BITTERNESS! - The Deadly Root that Devours and Destroys!

BITTERNESS The Deadly Root That Devours And Destroys

David Brandt Berg

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I. THE HORRIBLE EFFECTS OF BITTERNESS! •A. It Will Hinder Your Relationship with the Lord and Your Service for Him! •B. Bitterness Opens the Door to the Enemy! •C. Bitterness Will Even Affect You Physically! •D. Bitterness Will Hurt and "Defile" Many Others!

PART II. WHY DO PEOPLE BECOME BITTER? •A. Fiery Trials: Will They Make You Bitter or Better? •B. Putting the Blame on God! •C. Putting the Blame on Others! •D. Bitter and Hateful Thoughts: The Devil's Evil Seeds! •E. The Voice of Bitterness: Murmuring!

PART III. HOW TO AVOID BITTERNESS! •A. Love Is the Most Important Thing! •B. "Confess Your Faults One to Another!"--Jam.5:16 •C. Keep a Positive and Thankful Outlook! •D. Guard Your Thoughts! •E. Take Things as from the Lord!--Rom.8:28

PART IV. HOW TO GET RID OF BITTERNESS! •A. Confess You've Got It! •B. Attack, Attack, Attack! •C. "Forgive Us Our Sins as We Forgive Others"

•D. Spiritual Renewal!

PART V. A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE AGAINST BITTERNESS!

PART VI. BITTERNESS BIBLE STUDY

INTRODUCTION: BITTERNESS! - THE DEADLY ROOT THAT DEVOURS AND DESTROYS!

"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."--Heb.12:15.--Thus says God's Word about the adverse results of bitterness, a very poisonous root that can defile your whole spirit, and seriously hurt and defile many others as well! One reason that bitterness is so extremely dangerous is because it can take root and begin to grow and spread and spiritually contaminate and defile your heart and spirit before you even realise what's wrong with you. Sinful human nature makes it very easy for us to rationalise and justify ourselves for harbouring hurt feelings or a grudge against others when we feel that they have wronged or mistreated us. In fact, we can even feel this way towards God! Like the roots of most plants, little "roots" of resentment and bitterness usually lie below the surface where they remain unseen. But there they begin to spread and grow, going ever deeper and deeper. If allowed to continue, such roots of bitterness will eventually eat away at your very heart and spirit, until they will finally devour and destroyyou spiritually!--Ultimately leaving you spiritually dead and virtually useless to the Lord! Bitterness is very much like the South American vine known as the "matador." Beginning at the foot of a tree, the matador vine slowly works its way to the top. But

as it grows, it kills the tree, and when at last the top is reached, it sends forth a flower to crown itself. Matador literally means KILLER. Bitterness may appear harmless when it is small, but if it is allowed to grow, its tendrils of resentment, malice and hatred soon clasp themselves around the heart and eventually kill the soul. This is why God's Word exhorts us to "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice."--Eph.4:31. And that's what this lesson is all about: How to recognise, deal with and get rid of the deadly root known as bitterness, so that you may freely love and serve the Lord and others unhindered by this destructive device of the Devil!--That we may "lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us!"--Heb.12:1.

PART I. THE HORRIBLE EFFECTS OF BITTERNESS!

A. It Will Hinder Your Relationship with the Lord and Your Service for Him! When we're attacking the Enemy and doing all we can to conquer new territory and win new souls for God's Kingdom, the Devil, of course, is going to be quite busy trying to stop us!--And, thank God, he can't stop us if we don't let him. But if in some way you are harbouring his negative and destructive thoughts, listening to his debilitating doubts, or entertaining his faith-weakening fears, that is a partial surrender to the Enemy.--And any surrender to the Devil is always going to cause you trouble! If you allow bitterness and resentment and a critical spirit to grow in your life, you will lose your anointing and your inspiration from the Lord. You can't keep complaining about and resenting your lot in life, and criticising and murmuring about things that God or others have done to you, and keep God's Holy Spirit on you at the same time. You just can't do it. The Lord dwells in the praises of His people, and He draws near to us when we draw near to Him, "offering the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."--Psa.22:3; Jam.4:8; Heb.13:15. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him."-Heb.11:6. If you don't accept the things that the Lord sends into your life, if you not only doubt and wonder about His treatment and care of you, but actually murmur and resent

and rebel against it, that's certainly not faith, and surely displeases the Lord! And if you allow that root of bitterness to take hold in your heart and life, it will cause you to fail both the Lord and yourself. Such a root can go a Hell of a long way, and can ultimately destroy you.--It can at least destroy your ministry, and your effectiveness for the Lord, and it can even harm the entire Work of God that you're supposed to be helping. The way that bitterness can hinder your ministry and effectiveness is illustrated in the following true story about the great artist and engineer, Leonardo da Vinci: Just before he commenced work on his famous painting of "The Last Supper" he had a violent quarrel with a fellow painter. He was so enraged and bitter that he decided to paint the face of his enemy, the other artist, into the face of Judas, and thus take his revenge by handing the man down in infamy and scorn to succeeding generations. The face of Judas was therefore one of the first that he finished, and everyone could easily recognise it as the face of the painter with whom da Vinci had quarreled. But when he came to paint the face of Jesus, he could make no progress. Something seemed to be baffling him, holding him back, frustrating his best efforts. At length he came to the conclusion that the thing that was checking and frustrating him was the fact that he had painted his enemy into the face of Judas. He therefore painted out the face of Judas and commenced anew on the face of Jesus, and this time with the success which the ages have acclaimed. How clearly this incident shows us that we cannot at one and the same time be painting the features of Christ into

our own life, and be painting another face with the colours of enmity and hatred. To become more Christ-like, and to accomplish what the Lord wants you to do, surely all bitterness and hatred must be "put away" and "laid aside."

B. Bitterness Opens the Door to the Enemy! To wilfully allow little roots of bitterness to grow in your life is like knowingly letting the Devil in! Such discontentment and resentment and murmuring in your heart will just grow and grow and begin to cover and affect everything around you. That's what bitterness does.--Which is why you've got to try to catch it at the very beginning before it takes root too deeply, and root it out! This is why the Lord tells us, "Neither give place to the Devil!"--Eph.4:27. This verse shows that you can sometimes give the Devil place and room to operate and get in without necessarily being completely taken over or possessed by him. But let me warn you, he'll use whatever you let him get ahold of, so you'd better resist and give him no place!--So beware of letting the Enemy in through the little seeds and tiny roots of jealousy, murmuring or bitterness that he may try to sow in your heart!

C. Bitterness Will Even Affect You Physically! The affairs of the heart and affairs of the spirit can affect you physically! In medical science they call such afflictions "psychosomatic" illnesses, which means they are caused by your mind. But we'd say they're caused by your spirit, by an improper attitude of heart, primarily a lack of love for the Lord and others.

There are all kinds of little roots, little roots of bitterness, little roots of jealousy, little roots of resentment, little roots of hurt feelings, and they can all get pretty bitter and they can all grow and they will all begin to eat on you from within, if you let them.--Until pretty soon they will crop out in very obvious or even physical manifestations. Doctors have found that people who are bitter and have a lot of hatred in their hearts, have much more arthritis than those who are at peace. Similarly, they've discovered that those who have a lot of fear in their minds--worries, tension, phobias, etc.--have a lot more mental trouble and more stomach trouble, as well as more heart trouble. Thank God that the elimination of fear by faith gives peace of mind and rest to your stomach and to your heart, and actually eliminates various poisons from the blood which cause illness. In other words, your state of mind and heart can actually poison your body. Science knows this and has proven it true.

D. Bitterness Will Hurt and "Defile" Many Others! How can one individual's bitterness "defile many"? Well, there are several ways. For one thing, people who are really bitter about one thing, will easily become bitter about other things too. It's usually because they never blame themselves for anything that seems to go wrong, they're always blaming other people, similar to the self-righteous hypocrite who never blames himself either. People who are discontent and murmuring and resentful and critical are usually never satisfied unless they can persuade others of their own opinion. Misery loves company, and they love to have other people agree with them; and sad to say, it's usually easy to find'm. Bellyaching, murmuring and complaining is a very common

ailment of the human race and something that is very easy to fall into. But from God's point of view, it is a sin that is absolutely intolerable. Just read the story of the wandering Children of Israel and you'll see how He let millions of people rot in the Sinaitic Desert for their murmuring and their complaining, and they never got into the Promised Land! (Num.32:11-13.) Bitterness and murmuring are a very infectious spiritual disease, diabolical, and can spread and poison others very quickly if left unchecked. One bad apple can do it so fast! The Bible warns us, "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump!"--1Cor. 5:6,7. Just like a tiny pinch of yeast will spread throughout an entire "lump" of dough and cause the whole thing to rise, people who are permeated with bitterness are a real burden and a real downer influence, and will drag everybody down that they can, pulling everybody's spirits down. They're always dwelling on the negative and always criticizing and always murmuring.

PART II. WHY DO PEOPLE BECOME BITTER?

