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Heb 12:12-15
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out
of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the
Lord:
15 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;
I'm writing this article in August of 2004 and have been studying the
subject of strongholds and curses that are affecting the Body of Christ
(Anointing-the Holy Spirit). It seems that everywhere I look folks are
sick, poverty stricken and messed up. I began asking why several years ago
and have been in school with the Holy Spirit teaching me one precept at a time.
This morning he shared with me the root of it all and I want to share it with
you.
 We will
begin with verse 15 (the consequence and work backwards). We see that
bitterness first causes us to fail of the grace (favor) of God and then be
troubled and finally defiled! Bitterness is an insidious thing and very
subtle. We're told in Genesis that the serpent that deceived Eve (Ahava)
was the most subtle of all creatures. He hasn't changed in the 6,000 years
he has plagued mankind.
Yeshua/Jesus taught in Matthew 13:21 that offense can steal the word out of
our heart. He was basically telling us that if we hold onto offense He
could be stolen from our hearts. Forgiveness is vital to our survival.
Prov 18:19
19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their
contentions are like the bars of a castle.
As you can see offense is not a good thing. It's so important that we don't
hold grudges, keep records of suffered wrongs, and hold unforgiveness in our
hearts. If we return to Hebrews 12:15 we see that the first thing is that
we get out from under the grace of God. That basically means the adversary
has us by the throat and we'll become judgmental. The next thing we will
see is we will be troubled. I don't know about you, but I don't like
trouble. I avoid it with all of my strength. Imagine trying to avoid
trouble only to be locked in it because of something like offense, a grudge or
unforgiveness. HELP, get me out of here. Last but not least we see
that we end up defiled.
Here are a few scriptures that deal with the contamination that comes at the
end of the root of bitterness. I've also included the biblical definition of
defiled from the Greek. You can see it's not something you want to have
happen to you.
NT:3392
miaino (me-ah'-ee-no); perhaps a primary verb; to sully or taint, i.e.
contaminate (cer. or morally):- defile
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded
Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible
Translators, Inc.)
John 18:28
28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was
early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be
defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
Titus 1:15
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and
unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Hebrews 12:15
15 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;
Jude 8
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities.
We should always be aware of the root of bitterness. The whole concept of
a wicked root system establishing roots in our lives is scary. We want to
keep the commandment of love, even if it means the cross. That was
Yeshua's heart and it should be ours too.
Here are some scripture references to love
to help you overcome a root that you might have let in by a "little"
unforgiveness. We need forgiven daily, so lets be willing to forgive!
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