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Bitter Herbs! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 7/Issue 18a Prophecy: I the Lord say, iniquity has been man’s downfall from his beginning. And from his coming forth iniquity has been his downfall; that he loved himself; he loved what pleased him. And in every man’s error and in every man’s way whether he’s been a great man or a small man, whether he’s been a strong man or a weak man, iniquity has been his downfall. And in every one of these wicked rulers and in every one of these wicked generations, man has been iniquitous, and that is why he has stumbled. That is why he has fought against the righteous and that is why he has erred in every chance. And the Nazis erred because they were greedy; strong ones, greedy and hungry for power. But the weaker, they erred because they were afraid of being hurt, afraid of being tormented, or ridiculed, or mocked; in every circumstance protecting ones self from suffering rather than standing up for what is right and what is just. But I tell you this My people, every one of My saints have had this testimony; that they have not loved their lives even unto the death. That they have departed from iniquity because they have suffered in the flesh and they have ceased from sin. And this I tell every one of you; this is how you depart from iniquity; you suffer in the flesh, saith the Lord. For iniquity will not do such a thing. Iniquity will not allow itself to suffer; will not allow its flesh to suffer to do what is right. Every one of My saints has suffered in the flesh to do what is right for Me. And those are counted blessed, who are suffering in the flesh to do what is right for Me; and this means they have departed from iniquity and I know them, and they are Mine. And you My people, have suffered in the flesh, and that means you have departed from iniquity and I know you, and you are Mine. Every one of you who have departed from iniquity and have suffered in the flesh, you shall also reap bountifully. You shall reap of My fruit, My children, My way, and My truth because you have fought for it, and that is what you have stood up for, and you shall reap. Not one of you shall go barren, not one of you shall lack. I say, this is a grievous time, and it is a gleaning time. But I say not one of you will go without at least thirty fold. And I will bring forth your fruit, for you have departed from iniquity by suffering in your flesh, and I will not fail you. (Prophecy delivered at “My Father’s House”) God’s instructions concerning the Passover: “Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” (Ex12:8) “On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” (Num9:11) Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. (1Cor10:11) Notice the relationship between these instructions and the following: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. (Heb12:15) Here Hebrews speaks of the chastenings that God brings upon His people, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” (Heb12:6) and those chastenings are not party times, they’re times of grievousness and yet they’re absolutely needful. Notice that every son will be chastened and those who do not endure the chastening are illegitimate and not sons. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. (Heb12:7-8) And that chastening is meant to bring about the peaceable fruits of righteousness, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb12:11) In coming to Christ to become a real Christian even when we have the best of intentions there are so many things wrong in our way of thinking; leftovers from our previous carnal life that God must expose and purge out of us if we are to be perfected. Therefore you must expect that you will be brought into chastening and sufferings that are the will of the Lord. He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin (1Pet4:1) Chastenings are the will of the Lord and they are a necessary part of His work in conforming us to the image of Christ. Many things that are not pleasant are still the will of the Lord for us and your reaction to them, if you are to achieve a true salvation, is you must not let these unpleasant experiences cause you to become bitter. in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1Thes5:18) Now concerning the Passover; first we have a roasted lamb; protein. This is fairly plain food; it’s not curried, not spiced up. And we have unleavened bread, for energy. Again this is a kind of hard bread most people prefer not to eat. Most people like the soft leavened bread. And then we have bitter herbs, vitamins, plain vegetables that are not served in succulent sauces. And it is required by God that His people eat these foods on this specially prescribed occasion. Can you conceive of God saying, “Eat these things at the Passover,” and the partakers answering, “We don’t want to eat the bitter herbs?” Do you think you would be allowed to say, “No God, I don’t want unleavened bread, I’ll just eat the meat.” Why did God specify bitter herbs if He didn’t intend you to eat the bitter herbs? He is requiring His people to participate in everything that He is specifying, isn’t He? And it is not acceptable for you to come to the Passover dinner and then say, “I don’t want to eat this and I don’t want to eat that.” The fact is this menu is ordained by God and it isn’t up to you what you eat. God has told you what to eat. The whole issue of whether you are to be a Christian or not has everything to do with whether you will eat what God feeds you or are you going to reject what God feeds you, like so many “Christians” around us do. Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. (Jn6:53,60,66) Most people just want the sweet stuff, and they don’t want the bitter herbs; they don’t want the discipline. What is the purpose of these bitter herbs? Are they important? Well they must be or God wouldn’t have required them. What is the purpose of some of the doctrines people don’t like in Christianity? Is shunning a bitter herb? It’s often difficult for people to give up family relations when their friends and family are opposed to a true Christianity. But to follow Jesus, you must give up anything that would interfere with your relationship with Him, and to obey God’s word. The idea is, are you willing to obey God or not? “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Mt10:37) Can you take the bitter with the sweet or are you just going to choose what you want to eat and ignore what God wants you to eat? Which if you do that it indicates that you’re a spoiled child, an illegitimate Christian, and you’re not an obedient legitimate Christian. The first commandment with promise is where God commands children to obey their parents. So children, when your parents tell you to eat your vegetables, are you going to disobey God because you don’t like what is being fed to you? As a mature believer and a child of God where is your heart concerning God? Are you willing to obey God your Father when He tells you to eat the bitter herbs or do you have to have it your own way? This is so very important because it has everything to do with whether you are really going to be a son of God led by the Spirit of God (Rom8:14) or will you continue to maintain your own independent way of doing things, in which case you can never be considered a true believer. And God is certainly going to test you on this. And He will discover whether you are an obedient child who’ll do things His way or whether you are disobediently going to hold on to your own ways in serving Him. And what kind of attitude will you have when He requires you to partake of things that are undesirable to you, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, (Heb12:15) Now there are different ways that we can let a root of bitterness come in. Unforgiveness towards somebody who’s done something unpleasant to us is one way, but when God is chastening there is an aspect of this where you can have a bad attitude towards God Himself. For example: Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God?” (Isa40:27) Here is somebody who thinks God is not treating him fairly. “I’ve prayed to God but God did not answer my prayer or God is not doing what I think He ought to do.” That is similar to the issue that Elihu rebuked Job about. “Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice.” (Job34:12) Do you believe that? Do you have a faith that God will never do wrong. Because if you think God is doing you wrong, you don’t have a faith that God is perfect in justice, do you? If you think that God is not treating you fairly then you do not believe that God is absolutely righteous in His government. “Should one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn Him who is most just?” (Job34:17) A lot of people have a bad attitude towards God, because so many of the churches around us teach the people that God is there to serve them and give them what they want, so if the people don’t get what they want, God becomes a disappointment to them. But what Christ has taught the true believers is, we’ve come to do God’s will, not to get Him to do ours. (Heb10:7) So if we’re here to serve Him and to do His will and there seems to be a conflict between our judgment and His, and it appears that we are asking for something that He is not giving us, then what does John say concerning prayer? If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1Jn5:14) And if you’re beginning to suspect God is not hearing your prayer, might there not be a problem with God’s will here, and might not the problem be that you’re asking something that isn’t according to His will? Now does that mean, if you’re asking something that isn’t according to His will that God doesn’t love you? Romans 8 tells us what? Nothing can separate us from the love of God, even if we’re persecuted, even if we’re killed. (vs36-39) If it’s in the providence of God to let us go through some very extreme sufferings, it still doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us. And if God is allowing such things for the purposes of His greater plan should we not trust Him? God’s plan covers millennia where as our lives are very short, mere decades. We rarely see how the things He may be doing with us can affect generations way beyond our time, and how important these things may be. We must trust Him that he is perfect in judgment, perfect in justice, and that whatever He does will ultimately work all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. (Rom8:28) How can you say you believe that on the one hand, and then on the other hand say that God is not treating you fairly? If that is your attitude, do you know what is happening? You’re letting unbelief come in. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Heb3:12,13) The deceitfulness of sin isn’t always committing adultery, or something of that nature. Basically “sin” is anything that disagrees with God. God is always right – whatever disagrees with Him is always wrong. To disagree with Him is to depart from Him. (Amos3:3) To walk contrary to Him (Lev26:27-28) To disagree with God is to not believe in Him. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; (Heb3:12) The deceitfulness of sin can be just thinking of God as though He’s not treating you fairly. If you think of God as though He’s not treating you fairly, you’re misjudging Him, and you’re doing what God reprimanded Job for, “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” (Job40:2) Do you think you can correct God? “Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?” (Job40:8) You should consider that whatever hasn’t worked out the way you think it should have, must not have been agreeable to what God under the circumstances thinks ought to be. And you must not consider God an enemy, but consider God a friend and consider that if what you think ought to be isn’t what God is agreeing with then He has something better for you, and you should ask Him, “What is the better thing?” Don’t let anything come in between you and God that would be unbelief, that wouldn’t be faith; because the beginning of unbelief is when any disagreement with God comes into your heart. So be careful lest you fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; (Heb12:15) And it’s, “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.” (Mt15:11,18) So if bitterness is in your heart, it will come out of your mouth and defile you, “for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, (it is an evil thought to think that God is unjust, or that God is unfair, or that God doesn’t care. It’s thinking evil of God when you do that.) murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, (Mt15:19,20) So a root of bitterness will defile you. But where does a root of bitterness start? “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” (Mt12:34,35) Evil thoughts are evil things. So if there is a problem where you think God has dealt with you unfairly that can become a root of bitterness, and that root of bitterness will cause you to speak things that will defile you and separate you from God’s grace. And also such a root of bitterness won’t be cured just by keeping your mouth shut. Because you wouldn’t be wanting to speak things that would defile you if you hadn’t let such evil things into your heart. So the real question is, how did they get into the heart? And the things that defile you get into the heart because you allow a thought to come along that isn’t faith, it’s a sinful thought; it’s an evil thought. Something didn’t work out the way you thought it should, and so you start thinking about it without God and in a way that is distrustful of God. Instead of saying, “God, help me see this and help me understand what’s going on. Help me to see what Your will is,” you start thinking on your own how unfairly you’ve been treated. Well, how unfairly was Jesus treated? And every time you do something on your own without Christ you’re in trouble. (Jn15:5) And in your selfish meditations the devil will sneak in and he’ll try to put some blasphemies, some wrong attitudes and feelings in your heart that shouldn’t be there. And those evil things can get hidden in your heart. And such things cause you to be unrighteous in your heart. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Rom10:10) But on the other side of it with the heart you can “unbelieve” to unrighteousness also, and then when an opportune time comes the bitterness that is in the heart will come out of your mouth in an evil confession or a blasphemy, speaking badly of God, which then becomes a very defiling thing to you. The problem though is that even if you try to control it and not let it come out of your mouth it’s still in your heart, and that causes you to suffer a separation in your relationship with God, because the heart isn’t righteous. And your prayers will not be answered. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man… (Jas1:6-8) So, purify your hearts you double-minded (Jas4:8) “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore, submit to God. (Jas4:6,7) Now, submit to God, in the context of what we’re looking at right now would be “submit to the bitter herbs” Then Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup (of bitter herbs) which My Father has given Me?” (Jn18:11) “submit to the chastenings” “submit to the things that didn’t go the way you wished them to go even if you don’t understand why,” but submit to God. in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1Thes5:18) Submit to circumstances that have caused you sufferings but never let go of the idea that “God is for me.” “ He is working all things together for my good.” (Rom8:28) “He loves me.” “He will show me what is going on in His time.” (Jn15:15) “He will give me the grace to overcome these things, and when He’s done it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to me, (Heb12:11) it will make me a better son of God or daughter of God; it will make me more like Jesus. And that God is in complete control and loves me more than I can possibly fathom, and I will not speak evil of God, or think a thought against Him. I will not let such a thought come into me or come out of me. I’m utterly, completely convinced that God is good; I’m utterly, completely convinced that God is just; I’m utterly, completely convinced that God is in control of everything that touches my life; and when things are going on that are not pleasant it doesn’t change God’s goodness.” “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job2:10) In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job1:22) And James says, My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the Name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord- that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. (Jas5:10,11) That even in the extraordinary sufferings that Job went through God was being merciful and He was intending a great blessing upon Job. So James says, Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. (Jas5:9) And bitterness in your heart can begin a grumbling against somebody who you think has treated you unfairly. But again we’re looking at the fact that you can grumble against God Himself, and think that God has treated you unfairly. In either case it’s wrong. So Colossians says, Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. (Col 3:19) Why would a husband be bitter towards