Scripture

 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

~Ephesians 4:31

Quote

It is easier to recieve forgiveness than to give it.

~Franklin Graham

God by nature is a forgiving God. Exodus 34:6-7 states clearly God’s attributes: And He {Yahweh} passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands,and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. We do rejoice that God is a forgiving God and that He can even forget our sins. I want His forgiveness, I desperately need His forgiveness and I gladly recieve His forgiveness, but it is harder for me to forgive because that is not my default nature. We are not born to forgive, we are born to keep score and to settle score if necessary. It is God’s nature to forgive but we by our carnal nature want to get even. When I read Ephesians 4:31 yesterday, it spoke to me like never before. It was perfect timing…Get rid of all bitterness…I couldn’t finish my devotion without stopping to pray. Any hurt, disappointment or heartbreak has the potential to cause bitterness. Every set back, every failure, every hurt has the potential to make us better or bitter.

We have all seen this happen far too many times, a spouse is betrayed and then rejected and bitterness is the result. Certainly the unfaithful spouse did wrong but they show no signs of remorse and they move on to bigger and better things, seeming to live happy every after while the rejected spouse grieves daily over the loss and rejection. Over time they become bitter. Sometimes this bitterness is obvious and somethimes it wears a mask. What each of us must do is to examine our own heart and weed out or get rid of all bitterness. We don’t need bitterness. We are not equipped to handle it. It is toxic and it will lead to misery. Get rid of all bitterness. Do like Joshua and the five kings. Identify the root of your bitterness, bring it out into the open, put your foot on its neck and ask Joshua to execute it. Stop clinging to bitterness: call it what it is and get rid of it.

Extra

I will be honest, I don’t know what your going to get today. I am on the new system but I am not comfortable with it. I did something wrong yesterday and I hope I corrected that today. If I did you should get a blog with the current date. I am posting on January 7 at a few minutes before 6:00.

Worship tonight at 6:00. We are in I Thessalonians 3 and our subject is MINDING YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

LORD willing, we will not be in our routine today. We are going to the REEVES COMPOUND to work on our living quarters.

I hope you have a good day and thanks for reading the blog.