When the Lord doesn't do things just the way some people want Him to, they get bitter against Him. They get upset and angry at the Lord because He didn't do just exactly what they wanted Him to do. They're obviously lacking in faith and not trusting God, that He knows what's best. God's Word tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."-Pro.3:5,6. But if you're looking at conditions instead of God, you're going to have problems! You've got to keep your eyes on God. You've got to look to the Lord. You've got to see God and "walk by faith, not by sight!"--2Cor.5:7. When Moses was having a rough time, we're told that "he endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible."--Heb.11:27. Sometimes the Lord does things--or allows things to happen--in our lives to test our faith and draw us closer to Him. He loves us and is concerned about us and frequently allows things to happen to loosen our grip on the things of Earth and tighten our hold on Him and the Eternal Heavenly values. But if we don't receive the Lord's dealings with us, if we reject and refuse to accept them, then we become hardened, and even the Word, God's Truth, will lose its effect on us. When people refuse to change or adapt to changes or forsakings or breakings, they sometimes get mean and bitter about not having what they used to have. They're unwilling to "take joyfully the spoiling of their goods" (Heb. 10:34), to take their losses and learn the lessons from it that God is trying to teach them.

Tough trials and tests can either melt you or harden you!-Which is why you've got to watch out and "look diligently" that they don't harden you and make you bitter and hateful! If you will let the trials humble you and melt you, you'll be a lot happier, and you'll find the Lord's Love in a new and closer way. But if you, in pride, harden your heart and say with "Invictus"--"I am the Captain of my fate, I am the Master of my soul! My head is bloody but unbowed," you will wind up sorely off the track and become a great disappointment to God! Pride is what causes people to be bitter! It's because of pride that people become bitter instead of yielding and becoming broken and soft through their trials. Pride is why they refuse to "bow" to the Lord and surrender their all to Him! So bitterness is a form of pride. People who are bitter usually feel that someone--either God or Man--has treated them unfairly. They're bitter because they feel like they deserve to be treated better. They feel they've been mistreated, abused, they don't deserve what they're getting. They feel they're better than that. Another reason that people get bitter about their lot in life is because they get their eyes off of the Lord and on others.-And they begin "comparing themselves among themselves," and in so doing, "are not wise!"--2Cor. 10:12. When you start comparing yourself to others, and how the Lord has dealt with you compared to how he's dealt with others, it's very easy for the Enemy to tempt you with jealousy, bitterness, doubts etc. For example, say the Lord's required you to make a great sacrifice of mate or children or position, in order for you to continue growing and being fruitful in His Service. If you unwisely compare your situation to someone else who hasn't been required to make the same sacrifice that you were, you could easily begin to feel discontented and

resentful.--"How come I had to give up all of this and that, and they didn't?" The thing that people fail to realise when they fall into this pit of comparing themselves to others is that the Lord handles all of us differently.--And what's good for you, may not be good for someone else! The Lord knows what's best for us, so He gives us all what He knows will help us each to grow the most and learn the particular lessons He is trying to teach us. When dear Apostle Peter was told by the Lord that he would suffer a martyr's death, he asked Jesus, "What about John, what will happen to him?" Jesus gently chided him not to worry about John and replied, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?--Follow thou Me!"--Jn.21:22. How the Lord deals with others isn't really your concern, "What is that to thee?" "Every man shall give account of himself to God"-Rom.14:12.--And your main concern shouldn't be, "But Lord, if You're requiring all of this of me, what about my brother here?--What are You gonna require of him?" You just need to trust the Lord and "follow thou Jesus" and do your best for Him! 'Cause if you begin comparing God's dealings with you to His dealings with others, you're just opening the door for the Enemy's thoughts of discontentment, murmuring, resentment and bitterness.--No wonder the Bible says that such comparisons are "NOT wise!" Some people's problems with bitterness go a long way back. Because they refused to humble themselves and yield and accept what God was trying to do in their lives, and they refused to forgive and forget whatever anyone did

to them, that little root of resentment that began growing in their hearts long ago, continues to grow and grow. And after a while, it becomes a big tree! To stubbornly refuse to accept God's dealings in your life is to "suffer so many things in vain."--Gal.3:4. How sad to go through big trials and testings and not learn the lessons God is trying to teach you from them. His Word says, "No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."--Heb. 12:11. But sad to say, everybody's trials don't always yield the "peaceable fruit of righteousness." Sometimes they end up being bitter because they refused to be "exercised" thereby, and they won't learn their lesson!

A. Fiery Trials: Will They Make You Bitter or Better? "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."--1Pet.4:12; 1:7. The Lord sometimes lets things happen that we don't understand to test us and try us. He places us in the refining fires of His trials and testings to bring us to a boil, so all the scum and dross come to the surface and can be purged out. That's what the fire's for--to bring out the meanness in us and to get rid of it. Suffering is God's catalyst, God's test tube. It either reveals that we have already got the grace to take it by faith, or it helps to turn us to grace and cause us to call upon God and to seek His mercy and His Love and His deliverance. Of

course, in some cases, suffering can cause people who are rebellious and unyielded to the Lord to rebel all the more! Suffering makes you either sweet or bitter, one or the other, one extreme or the other.--It's up to you. It will either humble you or harden you. You can often see this in older people. As the years pass by, people go one way or the other, there's no standing still. They get more mellow and mild, soft and more tender, or they get harder, one or the other. My mother used to say that some old people are well-preserved, and others are just well-pickled!--They've gotten so sour and dour and miserable and unhappy. The sorrow, the suffering, the sacrifice and sadness you go through will bring out the best in you--sweetness, compassion, love, tenderness, brokenness, love and concern for others--if you love the Lord and turn to Him when you go through such trials. He says, "Let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."-1Pet.4:19. Of course, when you go through such tests and trials, it never "seems to be joyous, but grievous."--And the Devil will do all he can to try to convince you that God doesn't love you and that He doesn't answer prayer!--But what's really happening is that the Lord is letting your faith be tested, to see how much you really love the Lord and what price you're willing to pay to serve Him! When going through severe soul-trying times of testing, we're often tempted to question the Lord, "Why me, Lord? Why did You let this happen to me?" We know from His Word that He allows such trials to test our faith and to test

our love, just like He did with Job. Such tests actually strengthen your faith and cause you to love and believe in God no matter what, to not doubt no matter what happens.--As Job finally said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!"--Job 13:15. And when he finally took a stand like that, he got the victory. The Devil gave up and saw he couldn't make Job quit, even if he killed him. Even Job's wife told him, "Why don't you just curse God and die, you miserable man!" Just think, he even lost the love and respect of his own wife. He'd lost all his children, lost all his wealth, lost his health and then he lost his wife! As Job sat there in ashes, pitifully scraping his boils with a potsherd, she taunted, "Why don't you just curse God and die and get out of the way!" But he rebuked her and said, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh! What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" God's Word then says, "In all this Job did not sin with his lips."--Job 2:7-10. Earlier, Satan himself had told God that Job would curse Him to His face if he lost his possessions and position. (Job 1:11; 2:5.) But when calamity after calamity befell dear Job, he passed the test and proved what a liar the Devil is! He didn't harden his heart and heed the Devil's voice through his wife or bitterly turn against God. Instead, "Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. And said, `Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord!' In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."--Job 1:20-22. But some people really have to go through a lot before they humble themselves and receive God's dealings with them. In fact, some people never seem to get the point and they never allow themselves to get humbled and they never surrender their own stubborn will and proud independent spirit to God! They never cry out to the Lord for deliverance. They never admit that they can't make it on their own. They

just never give up trying to do things their own way, they never ever say "Uncle!" or "Lord, You win, I surrender!" Some people even get mad at God for dealing with them! They get mad and mean and they curse God and wind up in an even worse state than they were before He tested them or tried to straighten them out! But the Lord won't force you to humble yourself and yield and draw closer to Him! The breaking process depends upon you and your yieldedness and willingness to be made willing! So try to take your testings and your temptations without sin and without rebellion, murmuring or bitterness! The Lord promises that He will never give you more than you're able to bear, and that He will always make a way of escape. (1Cor. 10:13.) He'll somehow make it easier for you or at least help you to bear it. So "harden not your heart" but "cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee!"--Heb.3:8; Psa.55:22. Things will be a lot easier for you if you will just accept what the Lord is trying to do in your life, if you will receive the breakings and the chastisements and the lessons, if you don't fight against them, if you'll just seek the Lord and yield to Him. Remember, He loves you, and whatever He does to you, His Own child, He does it in love.--For your good. So for God's sake, and your own sake, "Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God" (1Pet.5:6), and don't get hardened and bitter! Get better and not bitter!-Amen?

