Uprooting Bitterness

               My entire body was engaged in the moment. The sun was starting to set and I could feel the sweat dripping from my brow. In no way would I allow my enemy to have victory over me.  I stood there for a moment, snarling at my beaten opponent. I was not going to hold back. No, not this time. Not after all of the battling, endless fighting, and useless attempts at alternative methods. I dropped the shovel and picked up my axe. With fire in my eyes I determined to finish the job, right here, right now. With my enemy at my feet, I lifted the axe and brought it down with all my might. I could feel it passing through, leaving me with a surprising sense of relief. It was over.

                It is incredible what people are capable of when under the sway of bitterness. I will be the first to admit that I have done certain things I am not so proud of when under its influence. As a matter of fact, some of the things I have done may be considered downright despicable. It's not just me though. Be honest with yourself. What have you done under the sway of bitterness that you know wasn't right? Have you set out to destroy the lives of others? Have you sabotaged opportunities? Have you verbally assaulted those around you? Maybe you've even physically abused your spouse or children? This is what the Bible reveals about the root of bitterness: "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled" (Hebrews 12:15)

                God recently brought me a fresh perspective regarding the root of bitterness. As a matter of fact, He used the experience that I opened this article with to do it. What sounds like a scene out of a horror movie really has a very practical explanation. I'm not attempting to excuse my actions, but I will do my best explain. I bought a new house last autumn. Now that the winter has passed it's time for the infamous "honey-do" lists. For the record, I am not a fan of these terrible things and frankly, my wife became somewhat ambitious and drove me to the point of no return.

                So there I was, perplexed, trying to figure out how in the world to remove three giant bushes from the front of my house! I tried to argue my way out of it and make a case for the futility of the effort, but all was to no avail.  Furthermore, the only tool I had was a five dollar shovel that we bought on sale. Thank God for my neighbor who was willing to loan me an axe and pneumatic saw before I got started! With these tools it brought the undertaking into the realm of possibility, but it turned into a long and arduous process.

                The first step was to deal with the bushes themselves. I had to cut the branches out of the way piece-by-piece until I had cut enough away to gain access to the stump. This took some time, but the pneumatic saw really sped things up. That is, however, until I got near the base of the bushes and realized that their stumps were too thick for the pneumatic saw! My only option was the back-breaking work of chopping away at them with the axe. Mind you, these stumps were thick. I'm talking diameters of six to ten inches! It was like chopping down a not-so-small tree...three times in a row.

                I finally managed to chop down all of the bushes and haul them to my tree lawn. The problem was that the bush stumps still remained, and my wife had other plans for that space! So there I was, back outside the next day, still sore, trying to figure out how I was going to remove three bush stumps with a five dollar shovel and an axe. Not the ideal situation, but where there is a will there is a way. In this case, my wife provided all the will that I needed to get moving!

                As soon as I got a couple inches underground I struck part of the root system that was used by the stump.  These exist to absorb nutrients from the dirt and provide life force to the entire plant. As you can imagine, it didn't break without a fight. I had to dig around it, expose it, and then strike it with the axe. It wouldn't have been so bad if there were only two of three of these, but there were dozens. As I continued digging what seemed to be a bottomless hole in front of my house I had to keep repeating the process of digging around the large roots to expose them. To make a long story short, when I got to that third bush and put the axe through the final root, it was a great sense of relief!

                The moral of the story is that getting free of bitterness often comes about through a similar process. First we have to remove what's above the ground and cut it off with our sword which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). This will expose the stump. The reason the Bible refers to the root of bitterness is because the true source of this issue is often hidden beneath the surface. It maintains tremendous strength and resiliency due to an extensive root system, drawing its life force from all of the dirt in our lives. Dealing with bitterness can be like going through spiritual surgery, as often the Lord will take us from one root to another, severing them with His word, in order to get the whole stump out of there. The good news is that however painful or back-breaking the process is, the relief that comes at the end always makes it worth it. Let go and let God!

The Armor of God and the Helmet of Salvation

Greetings,

                I remember when I got my first pair of roller skates as a kid. They were specially designed to go extra slow. Don't get me wrong, I certainly appreciated them! However, they were toys. To ensure that I wouldn't get hurt going extra slow, I received a safety kit along with the skates. This safety kit included elbow pads, knee pads, and a snazzy helmet. How cool is it to go 1 mile per hour on roller skates with all that equipment! Did I mention it was color coordinated?

                What parent wants to put their child in a dangerous situation without the proper protection? Mine didn't, and I am very thankful for this fact. My snazzy helmet protected my developing brain from all manner of evils. In order to protect me from spiritual evils, my Father in heaven also gives me a helmet! It's called the helmet of salvation and it is the piece of spiritual armor that we will be focusing on this week.

                "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:13-18)

                The Christian faith is based around the concept of salvation in Jesus Christ. Salvation basically means to be saved or delivered from something. According to the Bible, when we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved.

