How’s the Flow

“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many,” Hebrews 12:15

What do you notice about this verse? What jumped out at you?:

Unforgiveness. It’s a sticky topic, isn’t it? We all have had someone who has wronged us in the past, and we have held onto it for far too long. So long, in fact, maybe you’ve forgotten about it! That person who made a rude comment; the person who betrayed your trust when you were teenagers, and you still can’t find it in you to let it go. Your parent who made you feel like you were a body to feed, or made you feel like you were unloved, and it caused you to feel like you couldn’t be loved by anyone else. 

We all have that person, or people who have hurt us in some way. The Bible tells us that “we are to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you,” Ephesians 4:32. It’s so hard to do this, isn’t it? You feel like you are telling that person that what they did is okay. I have good news! That’s not what forgiveness is. While it’s nice to tell someone they are forgiven, sometimes, it’s not practical to do so. 

What forgiveness is, is freedom for you! You are letting go of the strongholds of bitterness, hatred, and anger. By letting these things go, you are making room for God to work on you in so many ways! You are allowing Him to fill you with things of Him, like love, grace, and compassion. I  don’t know about you, but I would prefer to be filled with these things, rather than bitterness and resentment.

Answer & Reflect on the following question (s):

Do you have anything in you that tells you that you may be holding onto unforgiveness?

How can you be intentional about asking God to search your heart for bitterness and unforgiveness?

Speak to the Lord and spend some time in prayer:

Lord, we humbly come to you with thankfulness. We thank you for reminding us of areas where we need work to be done. We thank you for your gentleness as you start a work in us. God, we ask that you search our hearts. Point out things that oppose you and are holding us back from what you have in store for us. Break the strongholds of resentment, anger, frustrations and bitterness. Remind us that those things are not from you. We want to be filled with things from you! We
thank you for what you are about to do in us and through us. Help us to break the chains, and to help to point others to do the same. We thank you and we love you. In Jesus name, Amen!