B. Putting the Blame on God! Self-righteous people always blame God for their problems and troubles instead of themselves, or instead of accepting the trials as something that God has sent their way for whatever reason. Some people are so self-righteous they wonder, "How could God ever do such a thing to me? How

could the Lord treat me this way when I'm so good to Him?" They resent God's dealings with them. That is actually one of the worst sins of all, to even have the slightest idea that you're a little bit more righteous than God, that God shouldn't have done this or that to you! That kind of attitude is the very seed and the very root of murmuring! When you question the Lord and murmur like that, what you're really saying is that you're more righteous than God!--Or others!--That if you were boss, you wouldn't have let such a thing happen, and you would have done better and you wouldn't have done this or you wouldn't have done that! When any of us face any kind of a crisis or dilemma, test, trial, tribulation, privation, persecution--whatever the trouble or problem--what is the first thing we should do?-Complain? Murmur? Get upset and angry that things aren't going just the way we would like them to?--Of course not! But when things seem to be going wrong, the first thing a lot of people do is pray and say, "What's the matter, Lord?"-And when some people say that, what they really mean is, "What's the matter with You, God? How come You failed me?" Whereas what we should really pray is, "What's the matter with me, Lord? Is there something wrong with what I'm doing? Am I displeasing You in any way?--Am I failing or disobeying You in any way? Am I out of Your Will in any way? First of all, what's the matter with me, Lord, or my situation? What's wrong?--Or are You just testing me?" Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think when they start having problems and trials, there's nothing wrong with God! There's nothing the matter with Him, nor His Love, nor His dealings with His children! The problem is usually with us.--As He says in His Word, "Your iniquities have separated and come between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear."-Isa.59:2.

He says, "I'm not deaf that I can't hear your prayers, I'm listening!--And My arm isn't short or weak that it can't save and help you. The trouble is not Up Here, it's down there with you!"--With us, not God! So don't blame God and get upset at Him because of your troubles and your problems and your crises and your difficulties! It's not God's fault! There's nothing wrong with God! "Let every man be found a liar, but God be found true!"--Rom.3:4. The most important thing you have to do during trying times is not whine and complain and murmur and gripe and grumble and bellyache and get bitter at God for His socalled failures and mistreatment and His neglect and His abuse and His cruelty and His deafness and His unconcern!--Because none of those things are true! You need to do the opposite of what the children of Israel did out in the wilderness, and that is, you need to sit down and think the situation over and pray: "God, what's wrong with me? What's wrong with what I'm doing or the way I'm doing it? What am I doing that's displeasing You so that You're withholding Your blessings? In what way am I disobeying--either deliberately, wilfully, or unknowingly, unwittingly, or simply falling short, maybe just not doing enough? Or maybe I'm not listening enough, maybe I'm not following Your voice and guidance enough.-Or are You simply testing my faith or humbling me and trying to get me to draw closer to You?"

C. Putting the Blame on Others! It's human nature to look around for somebody else to blame our problems on. "Passing the buck" started in the Garden of Eden. It's sinful Man's first line of defense when he's in trouble.--To blame others.

Just look what happened in the Garden of Eden: When they got caught in their sin, the first thing Adam said to God was, "It was my wife, she did it!" Then Eve said, "It was the Serpent's fault, he did it!" And the Serpent as good as said, "It was God, it's all His fault!" (Gen.3:12-13.) To "pass the buck" and try to blame things on others is an almost automatic reaction and self-defense mechanism with most people. People who are bitter and have a bitter spirit are especially prone to this sort of thing. They're always blaming everybody else for all of their mistakes and all of their troubles and failings. It's always somebody else's fault. If you have a problem or weakness along these lines, you'd be wise to remember that the Devil is the "Accuser of the Saints" (Rev. 12:10), and that's his own tactic to always try to get you to blame your problems on everybody else! "Why me, Lord? I didn't do it, they did it to me! It wasn't my fault, it's his fault, her fault! They're the ones to blame! They're the ones who made me do it!" Some people find it so easy and convenient to blame all their troubles on somebody else!--"It's that awful Hell of a person I have to live with or that horrible leader I have to work under"--or this one or that one! This is such a typical device of the Devil: He always accuses the Saints and always exaggerates to you what others are doing, and will always try to take things that others have said or done and twist them and make things sound a lot worse to you than they really are.--He even does the same thing to God about you! He's an expert at picking on all the little flaws and all the little faults that he

can find, and constantly tries to accuse others and get you to blame everything that goes wrong on someone else! But if you won't accept the responsibility for your own problems and you continually blame them on others, you're just going to go through your entire life never getting the victory or making any progress! How can you ever grow spiritually or learn any lessons from the Lord when you're self-righteously blaming other people for everything bad that ever happens to you? Even if you feel that you have been genuinely mistreated or misjudged or whatever by others, instead of sulking and pouting and licking your wounds, you might find it's very profitable to look a little deeper and see if the Lord is trying to get through to you on some other point or issue that's even more serious than whatever it is you feel so mistreated or misunderstood about! Don't be too quick to judge and blame others when you might need to work on the beam in your own eye, and not be so concerned about the mote in your brother's eye. Amen?

D. Bitter and Hateful Thoughts: The Devil's Evil Seeds! Although "evil thoughts proceed out of the heart of men" (Mk.7:21), we should not be ignorant of the fact that bitter, hateful and resentful thoughts are also a "device of the Devil" (2Cor.2:11) that he frequently attacks God's children with. Our spiritual Enemy is always looking for a weakness, a way to enter our defenses. He is always seeking to cast his "fiery darts" (Eph.6:16) into the city of our fellowship, trying to sow the evil seeds of dissension, jealousy, covetousness, bickering, selfishness, and internal discord. So we all need to be watchful and on guard against such thoughts towards others. "Be sober, be vigilant, because

your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."--1Pet.5:8. When the Enemy is out to poison and "defile" you with bitter and hateful thoughts, he's usually very subtle about it. He tries to make his poison look very attractive, offering it to you as something that you want to take. The Devil almost always sugar-coats his pills with enough truth to trick people who don't know better than believing and swallowing them. When I was a little boy, when they gave you pills and capsules, they started to put a coat of candy on the outside so the children would be willing to swallow them, because they thought it was candy. But inside it was bitter, horribletasting medicine.--And that's the way the Devil's lies are; no matter how he sugar coats them to tempt you or to suit your taste, no matter how much truth he may use to get you to harbour bitter thoughts against somebody, his thoughts are a bitter pill to swallow, and will make you bitter if you do! That's why it's extremely dangerous to allow even a little bitterness, resentment or a critical spirit to creep in. The Enemy will use it as a channel, especially if there's some motivation of jealousy or pride or desire to vindicate or avenge yourself, or even to just feel sorry for yourself, or excuse yourself. You may think, "Oh, just this one little tiny seed, just this little bit of a grudge or gripe against them, it's not so bad.--Besides, they deserve it!" But that little crack in your spiritual armour is where the Devil will begin to seep in, and his gas of deceit then begins to poison your mind because you've opened the door to him, and pretty soon you're totally off the track! As long as you leave a window open, you're not going to get rid of a roomful of flies. Likewise, you're not going to get rid of the

Devil and his annoyances until you force them out and close the door or the windows so they can't come back in! But as long as you're harbouring bitterness or hatred in your life, that just lets the Enemy in, it's leaving the door wide open. My Mother used to say, the Devil knocks on some people's door and they just throw it open and say, "Come on in, Mr. Devil, come in, Mrs. Devil and all your little doubts and doubtlets! Here are some comfy chairs, sit down and talk to me and let's have a nice visit, let's hear all that you have to say!" Instead of that, when you first hear the Enemy's knock at the door in your thoughts, in your mind and heart, as soon as you recognise who it is, you should slam the door in his face so quick it cuts his nose off! You shouldn't even listen to his first doubt, his first evil thought or "fiery dart"! That's where Eve made her mistake. Her first mistake was stopping to listen to the Devil. When he puts negative or critical or doubtful thoughts in your mind, don't even listen. Resist him! Rebuke him in Jesus' name and start praising God and thanking the Lord for all your blessings! Get off the Devil's negative channel and think of the positive! When Eve stopped to listen, pretty soon she was believing him. So don't listen to him at all!--"Neither give place to the Devil!"--Eph.4:27. Listen to Jesus, read His Word, study and memorise it and praise the Lord, and the Enemy will flee!

E. The Voice of Bitterness: Murmuring! Whenever you feel like murmuring and griping about things, watch out! Such an unthankful, doubtful and negative attitude may not only be an indication of bitterness, but of backsliding as well! Even if you haven't actually turned your back on the Lord, you're turning back in your heart when you start yielding to that feeling of doubting, murmuring and

being critical of everybody else. When people start picking out others' faults and covering their own, and murmuring and griping about everything, complaining instead of praising the Lord for what they've got, it's a dangerous sin! Even if you don't wind up completely backsliding, you'll certainly lose your inspiration and the Lord's anointing if you go around voicing complaints and resentments like that. You can't keep complaining and criticising and murmuring and belly-aching about things and still keep God's Holy Spirit on you for your job, you just can't do it. You'll wind up like Saul, the Spirit left him, and he became so damned hardened of heart and cold, he didn't even know it was gone! He didn't even know he had lost it. When someone's going around murmuring and constantly being critical of everything, it shows that they've been entertaining the Devil's lies in their mind and heart, "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."--Mat. 12:34. Then they become a witness for the Devil. If your heart is filled with negative thoughts, sooner or later you'll mouth them, and that's when you really begin to pull others down too. One reason that people complain and bellyache and criticise is because they know that they're not making it themselves and that they haven't got the victory.--They know that they're failing because of their own unyieldedness or rebelliousness. So rather than really trying to make it and stop failing and do better, they start looking around for something to justify themselves, to excuse themselves and vindicate themselves. So they frequently accuse and blame everybody else for their own faults and failures, and will freely criticise everybody else but themselves.

Such murmuring is virtually the voice of the Enemy and his doubts, and a critical spirit like that sows dissension, disunity and discord amongst brethren, one of the seven abominations to God!--Pro.6:16-19. So God certainly won't--and can't--bless people who allow themselves to fall into such a sorry state. In fact, if you sin in murmuring against God, and complaining about your lot, complaining about the circumstances and conditions under which you're living, and griping and murmuring against God or your Shepherds or your brethren, God may just let you stay there much longer than He'd originally planned!--Like He did to the Children of Israel when they murmured against Him!--Until you learn to be thankful and patient! "Tribulation worketh patience!"-Rom.5:3. No matter how great your trial may be, no matter how difficult your difficulty may be, no matter how bad it may be, if you just have faith to trust God to bring you out of that difficulty, you won't murmur and complain! You'll rejoice and praise God and thank Him, even for the trial, because you know He is able to save and deliver you!--And He will! Praise the Lord!

PART III. HOW TO AVOID BITTERNESS!

The best way to avoid succumbing to bitterness--or any other serious spiritual problem, for that matter--is to stay "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!"--Eph. 6:10.--And in the Word and prayer and the Spirit. If you have faith and confidence in the Lord and are strong in His Word and are putting your trust in Him, then the Lord will not allow the Enemy to overcome you with such problems. However, staying close to the Lord is not something you do only when you're praying and reading the Word, but it's a personal contact and relationship with Him that you've got to carry over into your daily life. The following sections deal further with specific steps to help you to be free from bitterness in your daily walk with the Lord and others.

A. Love Is the Most Important Thing! . The Bible tells us, "Above all things, have fervent love among yourselves; for love shall cover the multitude of sins."--1Pet.4:8. Love even loves the unlovely, and casts a veil over countless sins! It's hard for you to see anything good in someone you don't love. But if you really love someone, it's much easier to overlook and forgive their faults. If you have the Lord's Love and are loving towards others, you'll try to look on the bright side, and try to be optimistic and bring out the good things about people and see their good points. If you're trying to be loving and kind to people, you won't be harsh or critical or resentful towards them. But if you don't love them, they won't even be able to walk

across the floor without your finding fault with the way they do it! When you have real love for others, it's a lot easier for you to let things pass. In school they call it passing when you graduate from one grade to the next. When you're travelling along in a car, you know you're moving because you're passing things! That's how you know you're making progress, because you're passing things. Well, the same thing is true in your spiritual life. When you start letting things pass, when you don't worry so much about things, that shows that you're making progress. When you don't hold it against somebody for some idle remark or something foolish that they did, something they said, when you don't get hypersensitive and all upset about it and hold it against them, then you're passing things. "Love covereth a multitude of sins," and will give you the grace and power to just let things pass, to forgive others as you know that you yourself need to be forgiven. This verse from my Mother's poem, "Let It Pass," brings this out very clearly: Truly great folks never stoop To answer petty things; The unkind word, the bitter cut That rankles deep and stings. They are too big to notice them, They simply pass them by, And even with a smile sometimes Or twinkle in the eye. For they have found that after all 'Twas better in the end To meet it with a smile, and then, Just let it pass, my friend. The Lord and His Love are the antidote for the poison of bitterness and hate. The Lord and His Holy Spirit always rebuke the Devil, the Accuser of the Saints, and resist him. And instead of emphasising the negative and accusing others, the Lord's Spirit will point out the good things about

others. When we're staying close to the Lord, He is faithful to show us that nobody's perfect, including ourselves; we're all human, and that always helps us to have love and mercy and to forgive others all the more because we know we're not perfect either. We all must ask the Lord in all humility to help us have mercy on others, knowing that we ourselves must also be forgiven for many sins. Remembering continually what sinners we are and how many mistakes we've made helps greatly to keep us humble and to avoid that spirit of selfrighteous pride which causes us to criticise and condemn others. We need to "forgive one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us."--Eph.4:32. Pray for love! If you'll just forget yourself and think more about others, and really try to help and pray for and love them, you'll find that will solve almost all of your problems! If you get your mind off yourself and on others you'll find that this is what will bring you true joy and happiness. That's the formula for finding joy: Put Jesus first, then Others, and then You!-J.O.Y.! First of all, get your mind on Jesus, and then He'll help you get it on to your neighbour, and help you love him as yourself. Praise the Lord!

B. "Confess Your Faults One to Another!"--Jam.5:16 Even when you're serving the Lord and doing your best for Him, everything's not always perfect, and once in awhile a few things are bound to happen that you don't like. But when things like that happen, you should try to get it straightened out between you and the person it happened with, or between you and the Lord. Or at least tell your Shepherds about it. But don't hold it in your heart or go around behind people's backs murmuring and griping about it!

The Lord knows that it will only hurt you and drag you down if you hold onto such "offences."--That's why He says, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath."--Eph.4.26. If you go to bed mad and take your anger and frustration with you when you go to sleep, it just makes it last longer. It's terrible to go to sleep in that kind of a mood, out of the victory and angry or resentful towards someone else, it's really terrible. Jesus made it very clear what you're supposed to do when you're hurt or offended or upset with someone. He said, "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother."--Mat.18:15. And if you're the offending party, you're still supposed to go to your brother: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed."--Jam.5:16. Of course, when going to someone about any such "oughts," be sure to ask the Lord to help you go in true love and humility, and be willing and open to hear any grievances or "oughts" that may be on their hearts. But if you're too proud to admit it when you're upset at someone, if you're too proud to confess it and are unwilling to humbly ask for forgiveness and seek the Lord's solution, it can easily become a little root of bitterness in your heart.-And it will grow and eat at you just like a cancer. Spiritually, if you keep little things like that in your heart and you don't get them out and confess them to the Lord and to the person involved and ask them to help you remove it and uproot it, to somehow get rid of it, it will eat and eat at you like a cancer! It usually starts just like a little tiny fiber, a tiny root, but it can grow and eat and eat away at you until finally it will devour you! That's the way it is with those little offences and problems you have with others, or even with the Lord.--When something happens that offends or upsets you, and you hold it in, it's not confessed because you're too proud to be

honest about it, it will fester and grow worse and cause you problems. It takes humility to be honest. The Lord knows what trouble such "oughts" and offences can cause us if we harbour them in our hearts. This is why He said, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought (a grudge) against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses."--Mk.11:25. The Lord not only tells us to make sure that we're not "holding a grudge" against anyone, but He also tells us that if we feel that someone is holding a grudge against us, we should do all we can to straighten that out as well. "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."--Mat. 5:23,24. So it's very important for you to get rid of those pent-up negative emotions. You need to get rid of them and to be humble and to confess when you need help or prayer. It's so much better to humble yourself and confess to others instead of just holding things in and not saying anything, which can easily lead to murmuring in your heart and cause you to become bitter and discontented!

C. Keep a Positive and Thankful Outlook! One of the greatest things in the World that anyone can learn is to be content in whatsoever state you're in, whether it's to be abounding or to be in want.--Phil.4:11,12. That's certainly something that we've learned throughout our many years of serving the Lord. We've lived as poor as Job's turkey sometimes, but it seems like in recent years we've really abounded compared to how little we had before. We just learn to take the bitter with the sweet, whatever the

Lord gives. We don't let circumstances cause us to become bitter! We all need to learn to count our blessings! The Lord wants us to think on the positive things, and refuse to set our minds on all the negative things and trials and doubts and fears and woes and troubles and tribulations and afflictions that the Devil tries to get us preoccupied with. You must get your mind off of all those negative things and think about your many blessings! If you'd get into the habit of thanking God more for your blessings, your many many blessings, instead of complaining about the few tiny little infinitesimal problems or trials you may have, maybe the Lord would deliver you from those too! But when we don't look at anything but the button off of Mutt's vest instead of all the nice fine clothes and the bright red necktie, no wonder the Lord must get angry! (See ML #1492; Num. 11:1; 1Cor.10:10!) The Lord tells us that we shouldn't think about those negative things at all! "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things!"-Phil.4:8. Whenever negative thoughts, criticisms or resentments come to your mind, you should right away rebuke the Enemy and say, "I rebuke you, Satan, in Jesus' name! I resist you, Accuser of the Saints, in Jesus' name! Jesus, help me not to think those thoughts!" Praise the Lord, quote Scripture, sing His praises, call on the Lord and the Devil will flee! When Jonah finally shouted, "Salvation is of the Lord!", that old whale that had swallowed him just couldn't take it, and he spit him up! (Jon.2:9,10.) So even if God lets the Devil send along a whale-of-a-lot of trouble to swallow you up, you've just got to keep shouting and praising the Lord! The Devil can't stand that, and the trouble can't stand it, and

God will deliver you! But if you get all down in the dumps and go around griping and bellyaching and murmuring and complaining and doubting and everything else, you'll just sink deeper and deeper to the bottom of the sea. So when the Enemy tempts you to get down and critical or murmuring about something, fight back by praising the Lord and counting your blessings! Ask the Lord to help you be content and thankful for your place in His Kingdom and in His Family. And when the Devil comes along and tries to get you to unfavourably compare yourself to others and tries to belittle you and what you're doing, just start praising the Lord and thanking Him for your blessings, and the Enemy will turn tail and run! Thank God and praise Him for your job and your place in His Family, whatever it is! If you're mopping floors or cleaning toilets or cooking food or running errands or doing maintenance work, whatever it is, thank God that you're in the house of the Lord and you're doing it for Jesus! "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of wickedness!"--Psa.84:10. So whether abounding or abasing, we should be thankful for whatever we've got, and praise and thank God for it, because there's nothing any better! The very "worst" things in our life for the Lord are far better than the very best things the ungodly System has to offer! We're blessed with the best life in the World, the best work in the World, the best Love in the World, and the best Lord in the World--Outof-this-World! Nothing could be better than God's Love and God's Word and God's Work and God's workers and their fellowship, and to be able to live and work together and love together in God's Kingdom for Him and for souls!--There's nothing better in this whole World, Praise the Lord! And if we're not happy enough now, when we see the eternal results of our labours Over There, we'll certainly be happy enough then!

