{"id":6869,"date":"2022-11-15T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=6869"},"modified":"2022-09-06T08:40:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T13:40:05","slug":"bitterness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2022\/11\/15\/bitterness\/","title":{"rendered":"BITTERNESS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2 minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Daily Reading: <\/strong>Ezekiel 31:1-32:32 ESV<\/a>, Hebrews 12:14-29 ESV<\/a>, Psalm 113:1-114:8 ESV<\/a>, Proverbs 27:18-20 ESV<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily Verse:<\/strong> \u201cSee to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no \u201croot of bitterness<\/em>\u201d springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled\u201d (Hebrews 12:15 ESV<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PIKRIA (4088): <\/strong>\u201cDenotes \u201cbitterness\u201d in Heb 12:15, in the same sense, metaphorically, or a root of \u201cbitterness,\u201d producing \u201cbitter\u201d fruit.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producing bitter fruit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitterness wreaks havoc in our lives, stops us from enjoying life to the fullest, and causes pain to others.  Unfortunately, identifying bitter roots in our lives takes effort; we don\u2019t see them at first glance, but others can.  My husband loves to say, \u201cThey have a chip on their shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ron and I did \u201cFive Dates: A His and Her \u201cFunbook\u201d for Couples<\/a>,\u201d which I highly recommend.  Innocent questions lead to deep conversations.  God revealed a chip on my shoulder through my husband with the question: \u201cWhat are two of your biggest memories from high school?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roots revealed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instantly, my mind went to my father\u2019s death at 16; jealousy towards my husband\u2019s sporting regrets made me respond, \u201cI wish my biggest memories were so simple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust because I haven\u2019t experienced what you did, doesn\u2019t mean I can\u2019t sympathize.  You don\u2019t get to wear your pain like a badge of honor.\u201d My honey responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that moment, God revealed a bitter root that started three decades ago.  The Lord removed the root using my husband\u2019s unconditional love for me.  And I found a new fullness to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one likes when the bad things in life occur, and we all will experience hard, painful moments in life that devastate us.  How we respond to those events determines the roots we will begin to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we lay our pain at the foot of the cross, trusting God to use it for His purposes, we will discover divine healing.  Peace will transcend our hearts that make no sense to the outside world.  From our hurt, God will lead us to victory, helping us to continue the journey and not get stuck in pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask God to reveal the bitter roots in your life.  Let the Lord dig in the soil of your heart and remove the bitterness.  Begin to produce life-giving fruit as you weed out the dark places in your soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[1]<\/a> Strong, J., & Strong, J. (2010). The New Strong’s expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible<\/em>. Greek Dictionary of the New Testament<\/em> (p. 201) Thomas Nelson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Check out my new release on Amazon<\/a>. Learn how I used prayer to control my emotions and develop healthier relationships in my life. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 minute read. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 31:1-32:32 ESV, Hebrews 12:14-29 ESV, Psalm 113:1-114:8 ESV, Proverbs 27:18-20 ESV Daily Verse: \u201cSee to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no \u201croot of bitterness\u201d springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled\u201d (Hebrews 12:15 ESV) PIKRIA (4088): \u201cDenotes \u201cbitterness\u201d in Heb… Continue reading BITTERNESS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6881,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6869\/revisions\/6881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}