Live Free with Josh Howerton - Out of the Prison of Bitterness | Ep. 32 | Tuesday March 21, 2023

Episode Date: March 21, 2023

There are multiple steps to letting go of bitterness. The first one? Inviting God to be involved. If you have stored up resentment, it’s impossible to truly let it go if you’re doing it on your own. In this episode, Pastor Mike talks through circumstances that you may be experiencing and shares a prayer that could help you through them. This is a powerful process that you won’t want to miss! For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? My name is Mike Bro, and we're doing a little daily podcast where we're trying to dispense some hope and grace and encouragement just a few minutes every day. And we've been walking through Romans chapter 12. And yesterday we stopped with verse 18, which said, if it is possible, as far as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone. And we talked about how sometimes it's not possible and it does not depend upon us. And how while we're reconciliation might be a worthy goal, reconciliation takes two willing parties. Forgiveness? It just takes one. Now, yesterday I talked way too long, so thanks for indulging me. I told you had a few more

things to say about forgiveness. I want to camp here for a little bit. So we might extend that conversation today, and I promise, I'm not going to go as long a day. But how do you extend forgiveness to those who've hurt you? Especially if they didn't ask for it. Well, I think you always start by inviting God to be involved. Because he's the great forgiver. Remember we said, if you want to really love, you've got to return to the great love of the great lover. I think you grab a pen, grab some paper,

grab your laptop, or your phone or whatever. You write down a prayer that might go something like this. God, I want to thank you for your incredible kindness, patience, and grace toward me. I admit that I haven't always shown the same kind of grace toward those who have hurt me instead. God, I've held on to my bitterness, my anger, my thirst for revenge for way too long.

so I'm asking for your help right now. Please bring to mind all the people that I need to forgive so that I can do this right now. And I'm just telling you from experience, this is a powerful process that can bring a whole lot of freedom into your life. I had a friend one time who made their amends list and said when he got through with it, felt like he'd lost 40 pounds. He said, I got on a scale. I hadn't, but I sure felt that way.

Now, as you prepared to do this, let me tell you what I've learned. learn. Forgiveness is not. Forgiveness is not forgetting. You've heard people say, probably your whole life, forgive and forget. Really? You really can't forget everything. I mean, hurts sometimes leave scars and sometimes even constant daily reminders because of the circumstances which their actions have now placed you. Forgiveness is not saying, ah, no big deal. It was a big deal. It hurt. Don't minimize it. Don't rationalize it. Also, forgiveness is not a feeling. Forgiveness is a choice, a decision of your will.

You don't wait until you feel like forgiving, because I'm telling you, you'll never get there. It's a decision to surrender to the authority and leadership of God. To do this is a step of obedience. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Verse 19 says, Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.

for Scripture say, I'll take revenge. I'll pay them back, says the Lord. You need to give up your right to get even. And let the God of grace and justice deal with them. And you don't wait for the other person to ask you for forgiveness. There's a little pride thing going on with that. You make the first move. You know, think about it.

Jesus, who was completely innocent, modeled that on the cross when he said, Father, forgive them. for they don't know what they're doing. So you compile your list. And as you get to that first person on the list, you make a choice to forgive him or her for every painful memory, every painful conflict or hurt that comes to your mind.

And you focus on that person until you're sure that you have dealt with all the remembered pain. And then you release them to God, and you start working your way down the list. You say, God, I choose to forgive so-and-so for what they have. have done or failed to do, which made me feel, and you write down how it made you feel, and say, I choose not to hold on to this resentment anymore. Thanks for setting me free from the bondage of my

bitterness. I give up my right to get even and ask you to heal my damaged emotions. You might remember yesterday how we talked about Otis in the old Mayberry jail, how the keys were hanging right outside his cell. It's true. The keys are hanging right up outside your cell. It's your choice to grab them. Choose forgiveness. And walk out of the prison of bitterness starting today. Let me pray for us all today. God, we've all been hurt. We've all hurt people. God, these verses that we've been reading in recent days speak to us living at peace with people, speak to us being humble enough to let people off the hook. Father, thank you for forgiving us, and I pray that we would be able to extend the same kind of forgiveness in a healthy way to those who have hurt us. Thank you so much for your

grace. May we be dispensers of that same kind of grace in our lives today. And I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point,

visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe. Church slash daily drive.