Even when you're feeling good, maybe you don't thank the Lord enough for it and praise Him enough for it! "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord!"--Psa.150:6. We could all praise the Lord more and be more positive! Thank Him for the health you do have! Thank Him for how strong you are and that you're not completely incapacitated, injured or sick with some fatal disease or something like that. All kinds of things could be wrong with you, so thank the Lord for the blessings you do have! Praise the Lord!-Stay positive, thankful and full of praise to Jesus!

D. Guard Your Thoughts! The easiest way to prevent something from growing in your garden is to not let it get sown or planted there in the first place! And the best way to prevent any roots of bitterness from springing up in your life is to not let any bitter, critical or negative seeds find their way into the garden of your mind and heart.--Which means you've got to guard your thoughts and resist the Devil when he tries to sow his evil seeds and thoughts in your mind! We all go through experiences sometimes where we listen to the Enemy instead of the Lord. In fact, the Lord lets us hear the Devil's voice and thoughts sometimes--even if it's only a test to see if we will receive or reject it. Not all voices are of God, and you must learn to "try the spirits" (1Jn.4:1) to make sure that what you're hearing is of the Lord. If it's not according to His Word, or causes you to be discontent or bitter, dissatisfied or unhappy or critical of yourself or others--these things are not of the Lord, and you must rebuke the Enemy in Jesus' name when he tempts you with these kinds of negative thoughts. You can't keep the Devil from saying things to you and tempting you to harbour negative thoughts or oughts

against others, or even against the Lord. He will always try to speak to you and try to get you to let him have his evil way. But even if you're unable to keep from hearing him speak sometimes, you can always keep from doing what he says. A lot of people feel bad and think that they must be terribly wicked because they think an unloving or sinful thought. But as my Mother used to say, "Even though you can't keep the birds from flying over your head, you can keep them from making a nest in your hair!" You can't keep the Devil from tempting you and casting his "fiery darts" at you and talking to you, but you don't have to talk back to him or open the door and invite him and all his little devils and doubts in! You can militantly fight against even thinking about the critical, hateful, unkind, doubtful or fearful thoughts that the Enemy may attack or tempt you with! Resist all such thoughts and think positively! Think out loud by either quoting Scriptures or singing hymns or good Gospel songs. You can't very well quote Scripture and talk positively or sing out loud and have those other negative thoughts going through your head at the same time! When a room is dark, you don't go around trying to chase the darkness out of the room.--You just let the light in and the light chases out the dark! So the way to get rid of temptations and negative thoughts is to think of good things, Godly things. Read your Bible, pray, think about Jesus, and then you don't even have time to think the other thoughts.--Which is why Isaiah says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."--Isa.26:3. If you keep your mind on Jesus, you don't have time to think about these other things!--Sing! Fill your mind with the wonderful, powerful Word of God and you won't have room for that darkness! Fill your mind with the Light of God's Word and the darkness will flee! Don't even listen to the Devil's lies!--Because if you do, the same thing that happened to Eve will happen to you! So don't

listen to his doubts and his fears and his discouragement and his temptations and all the rest! Sock him with the Word of God! When you're tempted to think negative or resentful or critical or hateful thoughts against your brothers or sisters, remember that the Devil is the "Accuser of the Saints," and he will always try to accuse others and exaggerate their faults to you. He will even take innocent, unintentional remarks or acts and twist them and make them sound a lot worse than they really are. But once you can recognise that such negative and critical thoughts are the Enemy's attacks against you to separate and divide you from your brothers and sisters in the Lord, then you can slam the door on all such thoughts and take a definite positive stand against them. When you have faith in God and His Word, then you know that the Devil is a liar, and when those kinds of bad and bitter thoughts come into your mind, you know it's the Devil speaking. So just say "I resist you, Satan, in Jesus' name! I resist you!" Because God's Word says if we resist the Enemy, he'll flee from us!--Jam.4:7. Once you recognise such thoughts as the voice of Satan, you can just brush them aside. "I refuse to listen to you any more! I'm not going to listen to a liar, a deceiver and a cheat! That's not true, those are lies!" (or exaggerations, misinterpretations, half-truths, etc.) Just fight the Devil positively when he tries to make you bitter or upset at others or at the Lord! Start singing a hymn or song to Jesus, pray and quote the Word of God! Just let the Light in and the darkness flees every time! When you're being tempted or attacked with negative or critical thoughts, you just have to be positive and attack back! You have to make a conscious effort to rebuke the Devil and think positive good thoughts instead. Amen? If you watch your thoughts and watch your words and fill your heart and mind with the Lord and His Word, you will be

well-protected and fortified and surrounded by God's Angels of protection, His Guardian Angels, and you will be free from the Enemy's critical and confusing static and negative accusations and doubts. In all the things you do all day long, in whatever you may do, in every activity of life and everything you do or say or even think, ask the Lord to help you to be constantly on guard. You can monitor your thoughts, monitor your words and monitor your actions just like we monitor videos!--Then you can always choose the good and eschew the evil. (Rom.12:9.)

E. Take Things as from the Lord!--Rom.8:28 When you begin to acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and take Him into account on everything, then no matter how bad or rough or trying a situation may seem, you know that He is in control. You know that He loves you and that He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able! (1Cor.10:13.) And if you know that you're His child and His hand is on your life, then how can you get bitter and offended at Him? You know "He doeth all things well" (Mk.7:37), and will never make a mistake in His dealings with you, His child whom He loves. Everything He does, He does in love. If you think of everything in relation to the Lord, then you get the right perspective, God's reasoning, Heavenly wisdom, "the wisdom that is from Above."--Jam.3:17. When you think of all of your circumstances in relation to the Lord, then you realise it all has a purpose and that God did it for a reason.--A good reason! If your eyes are on Jesus and you're "walking by faith and not by sight" (2Cor.5:7), then you're constantly aware that He--your great Shepherd--is with you and has everything under His control.--And this, of course, makes it much easier to "take" whatever He happens to send your way.

He promises us, "All things work together for good to them that love God!"--Rom. 8:28. When you really believe this verse, then you know that the Lord never lets seemingly bad things happen to you without any rhyme or reason whatsoever. He only allows such things to happen for a good reason.--Sometimes we've been bad and we need correction, or we've been good and He just wants to make us better through these tests. As I've often said, sometimes God lets things happen just to humble us, and later on He may let things happen to us again to see if we're still humble. Nothing happens to you without the permission of God.--Or, I might add, your permission! In other words, sometimes you can get yourself into trouble by your own disobedience or unyieldedness to the Lord, by somehow stepping out of His Will. When this happens, God lets troubles befall us to teach us a lesson! So sometimes we get ourselves into fixes, and it's our own fault that we suffer the consequences. The Lord often allows and uses people as His instruments to test us and do things that cause us problems because He is testing us to see what we're made of and how close we're going to stay to Him, how tightly we're going to cling to Him. He wants to see if any of these things will move us, and if our house is built on the Rock, Jesus Christ, and not on other people or leaders or circumstances. At the same time, He's trying to strengthen us. When someone has mistreated us, if we really believe that the Lord loves us and is in control of our lives, can we say that God made a mistake, or even that He allowed a mistake to be made? In the final analysis, if you're going to blame someone for making a big mistake in your life, you've got to blame it on the Lord, right? If you really believe that the Lord is in control, then you've got to blame Him, right? If we don't believe that the Lord is in control and that the Lord is leading this outfit, then why are we even in the Family or serving the Lord at all?