                "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9)

                What do we have salvation from? Everyone likes the idea of being saved. Some people dream of being saved from abusive situations. Other people dream of being saved from their financial dilemma. Still others dream of being saved 40% during a Macy's sale. We read in the Bible that when confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead we shall be saved. What does this decision allow God to save us from?

                "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

                "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (Romans 5:8-10)

                When we have salvation through Jesus Christ, we are saved from the wages of sin which is death. According to the Bible, sin is the problem that separates us from God. Since we are born with a sin nature it does us no good to try to earn our way into heaven. This requires us to be saved from our very nature, which is precisely why Jesus died for our sins. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God through the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ is life. We are reconciled to God through the death of Jesus.

                We are also saved from wrath. We are saved from bearing the guilt of our sins before the Righteous Judge over the whole of creation, and we are justified by the blood of Jesus. When you see the word "justified" think Just-If-I'd; in other words think Just-As-If-I'd never sinned! When we have salvation in Jesus Christ we are saved from hell and granted entrance into heaven. This means that we are saved from eternal death and granted everlasting life. For the Christian, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

                "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)

                However, this isn't all there is to the topic of salvation. The Bible actually goes on to say that when we are Christian: we have been saved, we  are presently being saved, and also that in the future, those that endure to the end will be saved.

                "Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" (Ephesians 2:5)

                "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18)

                "And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22)

                Salvation isn't strictly limited to the moment we experience a new birth, become a child of God, and enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). Salvation is something that God continually performs on our behalf. He continually saves and delivers us. God saves our marriages, God saves us from addictions, and God saves us from bad decisions. The Bible says that God will contend with those that contend with us, and He save our children (Isaiah 49:25). As a matter of fact, God is so powerful that He works all thing to the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). God continually delivers us from all of the various attacks of the enemy as we keep on the helmet of salvation.

                The fact that we are presently being saved also deals with the soul realm of the individual. This can be confusing until we understand certain basic facts. We exist in three basic parts being the body, the soul, and the spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The body is our physical aspect, the soul is most easily understood as the mind, will, and emotions, and the spirit is our contact point with God. When we receive new birth (John 3:5) it is our spirit man that is reborn. It is our spirit that becomes one with the Spirit of God when we are saved (1 Corinthians 6:17).

                The soul is not so quickly delivered. As you may have witnessed, not all of the Christians you meet have a perfect attitude, a perfect thought life, perfect emotional responses, and perfect will power. As a matter of fact, none do. This is why our soul goes through a process of being saved as we walk into maturity in Christ. As our soul is delivered from carnality and into the glorious liberty of God's holiness, we move on towards the saving of the soul.

                "But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:39)

                "receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9)

                The helmet of salvation protects us from any type of fatal blow. When we have salvation in Jesus Christ we are permanently delivered from death. In Christ we have everlasting life. The helmet of salvation also protects us from the ongoing attacks of the enemy.  Not only does God deliver us from outside circumstances, but by moving us towards the saving of our soul, God also delivers us from ourselves. How great is our God?

Generational Curses

Greetings,

                Have you ever heard the phrase, “like father like son”? Of course you have. The reason: oftentimes children will imitate aspects of their parents. Granted, no child is an exact duplicate of either one of their parents, but he or she will inevitably have some of their characteristics. More often than not there is no rhyme or reason to which characteristics a particular child may take away. It’s always a mixed bag of good traits and bad traits. Why?

                There are several answers to this question. One involves the concept of modeled behavior. Life is way too complicated to figure out everything. A parent is to model necessary behaviors so that their children will not have to figure certain things out on their own. For instance, parents actually model language and communication. The child will learn how to communicate by observing their parents from birth. No child has ever grown up in a family that speaks mandarin Chinese and invented a Spanish dialect as their preferred mode of communication prior to speaking their first words. This would be ridiculous. Children learn modeled behavior.

                However, there is another level to this that goes even deeper. Have you ever seen someone do something and say, “It’s in their blood”? Take musical families for example. Why is it that in some families everyone can sing well? In other families, everyone sings horribly. As a matter of fact, some families are so bad—the birthday song can be a moment of embarrassment. If this is your family, just remember that there is no condemnation in Christ. My point is that there are traits that seem to be more genetic in nature. While modeled behavior is one aspect that gets passed down through the generations of a particular family, genetics is another.

                Then there is sin. I truly wish this were not the case but it often is. Keep in mind that when Jesus became a curse for us by being nailed to the cross (Galatians 3:13), His death and resurrection only purchased the potential for us to be completely free. It is our responsibility to claim freedom from curses by faith. Everything in Christianity comes by faith as an act of our free will. If we don’t ask Jesus to do something, He won’t force his goodness upon us. The Bible says that whatever we ask, believing that we receive it, we will have it (Matthew 21:22). It doesn’t matter whether or not Jesus CAN do something for us. What matters is that we BELIEVE He can do it for us, and then ask. This is when we begin to have the things that He wants for us, which is life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).

                With this being said, there are curses that are often with us for no fault of our own. These are called generational curses. These are the result of sins that were committed by those in our family line. The consequences for these sins, which were not repented of, were passed from one generation to the next like a form of spiritual DNA. The reason is found in the following verse.

                “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

                It is a spiritual law that the sins of the parents will come down upon the heads of their children. Most sins seem to have a lifespan of three to four generations within a family line, however, some may span as many as ten (Deuteronomy 23:2). Just like genetics, this does not mean that every possible curse that a parent could be operating under will be passed to their children. There will be some curses passed to one child and others passed to another. Regardless of which curses are passed down, or how many one particular child might be operating under, the solution is Jesus who has all power in heaven and on earth.

                “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18)

                “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)

                What are some examples of possible generational curses? Here is a list which by no means is all inclusive: abortion, rejection, isolation, bad marriage, divorce, can’t marry, greed, prostitution, fornication, adultery, alcoholism, anger, rage, depression, anxiety, sore loser, bully, impatient, lust, pornography, arguments, laziness, suicide, not teachable, always quits, foolishness, failure, poverty, witchcraft, gambling, rebellion, disrespectful, cowardly, etc.

                As you can see, just about anything negative can come upon someone’s head as a curse. The key to identifying generational curses are patterns. Just because a destructive pattern or sin is present in someone’s life does not mean it is a generational curse. We must look at the destructive activity that is manifesting across generations. Do alcoholic tendencies run through the family? Are there a lot of children being born out of wedlock? Is drug abuse something that seems to repeat itself from one generation to the next? Is everyone divorced?

Patterns are a great indicator of potential generational curses. However, there are certain generational curses that seem to skip an entire generation and reemerge. Whatever the case, the solution is always the same. The curse must be broken by the power of Jesus Christ.

In order to break generational curses it is necessary to repent of the sins of our forefathers. We can learn a lesson here from Nehemiah.

“And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.” (Nehemiah 1:5-7)

                Notice how Nehemiah not only repents of his personal sins, but also the sins of his forefathers. In doing this he was breaking the power of generational curses. Today, we can break generational curses in the same way. You may be wondering how you can repent of sins you don’t know about. When dealing with generational sins, it is much less necessary to be specific than when we are repenting of our personal sins. God gives grace, and there are inevitably going to be things your ancestors have done that you will never have knowledge of. A prayer like the following is good for breaking generational curses.

                “Father, I thank you that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I repent of the sins of my forefathers coming down through both my mother’s lineage and my father’s lineage going back ten generations. I specifically repent for (name sins you know have been committed by your ancestors). I receive your cleansing from these sins. Right now, according to the power of the blood of Jesus, I break the power of all generational curses and I declare that both I and my offspring are free from the generational curses of our family tree. I specifically declare that the generational curses of (name specific generational curses you have identified) are no longer permitted to operate in my life. I make this declaration in the precious name of Jesus. Jesus became a curse for me and I receive His promise of life and life more abundantly. Thank you Father for setting me free, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

The Necessity of Spiritual Warfare

1/7/12

Greetings,

I am excited for the arrival of the New Year! I hope that you enjoyed the holidays. I was personally blessed to spend quality time with both my side of the family as well as my wife’s. However, with all of the festivities finished we are at a crossroads. As with every New Year, it brings with it the potential for change. Many view the changing of the year as an opportunity to change direction, to pursue new dreams, or to simply right old wrongs. At BRIDE Ministries this year will bring several new things which I am already thanking God for.

This year, and actually within the next couple weeks, we will be able to begin receiving tax-deductable donations. That’s right! BRIDE Ministries is being incorporated as an official 501c3 non-profit ministry. The donations that we will be able to receive will allow us to pursue greater projects and bring into the realm of possibility many things that up until now have remained ideas written on paper. I want to challenge those of you that have found true value from these letters or the online teachings to prayerfully consider giving towards the vision. For those of you that are newer to this letter, my vision is to promote unity in the body of Christ worldwide and assist in the creation and development of sheep nations.

Last year the focus of these weekly emails was the power and purpose of unity in the body of Christ. All of those teachings have been titled and posted to my blog if any of you would like to review the concepts and lessons that were shared. This year we are going to transition into spiritual warfare.

