In Overcoming Bitterness, Part 2, you learned that you are in a battle for your mind, and it is not a battle that is easily won.
13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
If you do not feel forgiving, pray for it. Pray for it. Ask for release from your bitterness and your pain. Ask for the Lord to heal you.
Psalm 107 says: Cry out to the LORD and HE can save you from your distress.
You are probably familiar with Philippians. 4:8
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
That is the key. You hear one of those bitter thoughts, which we just learned are from SATAN, and you say aloud, or in your mind: STOP this thought. AND then you actively replace that thought with one that meets this criteria. Memorize this verse and run those thoughts through the Philippians 4:8 test. Post this verse around your home, around your PC, at work, in your car and when you hear those lies from Satan starting again, read it again and again until it becomes your habit.
So, now we have made it very clear: God knows you. He knows everything about you, and yet he commands that we forgive those who hurt us and flee from bitterness. You know that with the help of the Holy Spirit, you can do everything good that God commands.
The forth point is this: forgiving a person does not free them from Justice from God.
6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.
When? You might ask:
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9
Think about this ladies: What punishment could you possibly give here on earth that would compare to the punishment of a God who loves you? And if you think this punishment seems a little severe for the hurt someone has inflicted on you, then pray for the one who hurt you, that they would be saved from this through their own relationship with Christ.
Ladies, when you go for a hot stone treatment, the stones are kept in a heating device, similar to a crock pot, that heats to 350 degrees. Now, stones at room temperature are much cooler than the surrounding air, so the stones reach a temperature of about 120 degrees. When you apply these smooth, warm oiled stones to your skin, at first, they may seem uncomfortably warm. But if you remain steady and let the stones gradually heat your muscles, the relaxation that follows is very deep. The same is true when applying these truths to your life. When I first began battling bitterness, I went through many tears. I had to repeatedly go back to the word of God to analyze what was true and what was a lie from Satan, and believe me, once you start rejecting Satan’s lies, he will work all the harder to make you hang onto your bitterness. As long as you are maintaining the status quo, Satan has no reason to torment you, but once you begin gaining strength, he will turn up the heat in the crock pot just to stop your progress….but I urge you to be strong, resist the urge to run from your resolve, and keep going back to God’s healing Word.
For more help with Overcoming Bitterness, we have an audio workshop in this topic:
