Recently some friends and I were talking about the crippling effects of unforgiveness. As I was thinking more about that I was reminded of a dream I had 10 years ago, about a woman who was literally shriveled up due to bitterness and anger at God. I gained some additional insight as I ruminated on that dream and our recent conversations.
Here is the dream - In my dream I met this older woman who was bent over, shriveled and just really bitter. I asked the Lord what was wrong with her, and He said she had was angry at Him, and full of bitterness. Many years earlier she had received a prophetic word about her life, and she had immediately set about trying to make it come to pass. She had spent her whole life trying to see this word fulfilled and ended up exhausted frustrated and bitter. The Lord told me she had misunderstood the purpose of a seed prophetic word. These words are meant to give us perspective about who we will become in time, not the next day. Seed words, like all seeds, take time to produce fruit, and it is only by tending them and nurturing them that they become really fruitful.
That was the totality of the dream, and I think it illustrates an important point about our need to become co-laborers with the Word/Promise of the Lord, to see it come to pass.
Yesterday, what I understood was a bit of a different angle, and that is how negative experiences and even negative words about us can negatively impact our lives. It seems to me that the woman had allowed a second seed, a negative judgment about the Lord, to be planted in her shortly after the prophetic word, and unfortunately she had allowed that seed to mature and produce fruit. When she was frustrated in her efforts to make that word come true immediately, she allowed a lie from the enemy to take root, and over time that is the seed that bore fruit. She was angry at God for "lying" to her and that accusation had turned to unbelief, and even unforgiveness, and finally into bitterness towards the Lord!
The seed to fruit principle is true both in the natural as well as the spiritual realm, both negative and positive seeds! The seed we plant, turns into the fruit that seed came from, and will continue to do so over and over again! That is why plants produce seeds. In our spiritual life, if we allow unbelief, unforgiveness, or accusations against the Lord, or other negative thoughts to be planted and continue to grow, they will bear that fruit in our lives over and over again. It is a sort of self replicating thing, that must be dealt with!
If I allow the seed of unforgiveness to be planted and grow, I will reap that harvest.
If I allow the seed of unbelief to grow, I will reap that harvest, over and over again.
If I allow the seed of self-hatred to grow, I will reap the harvest of self-hatred.
I am reminded of a few verses:
Hebrews 12:15 NIV: "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."
Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV: “In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, [27] and do not give the devil a foothold."
We must deal with these things, and the longer we have allowed them to grow, the deeper the roots will be, and the larger impact. The verse from Hebrews indicates that it can affect many! Thinking about this all in the language of seed and fruit, the foothold we give to the enemy is exactly that, a seed. I have seen, and know of many people who struggle with anger, frustration, self-hatred, unforgiveness, unbelief, or a victim mentality, and in every case that I know well, there is always a root cause. In pretty much every case, they experience the same things over and over again, continually reaping the harvest of that negative seed. Some folk I know literally have a litany of wrongs done to them that they repeat over and over and over, constantly feasting on that negative fruit! Yikes!
So how do we deal with these things in our lives? How do we pull them up by the root, and rid ourselves of their impact? Thankfully the Word has much to say, and much has to do with forgiveness and repentance!
Ephesians 4:31-32 NIV: "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. [32] Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Colossians 3:12-13 NIV: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [13] Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
The first thing we need to do is recognize that any of the bad fruit we are experiencing is not from God! He doesn't want us to live our lives in such pain, anger, bitterness and frustration. He desires us to be set free, and He has made a way! In Jesus words, He came that we might have life and have it to the full (John 10:10).
I have found that forgiveness is my first weapon, for by forgiving I am able to let go of the hurts, wounds and pain! Most of the time I need the Lord's help! Oftentimes it is something I need to continue to forgive, for I find that there are little roots still left in my emotions, in my spirit, in my thoughts towards those that have wounded me. Setting my heart to forgive is really a decision I must make about what I will allow to grow in me. What fruit do I want to harvest in my life?
Secondly, I must ask the Lord's help in repenting, thinking and acting differently! Repentance is a beautiful word when You realize it is the means for transformation of our lives! Learning to think and act differently is described by Paul as the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2) and this is essential. If we do not allow the Word of the Lord to be planted, and then nurture and water that word, we will not harvest the fruit (See Matt: 13:3-9; 18-23 - The Parable of the Sower).
Thirdly, we must recognize any judgments we have made, or agreements we have with the lies of the enemy about God, or about ourselves. He (the enemy) is constantly accusing God to us, telling us He doesn't love us, care for us, watch over for us, desire our good, have the power and authority to help, etc. He is also constantly accusing us to ourselves, telling us we deserved the pain, that we are worthless, too damaged to be any good, failures, etc. Sometimes we don't even know we have made these agreements, or believed the lies, and that is the nature of the deceiver, He deceives us into thinking his lies are true. Again, this is something we should ask God's help in uncovering! Once uncovered, we need to ask forgiveness for these wrong thoughts about God, and His creation (ourselves especially).
The best indication of whether or not we have bad fruit in our lives, is by what we experience (harvest). The Lord has provided us lists of what life He desires for us, and if we are not experiencing these all the time, then its a good bet we need to do some weeding and root extracting.
Paul writes about it in his letter to the Galatians 5:22-23 NIV: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
- and -
Ephesians 5:8-9 NIV: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light [9] (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)"
James adds the following - James 3:17 NIV: "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."
If I struggle to experience this type of fruit in my life then its a pretty good bet that I am need of some repentance, and maybe even some help in uncovering the roots of those things that need to be removed. I am so thankful for Christian counselors, pastors and others the Lord has given wisdom in helping us step free of these negative harvests. There is no shame in asking for help!
Finally, the watering and nurturing of God's word, knowledge of His love, and the blessed Gospel will likely involve creating a litany of God's promises, blessings and affirmations! We need to be reminded daily of His love! As Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians 4:4-9 NIV:
[4] "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! [5] Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. [6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[8] Finally, brothers and sisters, 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. [9] Whatever 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."
Amen and Amen!
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