Home »
Grace takes you from where you are, to where God wants you to be in your life. His desire for you is that you may see good days, and abide in His peace, that will see your descendants inherit the land. His promises come with His procedure. He who desires to see life and good days, let him refrain his tongue from speaking evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good ; let him seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11] And what can become a stumbling block in your pursuit of peace, needs to be addressed and dealt with through the empowering grace of God. Pursue peace with all men, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord; looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God ; lest any bitter root of envy springing up causes trouble, by this many become defiled. [Hebrews 12:14,15]
Picture in your mind a blossoming, fruitful garden ; your life, your family, your church, your work can all be one, fresh and flourishing, fulfilling God’s purposes, yielding fruit for His glory.
To measure a tree exactly was the assignment given to a certain person; but when he returned with what he thought was the right answer, he was told that it was not so, for he had missed a very vital part of the tree, which was the root that was hidden in the ground, not visible to the naked eye. Roots are invisible; and it is the same in the life of a person, when one can come to wrong conclusion about someone, gauging them at the surface level. It is why then, subsequently, their actions can sometimes be surprising and totally contrary to what they appear to be. The heart knows its own bitterness, declares the writer of the book of proverbs, about one’s own self. And, in a sense, it is not possible for you as a human being, to look within another person, at his innermost being, out of which springs the issues of life. And, you may not even know your own inner condition, as the heart of a man, in its fallen condition, is deceitful, and twisted.
But, there is the need to eradicate all that is wrong within you, in order to replace it with the good that God wants you to enjoy in life. And, the psalmist in God’s word shows what your prayer needs to be that this may come to pass in your life. It is the revelation from God that you need, in order to know your true inner self. For very often in life, one can be very sharp in discerning the faults of another person, all the while remaining sublimely unaware of one’s own negative behavior ! A person may not even be doing it consciously ; he could be saying a lie, not even knowing that he is lying ! What is subconsciously suppressed will be unconsciously released, may be the psychologists evaluation of it, and there may be some truth in it too. It all ultimately boils down to the hidden faults in a person, one which the psalmist addresses, and goes to the Lord in prayer.
Even as he wondrously and rightly compares God’s word to be more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey in the honeycomb, and the reward that comes with keeping it in one’s life, the psalmist says, Who can understand one’s errors ? Cleanse me from secret faults. [Psalms 19:12] It is indeed only the Lord who knows it all, even what lies buried deep within you at the subconscious level, which may have made you do things that you end up regretting later on. To be cleansed of his unconscious, secret and hidden faults is the psalmists plea; it needs to be yours and mine too. That his second thoughts may be made his first, is the prayer of a man of God. But, what would be even more profitable is when you ask of God, that His thoughts may become yours. For then, doing God’s will, would not be something that you have to think and then do ; it will be something that you do automatically and unconsciously.
Hidden faults in a person in his inner man, will find expression in his external behavior as deliberate or presumptuous sins. One is the root, and the other is its fruit. It is why the psalmist in the very next verse, prays thus, Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. [Psalms 19:13]
It is because of his or her hidden faults, hidden may be even from their own eyes. But, as long as there is something wrong in the inner man, it will find its expression in his external behavior. It is why God’s word warns against the root of bitterness. It is something that needs to be dealt with and uprooted, even when it is not visible outside, but lies hidden in the inner being of a person, and only the all knowing God is aware of its presence. David therefore, commits it to the Lord as he prays, search me O God, and know my heart ; test me and know my anxious thoughts ; See if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. [Psalms 139:23,24] Even today, the Lord who sees your anxious thoughts will lead you in the everlasting way. His grace will empower you to keep the root of bitterness from springing up within you, and also to uproot what may be already present there.
The background to the warning given to the people of God in the book of Hebrews, is found in the book of Deuteronomy. So that there may not be among you, man or woman, or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, and go and serve the gods of these nations, and there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood. [Deuteronomy 29:18] Bitter root can gain ground in a person to ultimately yield poisonous fruit, when he turns away from God to follow other gods.
When it comes to your Christian walk, your eyes need to be fixed upon Christ Jesus, focused solely upon Him, moment after moment, day after day, all through your life. He needs to come first, and nothing or no one else ought to take His place, for it is through Him that everything that is good and right flows into your life. And, shifting your focus, to take your eyes away from Him will lead you to idolatry, the dangerous path to destruction.
It is not just bowing to worship a physical idol. An idol is anything that takes preeminence in your life, the first place that needs to be given to God, so that your life may prosper. The spirit of antichrist that the apostle John warns about, as the spirit that is already here, is not just something that is against Christ Jesus, but also what replaces Christ in your life. In that sense, when money takes the place of God in your life, when money becomes a demi-god, the real God moves away.