               It is truly unfortunate that this still seems to be a relatively controversial subject in certain circles of Christianity. Spiritual warfare, plain and simple, is something that Jesus said Christians would do. Furthermore, when He said we would do this, He used a covenant word—“shall.” Covenant words like “shall” and “will” indicate absolute resolution that what has been said will be.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.” (Mark 16:17)

Understand that the casting out of devils is not to be approached narrow-mindedly. Some assume that casting out devils is limited to driving demons out of individual people. If this were the extent of spiritual warfare it would certainly be nice, but the issue is much larger than this one aspect of “casting out devils.” Devils, otherwise known as evil spirits, not only occupy people, but can be attached to objects, ritual sites, homes, neighborhoods, cities, states, and nations. There are even spirits with international authority like spirits attached to religious systems. Beyond this there are spirits that rule over other dimensions like Abaddon who is the fallen angel that rules a realm known as “the pit” (Revelation 9:11). At the very top of the hierarchy is Lucifer, otherwise known as Satan, who is called by the Bible the “god of this world”.

“In whom the god of this world [Lucifer] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

I am going to approach this subject very similarly to the way I approached the subject of unity. Each week will be a nugget of truth. At times, I may string one lesson across two or three weeks but for the most part each letter will address one aspect of spiritual warfare.

               I do not plan on censoring myself in this process. Jesus has walked me out into the realm of the spirit for a reason. I am not setting out to read a doctrinal thesis and regurgitate it to you. I am going to keep this very real, very relevant, and grounded in the Word of God. I will be sharing personal experiences and explaining things to you the way the Holy Spirit has explained them to me. Many of the things I will be sharing will stretch you, but my goal is to equip you to be a threat to the enemy.

The sad truth is that the enemy scoffs at many people that consider themselves Christian. The reason is because they do not know how to exercise the power of Christ against him. Furthermore, many do not want to and some even try to oppose those that do. The devil looks at them like idiots, and rightly so. Put yourself in his shoes for a minute.

Imagine that you are trying to build a factory that will manufacture nothing but poison. Poison will be packaged and sold for a profit and more poison will be released from the smoke stacks. Moreover, poison will even be illegally dispensed underground so that it can get into the water supply. Eventually, everyone in the city will die from the impact of the factory. You’re not worried about it though, because that is actually your purpose for building the factory. When you begin building you purposely go out to hire all of the crooks and bad guys in the city. When you waive the cash and opportunity in their faces they immediately get on board. However, there is a group of people that has just been sent to the same city to establish a beautiful and healthy environment.

As you await the inevitable opposition you watch as an illogical thing begins to occur. The group that was sent in to establish a beautiful and healthy environment begins to argue. Some begin to declare that you are not actually building a poison factory and that everyone that believes you are doing that is crazy. Others say that if they talk about the factory too much, it glorifies evil, so they should only sparingly talk about the factory and not commit to opposing it lest evil be more greatly glorified. You begin to chuckle when some of them come to you in secret to ask for jobs. It gets even more ridiculous when the group begins to punish and mock the members that suggest it is time to oppose the factory. By the time the factory is completely built and a large portion of the city is already dying from its impact you are rolling on your back laughing that the group is still failing to organize and oppose your efforts. The most ridiculous part is that they actually hold the title deed to the land you built the factory on and can evict you from it at anytime.

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1:18)

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18)

“For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:26)

Jesus is the ultimate authority. He has all power in heaven and in earth. He has legal rights to the earth and “the fullness thereof” right now. In the parable, the poison represents sin and things leading to it. The devil and his cohorts propagate sin through the various devices that they erect (2 Corinthians 2:11). This is represented by the factory in the parable. The devil receives rights to build his empire in this earth from people who choose to cooperate with him. This is because God appointed men to have dominion over the earth even though He owns it (Genesis 1:26). Through his deceptions the devil has usurped authority to the point that the Bible declares him the god of this world. However, when his rights are taken away by the people of God (because that’s our job) the devil and his cohorts must evict the territory. This territory can be an individual’s life, a home, a city, a state or a nation.

My goal is to help Christians give the devil a major headache and take his stuff away according to the power granted to us by Christ. In order to do this, I must give you understanding on new levels. If someone tells you that you can get coconuts from a tree you might get excited. When you get to the tree however, you will promptly realize that you cannot get any coconuts at the base of the tree. If you’re a real thinker, you will realize that the tree must be climbed in order to get to the coconuts. Most Christians, when it comes to spiritual warfare, do not look up and obtain a vision of their potential inheritance or try to climb the tree which requires training, time, and effort. Instead, they just stand there. Every once in a while, by the grace of God, gravity will pull a coconut to the ground and they will exclaim, “Aha! Our faithfulness has produced progress and it fits our belief system!” Please don’t be that guy.

I am going to show you what it means to climb the tree towards the inheritance we can have as experts in spiritual warfare. These letters will inform, train, and equip you throughout the year. In addition, I will attach an audio file (.mp3) to every email of me praying. These prayers will be based on the lessons and concepts contained in the emails every week. They will provide you with both impartation as well as a model for incorporating the information into your own prayers. These will replace the question section of last year’s emails.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corinthians 10:4)