If people really love the Lord, there are a lot of good lessons that He can teach them, no matter what happens to them.--Even if they're seemingly "unjustly" excommunicated!--Or if they're demoted to Babe's status or sent out of their mission field or whatever! If they really love the Lord and are in this Family because they're trying to serve Jesus, and their hearts are in the right place, they're not going to become all upset and bitter and backslide! The Lord will use the experience that was so difficult for them for their good, and not for bad, and they will learn lessons, draw closer to Him, and come through victorious in the end! Your leadership may make a mistake with you, but the Lord doesn't, and even if He allowed you to be excommunicated, He did it for a reason. If you really believe God's Word, that the Lord never allows anything in the lives of His children except that which is for their good, to teach them lessons that they need to learn, lessons that they perhaps couldn't learn any other way, then you know He doesn't make mistakes! There are lots of reasons why the Lord allows things that look like they're bad to happen in our lives, but He always does it for our good! If we don't believe that, then we're in the wrong outfit! We might as well give up and not even love the Lord or trust the Lord or serve the Lord at all if He is always making mistakes and He doesn't even know what's best! Who wants to serve a God like that? You've got to see the Lord's hand in your life, and you need to learn your lessons even from what may look like the "mistakes" or injustices of others, or whatever you're having a hard time accepting!--Then determine to serve the Lord in a much better, more dedicated and sacrificial way than ever before! It's such a wonderful liberation when you really know and are fully persuaded that everything is under the Lord's control, His marvellous control! Nothing happens--not the things your leaders do, not even the things the Devil and his demons do--without the permission and the Will of God.

The Enemy can't touch a hair of your head, he can't do a thing unless God allows it. This is why David could say, "All things come of Thee," both the good and the bad!-1Chr.29:14. So, thank the Lord for His loving care and marvellous control! Because we have the Lord and we have His Love and we have life and we have faith, therefore we have hope for better things, for the best, and we know that things are always going to turn out all right in the end. Praise the Lord!

PART IV. HOW TO GET RID OF BITTERNESS!

"All right," you may say, "This counsel on how to avoid becoming bitter is fine and good, but what do I do if I'm already bitter, if I've already allowed a `root of bitterness' to grow in my heart?--How do I get rid of it?" That's what our lesson will now deal with, how you can "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you!"--Eph. 4:31. Once God has pinned down a spiritual problem and given the answer and prescribed the cure, you then need to put it into effect.--And that's usually the hardest part, the spiritual operation. But in the case of a problem like bitterness, if you don't cut out the malignant root, it will kill you! Of course, rooting out can be painful, it's not a very easy job. If you've ever uprooted a plant you know what I mean. Sometimes it tears out some of the earth with it, like tearing out part of your heart. It's up to you to decide to be or not to be a certain way. In getting victories over deeprooted problems, a lot has to do with your own will, your own desire. You have to decide that you really want to change, because if you don't, you won't! Of course, only God can fully deliver you from bitterness and its ill-effects, but you must be willing and yielded to Him, and make the decision that you want to be delivered without reservations!--The choice is yours!

A. Confess You've Got It! Whenever any of us are diagnosed as having a serious spiritual disease such as bitterness, we have to face the facts and admit that we've got a problem. If we won't even face and admit our problems, we're never going to get the victory over them. If you don't recognise and expose the Enemy's work, how are you going to defeat him and get the victory over it? The Lord promises deliverance and victory, and God says everything He can in His Word to encourage you to have faith to be delivered from your problems! But you can't be delivered and you can't even have faith for it unless you are obedient and honest and willing to confess your unrighteousness and your sins and your faults! You'll never be able to correct the problem or find the solution if you deny it exists and keep saying everything is all right, perfectly all right.--That doesn't solve the problem at all. In fact, it makes it even worse! You'll never get the victory over such a problem until you honestly face it and confess it. "He that confesseth his sins," God's Word says, "shall have mercy. But he that covereth his sin shall not prosper!"--Pro.28:13. So confess it and ask the Lord to forgive you for any bitterness you may be harbouring towards Him or others! If you're willing to recognise and face your problem, then you can attack it and overcome it! If you realise how utterly deadly a "root of bitterness" is, you'll certainly want to confess, forsake and get rid of it!-Regardless of what it may cost you to do so! If you love the Lord and you want Him to "build and to plant" His wonderful life-giving fruits of love and mercy in your life and heart, you will do all you can to cooperate with Him to "root out, pull down, throw down and destroy" (Jer.1:10) any and all of the

Enemy's death-dealing evil weeds, seeds and bitter roots that may have found a place in your heart! "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil!"--Psa.97:10. It's been said that a good gardener has got to not only love flowers, but he needs to hate weeds as well. This principle aptly applies to you and the "garden" of your heart. Regardless of how justified you may feel about holding on to any hurts or resentments or wounds from your past, if you are a wise gardener at all, you'll believe the Master Gardener's Manual and its stern warnings about bitterness, and you'll realise that you must do all that you possibly can to rid your plot of this deadly root!--Lest your garden be absolutely overrun, destroyed and defiled by this horrible, nagging, choking "weed!"

B. Attack, Attack, Attack! Once you've recognised that you have a problem with bitterness and you've admitted and confessed it, then you've got to take a positive and militant stand against it. God's Word tells us that we're "not to be ignorant of the Devil's devices," and once you recognise the poisonous root of bitterness for the deadly and soul-hindering device of the Devil that it really is, you've then got to launch an allout spiritual attack against the Enemy himself! You can't do business with the Devil by giving the least place to his evil thoughts against others or God! The only kind of business you can do with him is against him!--Fight him, curse him, curse his work and ask God to rebuke him and deliver you! Get rid of him! That's what you've got to do when his evil "birds" have built a nest of bitterness in your hair! You've really got to go on the attack and you really have to be positive about it and resist the Enemy! Refuse to allow

him any territory in your heart or mind. Rebuke the Devil and pray against any kind of critical spirit or bitter, proud and self-righteous attitude you may have developed towards others!--Or towards the Lord! You've got to let go of all of the damn doubts and fears and gripes and grudges and murmurs and resentments and devilish burdens put there by the Enemy, and hang on to the Lord with all your might! Hitch your wagon to His star and there'll be no stopping you! But if you weigh down your wagon with all the rocks the Devil would like to pile on, "the weights and sins which do so easily beset you," you'll sink for sure! You've got to "lay aside every weight" and just forsake them and roll'm overboard and let'm fall behind as you go on with the Lord! Of course, there's great power in united prayer together! So "call for the elders of the church," and have others pray with you and for you, joining together to "agree on Earth" to bind the Enemy and his evil roots of bitterness, and to "loose" and free you from its terrible negative effects! "One can chase a thousand, but two can put ten thousand to flight!" Then once you've confessed your problem and had united prayer against it, resisting the Enemy and forsaking your sins, you've got to be prepared to keep fighting! Once a root of bitterness has been allowed to grow and spread for any length of time, it usually takes a while to completely break all the negative thought patterns and bad habits caused by it.--Even though the main "root" is gone. You don't always get the victory over such problems handed to you on a silver platter. By faith you do get it, but you usually have to fight for it and do more than just claim it, you have to really practice it and appropriate it until the Enemy knows you're not going to give up.--Until he knows you're going to keep that victory and you really want it that much and you're not going to just throw it away.

C. "Forgive Us Our Sins as We Forgive Others" It's been wisely said that, "Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate. It is the power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness." The Lord and His Love, mercy and forgiveness are the antidote for the deadly poison of bitterness! A little love can go such a long way, and no matter what problems a root of bitterness may stem from, love can still cover a multitude of sins on the part of whoever is to blame. Even if you don't understand exactly what the problem is between you and someone, the Lord understands!--And the answer is Love, whatever the problem! "Love never fails" (1Cor.13:8), and past differences, hurts and grievances can all be healed through humility, love, and the oil of the Spirit. "Only by pride cometh contention" (Pro.13:10), but love, humility and prayer solve all problems! It never fails! Love casts a veil over countless sins!--Love can cover all of the past sins and mistakes that you--or whoever you're having problems with--have made. The divine, supernatural, miraculous, infinite, marvellous Love of God is love enough to forgive! In fact, if you don't have love enough to forgive, you don't have love--because forgiveness is love! So if you can't forgive, you cannot possibly have real love or real humility!--And you haven't got mercy, because love is forgiveness and mercy! As we've already pointed out, it's all too easy for us to go down the line and blame others for everything that's wrong with us and for all our problems. "Oh, they mistreated me and weren't fair to me!"--Or, "They didn't keep me in line and they didn't help me to do what is right, they let me do the wrong thing!" But when we forgive others, we no longer blame them.