And, when God is not there in His rightful place, something else that is not from God will occupy it, for there is no spiritual vacuum. It will take you also, on a disastrous path, paving the way for bitter root to spring forth. And, idolatry will lead to immorality, a downward spiral that will see your life move from bad to worse, and away from the purposes of God. The truth that needs to be kept in mind is that, God can give you all that money can, but money cannot give all that God can. Money can get you a house, but only God can give you a home. Money can buy you medical treatment, but healing and health is something that only comes from God. Love, joy and peace is found only in the kingdom of God.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from their path in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. [1 Timothy 6:10] As the above verse very clearly enunciates, the people who chase after money as the primary goal to be sought after, above everything else including God, may get what they want, but it will find them wandering away from the good God. The end result will be therefore, one that sees them bringing sorrow and pain upon themselves, for every good thing comes only from God.
Poisonous bitterness in a person leading to poisonous fruit in his external behavior is seen in the life of Simon, the sorcerer, who thought he could even bribe the Almighty God, to get what he wanted ! [Acts 8:9-23] Can anything be more diabolic than that ?! But, it is where bitterness inside can lead you. Simon Peter, in revelation insight saw through his evil bitterness, to say with words of strict admonition, ‘Your money perish with you, for you thought that you could purchase the gift of God with money’. [vs 20] The apostle proceeded to counsel him to repent, and seek forgiveness from the Lord, and then said, “For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity”. [vs 23] Peter rightly knew that it was the bitter root in the inner being of the sorcerer, being expressed in his external behavior. He desired the blessing of God, but despised the means of receiving it, and thought even the Almighty can be bought with money. He failed to realize the truth that the Father in Heaven gives the Holy Spirit as a good gift to His children, who ask of Him !
Money is the least of riches in the kingdom of God, where everything comes to you by grace and through faith. It is how you receive your salvation, which is the greatest riches of all ; and not even the richest man in the world can afford to pay for it ! As far as God is concerned, you come to Him as you are ; ‘just as you are, without one plea’, as the old song goes. He knows you inside and out, even better than you know yourself ! In the world maybe, or even in an organization, you can promote yourself with money, but never with God. What you give to Him, is out of gratitude and love for all that He has done for you and given to you. All the wealth that you have is from Him, given to you that you may use it for His glory, to be a channel of His blessing.
It comes to you as a seed, a promise from Him, through His word. And as you receive it in faith, to sow it in the soil of your heart, and water it to watch over it with faith and perseverance, it is then that you will experience the manifestation of it. It takes time ; there is a seed time and harvest, a gestation time involved. It involves your confession of His promise as you believe it in your heart, and aligning your conduct to be in accordance with it. You cannot buy the gift of God with money. You received the Holy Spirit, for the Father loves to give good gifts to you, His child.
This is another way in which bitterness, the root of it, can gain ground within you. It is when you are very flippant and lethargic towards the things of God, while at the same time, not being so, when it comes to worldly, material things. It is being mistaken in what you consider to be important in life. The life of Esau is a sad picture of it. For a simple meal, to satisfy his immediate felt need, with an impulsive act he sacrificed what was eternal. He chose to make light of the blessing of God, the double portion which was upon him as the first born. Did he, or can anyone for that matter, do anything to be the first born ? Certainly not; it is purely God’s gracious blessing that finds a person being the first born.
Esau, chose to make light of it though, and later on, even when he repented and begged for it, he could not regain it. And, even worse, it paved the way for bitterness to gain ground in his inner being. His life is a somber warning ; a lesson to be learnt through it, to put an end to any flippant attitude in you towards God, and what is godly. For, a bitter root when planted, will ultimately end in yielding poisonous fruit, and it is not what God desires to happen in your life. He wants your life to be a fruitful one, yielding good fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold.
And there it was, ‘all overgrown with thorns ; its surface was covered with nettles ; its stone wall was broken down’. [Proverbs 24:31] Solomon, in the verse above describes a neglected vineyard, that is compared to the life of a person who lacks understanding.
Spiritual growth in a person happens as God’s word, the seed, is planted, nurtured and nourished in the heart of a person, which is the soil. And, then God causes a marvelous increase. It is why the Lord makes it abundantly clear as He teaches the parable of the sower who sows the seed, that unless one understood the truth of that parable, they would not be able to understand the truth of the working of God’s kingdom. God has a wonderful story for you, all mapped out in His word, starting in the book of Genesis, till it all ends in the glorious future of the new Jerusalem, in the book of revelation. But, it cannot be revealed, made known to you by God, so that you may walk in it, unless meditating upon it day and night, becomes pleasurable to you.
