my offense.
It's easy to forget that we have choices when we're offended. We can surrender our hurt or hold on to our hurt. We can extend grace or harbor bitterness.
Bitterness is like poison that infects our lives. The author of Hebrews compares bitterness to a root that overtakes our hearts and causes trouble in many other areas of our lives (Hebrews 12:15). Although our feelings of bitterness, anger, and resentment may seem justified, they are not. Instead, they're hurtful and destructive—to ourselves as well as to the person who hurt us.
God's Word teaches us to forgive and instructs us not to let the sun go down while we're angry. When we do, we give the devil a place to work in our hearts and relationships. Instead of allowing the enemy room to plant relational weeds between us, my friend chose forgiveness, extended grace, and prevented a bitter root from taking hold.
She became a living example of the apostle Paul's words to the believers at Ephesus: "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Her wise example helped me move beyond my anger. My friend's gracious decision modeled humility. Her choice to forgive salvaged our friendship and changed how I react toward others who offend me. From that day forward, I've prayed that God's grace would flow through me, leaving no room for bitter roots.
Dear Lord, search my heart. See if there is any bitterness in me. Lead me to forgiveness. Enable me through the power of Your Holy Spirit to let go of all bitterness and to extend Your amazing grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Remember
Choosing forgiveness is the only way to prevent a bitter root from taking root in your heart and growing.
Reflect
Is there someone against whom you harbor unforgiveness? What is it that keeps you from being able to forgive this person?
Respond
Review the verses shared in this devotion. Prayerfully ask God what your next step is with this person. Ask Him to equip you to take that first step, and then take it.
Power Verses
Colossians 3:13; Romans 12:9
Taken from Encouragement for Today: Devotions for Everyday Living by Renee Swope, Lysa TerKeurst and Samantha Evilsizer and the Proverbs 31 Ministries Team. © 2013 Proverbs 31 Ministries. Used by permission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com.
For more from Wendy Blight, visit her blog at www.wendyblight.com, or study with her at www.inscribedstudies.com.
Rising to Life
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” John 11:25
I had a good cry with Jesus this morning. A prayer journal I’ve been working through brought me to the streets of Jerusalem to witness His trial and execution. The scene did not evoke peace or comfort. The crowd grew ugly, crying out for blood.
The guards gladly gave it, pounding Jesus with fists and lashes, their mocking lips curled in treacherous smiles as they hailed Him “King of the Jews” and repeatedly beat a crown of thorns into His head. They spit on Him and mocked Him, then made Him carry His own cross, stumbling half dead through the streets to Golgotha. There, they hammered nails into His wrists and ankles, hanging Him between two thieves on splintered beams of wood.
I can barely stand the thought of it. My heart breaks for my Lord and friend when I think of what He suffered. I cannot imagine the searing rejection He felt, the pain He endured. If anyone ever had reason to rage against injustice, it was Jesus. He was innocent, undeserving; yet He suffered unspeakable pain. And at the hands of those He professed to love, many who only the week before had worshiped Him.
Yes, if ever anyone had reason to hold a grudge, it was Jesus. But He didn’t. Instead, He hung gasping for breath, ignored their insults, and uttered the impossible.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34
Unbelievable. The torture wasn’t even over. No one had apologized. In fact, they were still hurling insults at Him. His circumstances hadn’t changed. The people had not repented. Yet Jesus chose—in the midst of His pain—to release forgiveness.
It makes no sense to us. In fact, it’s almost unthinkable. It goes against every thread of instinct woven into our human nature. But that’s the point, actually. Our human nature rings synonymous with our fallen nature, and left unchecked it will destroy us.
Dear one, the part of you that rails against how unfair your circumstances seem—that screams you deserve better and schemes for retribution—that part of you has spent its life enslaved to sin and will always incite you to respond in ways that bring about death.
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. Romans 7:5
Beloved, no good ever comes from following our “natural” instincts, because what feels natural to us comes from our life-long bondage to sin. Whenever we allow our old nature to guide our actions, death of some kind eventually results. Every time. And when we hold a grudge, it won’t be the one we harbor anger toward that experiences that death. No, our bitterness brings death to our own souls.
If you think about it, you’ll probably find you know that to be true. You’ve likely tasted the poison of bitterness and felt its effects.
Have you ever had an “enemy” so preoccupy your thoughts that you can hardly think about anything else? Anger overshadows every other emotion until it’s hard to imagine being capable of another feeling. Unrest steals your peace; anxiety consumes your joy. The very mention of your offender sets your heart racing and your blood boiling. Ugly thoughts linger. And most of the time, you just feel miserable.
Do you see it, dear one? Death. Is this what we fight to protect by refusing to forgive?
The perfect Son of God made a different choice as He hung from His cross. Why? Because Jesus, unbound by our destructive sin nature, knew that forgiveness was the only way to keep Himself free.
Jesus didn’t only offer forgiveness as a grand act of mercy toward humanity. Jesus had to forgive, dear one. Accepting that sin into His heart would’ve thwarted everything He had come to accomplish.
Think about it. What made Jesus able to conquer death and rise from the grave? He defeated sin and its resulting death by remaining the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb. If Jesus had allowed bitterness to take root in His heart, even He would’ve missed experiencing the glory of resurrection.
Forgiveness had to take place, beloved, or Jesus would have remained in the grave. Bitterness would have kept our Savior from rising to life.
The same rings true for you, dear one. The power to rise from the dead lies within your own heart. You can trust your old nature and hold onto the resentment you have every right to carry. Or, like Jesus, you can choose to believe that resurrection life lies on the other side of forgiveness.
You may even experience the same miracle Jesus did. He didn’t just rise to glory; the grace that forgiveness unleashed brought about a direct change in His circumstances.
Just look at the thief that hung beside Him. He began that torturous day among Jesus’ accusers. Matthew 27:44 records, “In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.”
Amazingly, one of the thieves suddenly switched sides after Jesus’ famous, pardoning words. Luke 23:39-41 records the abrupt change.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Jesus’ forgiveness released the power of grace to transform that thief’s hardened heart. In a powerful moment, Jesus’ opposition became His friend; His enemy became His ally. Transformation occurred because the faith expressed through forgiveness released God to move. And both Jesus and His accuser rose to new life.
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43
Beloved, your faith expressed through obedience opens the door to release God’s grace. Why not give forgiveness a try? You may just see your enemy become your ally.
“Everything is possible for one who believes.” Mark 9:23
FROM WORD ON WEDNESDAY