Once bitterness has had the opportunity to grow in your heart, it's very easy to become very unloving and hard towards those you feel bitter against. Your spirit can then be very unforgiving, intolerant and impatient. Instead of making it easier for others, you even make it harder for them by your judging and critical spirit, hard heart and unforgiving attitude. If you've been this way, you'd better ask those toward whom you've been bitter to forgive you for your unloving critical spirit, and receive them with wide open arms, and ask them to forgive you for being so selfrighteous, critical, hard of heart and unloving! If you want to forsake and get rid of your bitterness, you have to forgive.--And if you truly forgive someone, that means you let go of whatever it is you're harbouring in your heart against them. You can't say you forgive, but can never forget. That means you're still holding it against them. Those who say they will forgive but not forget are all too often simply burying the hatchet but leaving the handle out for future use. When you've had a problem with bitterness, you've got to be willing to absolutely release and forsake all of your past bitterness and grievances towards others. You've got to "forget those things which are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before."--Phil.3:13. Here's how one author accurately described bitterness and forgiveness: "Carrying a grudge is a loser's game. It is the ultimate frustration because it leaves you with more pain than you had in the first place. Recall the pain of being wronged, the hurt of being stung, cheated, demeaned. Doesn't the memory of it fuel the fire of fury again? Do you feel that hurt each time your memory lights on the people who did you wrong? Your own memory becomes a videotape within your soul that plays unending reruns of your old rendezvous with pain. Is this fair to yourself--this wretched justice of not forgiving? "The only way to heal the pain that will not heal itself is to forgive the person who hurt you. Forgiving heals your

memory as you change your memory's vision. When you release the wrong-doer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumour out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free-yourself."--Lewis B. Smedes The Lord commands us to forgive those who have trespassed against us, and that means we can no longer blame them. Even if they were initially responsible for troubling us or causing us to have problems, we cannot continue to blame them for our problems if we truly forgive them. If we have problems that resulted from others mistreating us, and those problems continue, it's our fault, because the Lord has given us the power to overcome these things. The Lord wants us to forgive those people and ask Him for His deliverance from those problems, so we can overcome them and be free from their hindrance. The Lord wants us to take the responsibility on ourselves, because He wants to show His power and His deliverance, that no matter what has happened to us in the past, it doesn't have to affect our whole lives! We don't have to carry that load with us for the rest of our lives. The Word says that "Every man shall give an account of himself unto God!"--Rom. 14:12. But if you don't accept the responsibility for your present problems and quit blaming them on others, you're going to wind up going through your entire life never getting the victory or making any progress spiritually. How can you possibly grow and learn any lessons if you self-righteously blame other people for everything bad that's ever happened to you? If you hang onto your bitterness and refuse to forgive others, then the Lord cannot forgive you or help you very much! Jesus said, "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your

Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses!"--Mat.6:14,15. The Lord is able and willing to help you to truly forgive others, and He will help you get rid of that bitterness if you sincerely ask Him and are willing to genuinely let go of every grudge, ought or resentment you may be clinging to. If you've had a part in any past wrongdoings you may have suffered, you've got to be honest and confess that so that the Lord can heal you and deliver you and forgive you. His Word says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."--1Jn.1:9. But if we don't even confess our sins, if we don't even think something's our fault, then how can the Lord forgive us? Even if we were entirely guiltless in the wrongs done to us in the past, we are guilty in that we got bitter about it. And if we blame someone else for our present problems because of some wrong they did to us in the past, we are wrong. Our present problems are our fault. If your desire is to truly love and serve and worship the Lord "in spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4:24), then you've got to get rid of that heavy burden of bitterness and blame that you are carrying around and putting on other people for your problems; otherwise, you'll never be able to accomplish much for the Lord. Blaming others for your present problems is just murmuring and complaining! You are responsible for what you do from now on! Are you blaming your problems on others? Have you forgiven from your heart those who have hurt you in the past? Or are you using that as an excuse for your present problems? Remember, "Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God!"--Rom. 14:12. You are responsible for your own actions! So for God's sake, forgive those who have trespassed against you so the Lord can forgive you for your trespasses! "Forget those things which are behind and reach forth unto the things which are before,

and press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus!"--Phil.3:13,14.

D. Spiritual Renewal! When you're determined to utterly forsake a spiritual problem like bitterness and you call out to the Lord with a whole heart, asking Him to deliver you, it only takes one blast of the mighty searing power of the Holy Ghost to burn out all the Devil's old circuits in a mighty infilling of God's Spirit.--God's great electrical power! When you sincerely call out to the Lord to deliver you, He does His part, and will fulfil His promise: "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you."--Eze. 36:26. But even though you are a new creature, that old self will still try to pop up again! You have to fight the Devil and your old self and your old bad habits every day! So be prepared for a battle every day--especially with your besetting sins--"the weights and sins that do so easily beset you."-Heb.12:1. The Lord will be faithful to answer prayer and do His part. But then you've got to do your part by exerting the effort to forsake and "put off" all of the old negative thought patterns and bad habits. His Word says: "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."-Eph.4:22-24. You need to really give the Lord a lot of cooperation in working on breaking any bad habits of bitterness you've formed, and ask Him to change your entire outlook and attitude towards those whom you've been bitter against.

You don't always necessarily get over this sort of thing in a day, it may sometimes take a little while. The Enemy doesn't easily yield territory that he's controlled. When people have had weaknesses and channels open to the Enemy before, he'll try to get that ground back if he can. So you've got to keep praying that the Lord will deliver you and give you the complete victory, rewire you completely! You have to be absolutely rewired and have your mind transformed by the Spirit of God, and it usually takes time to rewire or reprogram a computer! Any psychologist will tell you that a new thought pattern cannot be established until the old one has had time to be completely erased.--In your case, only by a miracle of God! Ask Him to put a new mind in you, "That mind which is in Christ Jesus!"--Phil. 2:5. That takes a genuine spiritual renewal, a real rewiring of all the nerves and nerve centres and whatnot, to make sure the Lord has complete control and the Devil's previous channels are broken completely! And if you have to fight a real big battle to get the victory, the Lord will give you a lot more credit, a lot more reward. If you have a real tough battle and struggle to get the victory, it's probably because the Lord's testing you to find out how much you want it, and how much you're willing to fight for it before He's going to reward you with it. But if you do your part, the Lord will certainly do His, and you will win!--So don't give up! Praise the Lord!

PART V. A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE AGAINST BITTERNESS!

Lord Jesus, Your Word says that when we look unto You, we are lightened: And our faces are not ashamed.--And that when this poor man cries out to You, that You will hear me and save me and deliver me out of all my troubles! (Psa.34:5,6) So Lord, I call on You now with a whole heart, and I ask You to hear and answer and deliver me, in Jesus' name! I realise that these roots of bitterness are like a deadly infection, Lord, so I ask You right now to uproot and take them all away! Lord, please rid me of any doubts or fears or resentments or hurts about the past, or even about things that are happening right now, and give me faith to just let it all go into Your care.--To cast all my cares upon You because You care for me! (1Pet.5:7) If I still hang on to any such roots, even little roots, Lord, in the back of my heart, I know the Devil will play on them and aggravate them. So I rebuke the Enemy in this bitterness and this lack of trusting You, and I rebuke any unyieldedness to You, Lord! Help me, Jesus, just to be a yielded vessel and not try to be the clay saying to the Potter, "Why hast Thou made me thus?" or "Why have You done this to me and treated me this way and allowed this thing to happen that I resent!"--Or "Why are You doing these things to me right now?" Please help me to just be

yielded, a yielded broken vessel, Lord, one that's willing to do anything for You! Forgive me for all my sins, Lord, and help me not to criticise You and the way You're running my life. Help me not to ever think that I'm in any way more righteous than You, that I would do things better than You could have done. Please forgive me, Lord, for all my murmuring and doubting! It's such a terrible sin, Lord because my bitterness is really against You! Please help me to stop it! Murmuring is really complaining that You're doing things wrong, which means I think I could do them better, that I'm more righteous than You are, which is self-righteousness, Lord, a terrible sin. Forgive me and help me to trust You more. You know best about all these things, and You're going to have Your way and it's all going to work out for the best in the long run for me, because I love You, in Jesus' name. So forgive me, Lord, for all my murmurings and complainings and gripings and growlings and groanings and bellyaching and criticisms! Help me to learn to be truly thankful, and to "in everything give thanks" (1Thes.5:18), to praise You in all things, Lord, and be thankful for what I've got, because things could certainly be a whole lot worse! I praise You, Lord, for the life You've given me!--For Your Love and a place in Your Family! Forgive me for when I've murmured and complained and grouched and growled and grumbled about this or that little thing when I thought I should have been treated better or deserved more. Forgive me, Lord! Help me to be more thankful and to praise You for all Your goodness and mercy instead of murmuring and complaining and growling and grumbling and griping about the little tests and trials that You've allowed to come my way. Help me, Lord, to always praise You!--Even when the Devil comes along with his growlings and gripings, help me to confront him with praise, to shout and sing praises to You,

Lord, and thanksgiving for all Your goodness and mercy and Love and provision and protection and all this wonderful life that You've given me to live for You and for others.--The best and greatest life in the World and with the greatest dividends in Heaven, in Jesus' name! TYL! Praise the Lord! Thank You for this beautiful life, this wonderful World and this wonderful Work, Lord! Thank You Jesus for it all! Help me never to complain or murmur or gripe or bellyache or go around poisoning other people with my complaints and murmurs! You really are sick of that kind of thing and that kind of people, Lord, and I know from Your Word that You just will not put up with them! You slaughtered millions of people out in the desert who did it and You only let their children inherit the Kingdom! So please strengthen me, Lord, with Your Word and the Sword of Your Spirit that I may be able to truly resist and fight the Enemy! Help me, Lord, to be properly armed against all the fiery darts of the Evil One and his doubts and criticisms and lies and murmurs and resentments and "poor-me's" and all the demonic fiery darts of the Devil! And help me, Lord, not to fight nor resist whatever it is that You want to use to break me and humble me and draw and keep me close to You. I know, Lord, that You know what's best for me, even if it doesn't always seem best for me, Lord! You just want to see if I'm willing to trust You and believe You and believe that "All things truly do work together for good to them that love Thee"!--Rom.8:28. I know that things will be a lot easier if I just accept what You've done in my life in the past and what You're trying to do in my life right now. I know it'll be easier, Lord, if I accept the breakings and the chastisements and the lessons and all of these things, if I don't fight against them, if I just yield. Jesus, help me not to give the Devil an inch, not to allow even one tiny root or offshoot of bitterness to remain in my heart!