But while men slept, his enemy came to sow tares among the wheat and went his way. [Matthew 13:25] The counterfeit is almost always very close to the original. And, it is what the enemy tries to do in your life, even when you are careful in avoiding all the other pitfalls. Serious problems can arise through what the enemy plants, the destructive and unfruitful tares in your heart; they may closely resemble the truth, when in fact they are not, and need to be uprooted and overcome.
For if the first fruit is holy; the lump is also holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. [Romans 11:16] The root is where the problem lies. And, the path to overcoming therefore lies in letting God do His wonderful work of grace inside you, to deal with the root and not the external symptoms of the problem. It is not mere superficial healing that the Lord is interested in. ‘They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace’. [Jeremiah 6:14] They are the Lord’s words, showing the right path. And, only He can see inside you, to deal with the cause, the root of your problem, to bring a healing that is a deep and permanent redemption.
It maybe the external symptom, but the cause, the root of it lies within you; it is a lack of trust in God, for trusting in God will find you resting in God. So it is not a problem of restlessness, but a problem of trust.
When frustration is what you are experiencing, it is the symptom of the problem that lies in your inner being which is a lack of faith. And the root can be dealt with, to deliver you of the external symptoms whatever they may be. It is the promise of God’s word ; that all that is not planted by the Father shall be uprooted. [Matthew 15:13] Defilement comes by the ungodly things planted in your heart by the enemy. Fear is not from the Father. And so, when you feel fearful at times, it can be uprooted by the empowering promise and grace of God. He wants your life to be like a beautiful garden, and not a neglected vineyard.
God’s promise to Jeremiah, holds true even this day, in your life and mine, for all His promises are yes and Amen in Christ Jesus. And therefore, His word in your mouth, is what uproots all the negatives in your life, to plant the promises of God in its place.
Seeing or beholding is where the promise of God begins. ‘See’, I have appointed you as prophet to the nations, He says to Jeremiah. ‘See’, I have given you Jericho, He says to Joshua in Canaan. And, to the anxious Moses, He says, ‘See’, I have made you god to Pharaoh. Beholding leads to believing and ultimately becoming, what the Lord has promised to you. It is what Paul describes as we with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror are being transformed into His likeness, with ever increasing glory, from the Lord who is the Spirit. [2 Corinthians 3:17,18]
Behold and believe that God has put His word in your mouth to uproot and to plant. Any ungodly thought in you can be uprooted by you, by His word. Fear is not from God, and it need not be tolerated by you; for fear tolerated is faith contaminated ! You can uproot fear by confessing your trust in God, by planting His promise in your heart. ‘When I am afraid’, the psalmist says, ‘I will put my trust in you’, to uproot fear. When worrying thoughts come, they can be uprooted as you confess in faith that the Lord is your shepherd; that His goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. Fears concerning your old age are not from the Father, who has also given you the power to uproot it. The words of the psalmist are yours to confess, that even in old age you will stay fresh and green to declare that the Lord is upright.
For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and the spirit, of joints and marrow, and the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12] The word of God is self targeting and God directed. It is able to discern what is not from God and uproot it, and also able to plant the promise of God in you as a deposit of His blessing. It is the power of the word of God ; and as you confess it in faith, even now God is doing a marvelous work within you to bring about a positive change.
Now when they heard this, they were cut to their hearts, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do ?’. [Acts 2:37] The power of the word of God to uproot and plant is displayed in the above incident on the day of Pentecost. Listening to the words of Peter, the people were pierced to their heart; and in repentance their wrong thoughts were uprooted, and planted in them was the joy from the Lord. And, how it expressed itself outwardly was in the Lord adding to their numbers daily.
In your life, you do not have to tolerate anything that is not from God. You can uproot all that is negative, and plant in its place the good promises of God, so that it can be like the garden of God. It is why David prays that God may enlarge his heart, so that more and more of His word can be sown in it, to uproot and to plant. You may not even be aware of certain negative things within you, but may be experiencing the expression of it on the outside. And, God wants to put a full stop to it, even this day, by uprooting all that is not from Him. Give thanks unto God, for Jesus says, ‘I am the true vine, you are the branches; and my Father is the Gardener’. He is going to bring about a marvelous increase in your life, your family, your church, in every aspect of your life, as He sows more and more of His life giving word in you. Surrender your life into His loving hands, so that He may do what needs to be done in your heart, to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that your life may blossom and enjoy the fruit of His blessing in abundance ! In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