I know that I cannot expect Your blessing and protection when I run away from You, out of Your Will, even spiritually in thought. So keep me close to You with pure and positive thoughts of You and Your Word, in Jesus' name! Help me, Lord, to watch my thoughts and watch my words and to fill my heart and mind with You and Your Word so that I'll be well-protected and fortified and surrounded by Your Angels of protection and Your Guardian Angels, Lord, that care for Your children all the time. And Lord, please renew me with Your wonderful Spirit of Love! Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit, Lord, that I may have a heart full of Your Love. Your Word says, "Above all things have fervent love one toward another."--1Pet.4:8. Please help me not to condemn or judge others in pride or self-righteousness. Please give me more of Your Love, Your patience, Your humility, which is synonymous with love--littleness in my own eyes. Give me sweetness and love for others. Help me to mete unto other men's bosoms as I want You to mete unto me. Help me to truly forgive other men's sins as You have forgiven me, to have mercy upon others as You have had mercy upon me. Guard me from the Devil who goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. I know he is the one who stands day and night accusing Your Saints and trying to divide, trying to subvert, propagandising and lying and causing doubts and fears and casting fiery darts of hate and resentment. Help me to be more like You, Lord Jesus!--And help me not to be like the Enemy--the Accuser of the Saints, the harsh, the cruel, the devourer! Help me to be forgiving and patient, and to have mercy as I want mercy, and to treat others in their errors as I want You to treat me in mine! Help me to truly forgive all those against whom I have felt offended or resentful or bitter. I sincerely pray that now,

Lord, regarding all of those who may have offended me or failed me or made mistakes, who somehow affected or hurt or upset me. Please help me to forgive. I ask You to please forgive me. "Forgive me my sins as I forgive those who have sinned against me."--Luk.11:4. Lord, help me to be more simple and childlike in these things! Your Word says, "In understanding be ye men, but in malice be ye children."--1Cor.14:20. So even if I'm offended sometimes, help me to let it go and forget it right away. Help me not to hold things against people, to not stay offended! Help me to cut these sensitive thoughts off before they have a chance to become any kind of bitterness. Help me to truly forgive and forget and love. Help me to keep my life as simple as I can, Lord, to live simply and try not to be complicated, trying to keep track of how I've been offended and by whom, etc. Help me now, Lord, and deliver and uproot any and all evil seeds or roots of bitterness, envy or hate!--That I might be delivered and freed and be all the freer to go ahead with even greater conviction to get the job done that You have called me to do!--Help me to "lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset me," that I may truly run Your race, for Your glory, in Jesus' name! I know, Lord, that this is not just something that I do once and for all, but I have to constantly be forsaking all these temptations and negative thoughts in my heart, all the time forsaking the old ways and laying aside these weights and hindrances. Lord, every day I've got to forsake the Devil's voice and temptations which try to call me back and suck me back into the old ways and the old habits and bondages, so help me to do that, and keep fighting! Thank You, Lord, for delivering me!--In Jesus' name, amen. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."--Isa.55:7.

"For it is better to hearken unto the voice of thy Lord than to dwell in the fields of bitterness! It is better to follow thy God than to follow the words of Man."

PART VI. BITTERNESS BIBLE STUDY

Definition: Holding on to or showing feelings of intense [strong] animosity [hatred, anger], resentment or vindictiveness [wanting to get back at someone]. -- Other words that describe bitterness are: merciless, unforgiving, holding a grudge. Bitterness is also described as feelings resulting from something that is difficult to accept.

1. God's Word warns us against the dangers of bitterness. Proverbs 18:19 [When we allow ourselves to become bitter against others, we create walls difficult to overcome, which isolates us from others.] A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. Acts 8:22,23 [Bitterness is a sin to be repented of.] Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall [poison] of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Hebrews 12:15 [Be on guard against it, because even a little root of bitterness can do much harm to you and others.] 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 [contaminated]. [See also Deuteronomy 29:18.]

James 3:14 If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not [don't brag about it.], and lie not against the truth.

2. Do not carry or keep bitterness, but replace it with love, kindness and forgiveness.

Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear [carry or keep] any grudge [bitterness] against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord. Proverbs 17:9 [Love can overcome bitterness, but watch out about opening up old hurts felt from others. Better to forgive and forget.] He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth [harps about] a matter separateth very [true] friends. [See also 10:12.] Matthew 6:14,15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 18:23-35 [In His parable of the unmerciful servant, Jesus made it clear that we will suffer if we refuse to sincerely forgive our brethren, when we know Jesus has had mercy on our sins.] 35 So likewise shall My Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. Romans 2:1-6 [Hypocritical, judgmental self-righteousness can cause us to harbor bitterness, while feeling justified for doing so, yet it ends up bringing God's punishments upon ourselves.] Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit

such things. 3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4 Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath [you are saving up terrible punishment for yourselves] against the Day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds. Ephesians 4:31,32 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour [shouting or crying], and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice [desire to do harm]: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 1 Peter 4:8 [Even if someone has mistreated or wronged you, God's love is love enough to forgive.] And above all things have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins.

3. If you allow bitterness a place in your heart, it will eventually come out of your mouth in murmuring and complaining.

Job 6:2,3 [Job complains to his friends:] Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! 3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up [have been rash]. [See also 7:11.] Job 10:1 [Job also said:] My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. [See also 16:6-16.] Job 23:1-4 [Job's self-righteousness caused him to become bitter against God, thinking he knew better.] Then Job

answered and said, 2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. 3 Oh that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat! 4 I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments. Matthew 12:34b Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. [See also 15:11,18,19.] Romans 3:14b Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

4. The Lord, in His love, can deliver you from the sin of bitterness. Here are some examples of three who overcame it, and one who didn't:

Genesis 45:3-15 [If anyone had cause to be bitter, it was Joseph. His brothers had despised him; they brutally sold him into slavery and lied to their father that he had been killed by a wild animal; he spent time in prison on false charges of rape; was left there for two years longer because Pharaoh's forgetful chief butler forgot his promise to help get Joseph out of jail. In spite of all this, here's how Joseph reconciled with his brothers:] And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. 4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and He hath made me a father to

Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. ... 10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. ... 15 Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him. 1 Samuel 1:10 [Hannah, mother of Samuel, was sorely provoked every year by Peninnah, the second wife of her husband, Elkanah. Peninnah had children and purposely tried to make Hannah feel badly because she had no children. After years of Peninnah doing this, Hannah, having become bitter, not eating well and feeling that she somehow was not blessed of the Lord, took her bitterness to the Lord in desperate prayer, openly confessing her grief, both to the Lord, and to Eli, the priest, and finally a great victory was one, first by faith, followed by the Lord's blessings.] 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. ... [Eli, when he saw Hannah sobbing, mistakenly though she'd been drinking and was drunk:] 15 I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. ... [She explained her prayer that God give her a son.] 17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him. 18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. [By faith Hannah had given her bitterness to the Lord, and because of it, was able to return to her family, having been freed from sadness and was even able to eat normally. Later the blessings came: the Lord not only blessed her with Samuel, her first born who she gave to the Lord, but also with three other sons and two daughters!]

Isaiah 38:10-17 [King Hezekiah grew bitter during a nearly fatal illness. During his worst days, he felt the Lord was cutting him off. Yet his desperate prayer and tears brought eventual healing and victory.] I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11 I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: He will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me. 13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will He break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. 15 What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. 16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: [then Hezekiah begins to speak faith:] so wilt Thou recover me, and make me to live. 17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. 2 Samuel 13:22 [Absalom, son of King David, bitterly hated his half-brother, Amnon, for having raped Tamar, Absalom's full sister. This unbridled bitterness grew for two years until Absalom had Amnon killed.] And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. ... 28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant. 29 And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled.

5. Bitterness stems from feelings of anger and an unforgiving attitude towards others. Here are some more solutions from the Word on how to avoid it.

Proverbs 27:7 [If we are truly hungry to learn from the Lord, even bitter experiences are looked upon as "blessings in disguise."] The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Matthew 5:23,24 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought [grievance] against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Mark 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Romans 8:28 [Bitterness is also described as the feelings resulting from something that is difficult to accept; so it's important to always remember that the Lord has a good purpose in everything that He allows to happen to us.] We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 12:2 [God's Word often speaks of "renewing our minds," which implies letting go of the old; particularly any past grievances and bitternesses.] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. [See also Ephesians 4:23.] Ephesians 4:26b,27 [Going to bed in anger is an avenue for the Devil to work.] Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; 27 Neither give place to the Devil. Philippians 3:13 [Bitterness is also caused by holding on to bad or angry feelings about someone or something that happened, but the Lord tells us to forget the things that are

past.] Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Colossians 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.