his wife? And of course the opposite could be true too. Why would a wife be bitter towards her husband? The spouse has done something that the other deems to be unfair. Proverbs tells me that if a man finds a wife he has received a good thing and he is being blessed by the Lord. (Prov18:22) That’s what the Word of God says. Well, if my wife does something that seems contrary to that does that make the Word of God of no effect? I don’t think so. I still think God’s Word stands and the circumstances will change. And that’s what the life of faith is like. How many things in life seem to make God’s Word look like it’s wrong? Isn’t that what the whole battle of faith is? The devil is trying all the time to make God’s Word seem like it’s wrong. From the first time satan opened his mouth he was arguing with God’s Word. So every circumstance in life has the possibility of the devil getting in there trying to argue with God’s Word and trying to put a root of bitterness in you or something against God, or even against somebody that God is giving you to bless you. But you’re supposed to hold on to your faith in God and His Word. As in, The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. (Prov10:22) Recently I heard a Roman Catholic quote, one of their so-called “saints” who said, “There are more tears shed over answered prayers than unanswered.” And I said, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” (Prov10:22) What kind of a God would answer His children’s prayers by sending them sorrows? “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (Jer33:3) “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Mt7:9-11) The god of those Roman Catholics and those who think like them is not my God. Their god is a devil! And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (2Cor11:14) My God gives good things to His children! So for the children of God even when things don’t seem to be working out for good, have faith in God’s goodness and things will turn around and in the end things will turn out to be a blessing because that’s what God says and God’s Word will stand; the devil’s won’t. And this is what the life of faith is about. The circumstances will change, but God’s Word will stand. So if God says, “Nothing can separate you from My love” the circumstances will change, but God’s Word will stand, and if you keep the faith you’ll find that nothing will separate you from His love. If He says, “All things are going to work together for good to you because you’re called according to My purpose, and you love Me” then you don’t look at things that don’t seem to agree with that. You don’t let them come into your heart because if they get into your heart they will defile your heart, and then they will come out of your mouth and defile all of you. So this has to do again with watching over your heart with all diligence, doesn’t it? (Prov4:23) We used to see this a lot in the so-called faith movement. The faith movement believes that people get what they speak and they were so busy trying to stop a bad confession coming out of their mouth that they were in a dreadful bondage concerning their “confession.” But what they often didn’t realize that if it’s in your heart you can’t keep it from coming out of your mouth. It will come out when you’re not expecting it, in a moment of distraction. The key to not being defiled by a bad confession is a pure heart. If a person is watching over his heart and he’s not letting any kind of bitterness come into his heart, and he’s not letting any kind of bad attitudes or bad thoughts or bad reasonings come into his heart, like things where he’s doubting God, or doubting the justice of God, then there is nothing evil to come out. “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” (Mt12:34-35) As soon as evil comes out you’re being cut off from God’s goodness. When the evil heart speaks its evil then you are headed for God’s curse not His blessing. “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” (Mt12:36) And as a pastor I’ve seen times when I might lay hands on somebody and they don’t get a healing. And it’s because they have let something come into their heart against me, and God won’t let them receive from me. At times real pastors need to correct their people. Some people don’t receive correction well. To be able to receive a blessing such as healing from someone you can’t be holding anything against him. And to receive from God you cannot be holding anything against Him either. God may not always explain it but if you are laying hands on someone and this person has something they are holding against you, they won’t receive. God won’t let them; it’s His justice. It works that way. To be open to be able to receive the grace of God from whoever He might use to give it to you, you must keep your heart pure so there’s nothing in your heart against anybody. Because if you have anything against anybody you have just cut that person from being a vessel God can use in mercy towards you. Because until your attitude towards others is merciful, there will be no mercy towards you from others. God will not let it happen. With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; (Ps18:25) So if the heart is defiled it’s not enough just to try to keep your mouth shut – but you must purify your heart. and (the Holy Spirit) made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. (Acts15:9) This is essentially what salvation is. Salvation is where your heart is cleansed. And James is making reference to this when he says, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (Jas1:6,8) A double-minded man doesn’t know whether God loves him or doesn’t love him. He doesn’t know whether God is for him or if God’s against him. Unlike the just, he’s not living by faith. He goes from faith to doubt and doubt to faith and he’s never in faith long enough to receive anything, because faith requires perseverance. (Heb3:14) Faith has to be stable and keep going. So James says the double-minded man doesn’t receive. So it becomes a vicious cycle for someone who thinks God is not fair to them. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my just claim is passed over by my God?” (Isa40:27) If God delays a little they think, “why doesn’t God hear me?” Then the delay becomes loss because if you don’t think God hears you, you are in doubt. You are not in faith anymore. Now, you’re not going to receive because doubt receives nothing. And the only cure is to repent and get back into faith that God does hear you. So James says, Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (Jas4:7-8) And the devil has many devices. He’s like a serpent one time and a roaring lion another. He can come subtly to put pride in you, so that pride will cause you to fall – or he can roaringly put lust or anger into you so you will sin and the rewards of sin are death – or he can “sympathetically” put a worldly sorrow into you for example: that God is not being fair to me. That is an evil thought. And the sorrow of the world brings death. (2Cor7:10) But it cannot possibly be true that God is unfair, because God is the origin of all justice. Well, who puts thoughts like, “God is not fair” in a mind? The devil does. He’s the one who whispers the lie to you. He arranges a circumstance where it may look like the lie could be true, and then he tries to plant that thought in you. And if he is successful he can cause you to become bitter towards God. And then your bitterness will cut you off from receiving from God. And that makes it appear even more true that God is not treating you well. And that becomes a vicious cycle where the devil feeds on your doubts and fears. Because, of course, once he gets you out of faith, what’s happened? He’s devouring you like a roaring lion. He’s planted his venom in you. And in another sense, if your idea is that God is not treating you fair, isn’t the root of that also pride? Because you have an idea that differs from God’s Word, but you’re holding on to your own idea. Why do you hold on to your own idea if it differs from God’s Word? What makes people do that? Ignorance of God’s word? Then you’d better get to know God’s word. In some cases it may be stubbornness! Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. (1Sam15:23) Some people just like their own ideas better than God’s. They have a bias towards their own ideas, and they want to have things their own way, and they won’t eat the bitter herbs. Don’t think any Christian will make heaven who doesn’t participate in the spiritual aspect of the Passover and in the fullness of it. Meaning we must eat the unleavened bread, Therefore purge out the old leaven, (sin) that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. (1Cor5:7) we must eat the bitter herbs, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? (Heb12:7) we must eat the whole lamb. But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”’ (Mt4:4) “I am the bread of life.” (Jn6:48) This is not a buffet where we pick and choose what we want. Christianity is a bowing of the knee to the Lord Jesus, and it is allowing Him to specify what is healthy for you, and it is receiving what He specifies, even when it differs from what you like or what you think. And it is staying in a place of faith at all times that “Father knows best,” that you’ve come to do His will, that I’m not here to try to impose my will upon Him. There isn’t much real Christianity in the world these days. Most of what we see around us is self-serving! For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” (Rom15:3) So many who claim to be “Christians” are trying to please themselves, “Well, I don’t like the bitter herbs.” “I don’t like this shunning doctrine,” “I don’t like this covering doctrine,” “I don’t like this submission thing,” and “I don’t know why we should have to home school kids or go to church this many days a week or have Biblestudies with our children everyday.” “I don’t like this and I don’t like that.” So it’s as if they are telling Jesus, “Save me my way, don’t tell me to do anything I don’t like. I don’t believe all that is necessary.” Whereas the real Christianity is saying, “Jesus, if You tell me to do this and do that, that’s what I’m going to believe I need to do to be saved, because Jesus You are saving me by telling me what to do.” Wisdom is saving me by telling me to stop at a red light. Wisdom is saving me by telling me to drive at a reasonable speed on a dark road. Wisdom is saving me by telling me to put my windshield wipers on when it’s raining. If I were to ignore all those things, and drive like a wildcat and run every stop sign and every red light, and then expect to be safe on the highway, I would be an idiot. But the truth is, Jesus has come to be my Wisdom and to save me by showing me how I am to live in order to attain to everlasting life, and He does that by telling me, teaching me, chastening me, and instructing me to bring forth the proper, the peaceable fruits of righteousness to make me a fit son of God. And the way I enter into the Kingdom is obedience to Him and absolute faith in what He’s telling me to do, and keeping myself where I am always able to receive from Him, because I never let the devil plant a thought in me that’s contrary to God’s Word or contrary to what my relationship with Christ ought to be. In other words, no matter how painful the things He’s put me through, I never, never thought He was being unjust; and some of you have seen what He’s put me through! But I would never let a thought come into me that God is not fair, and for that reason I’ve never had a day where God has not talked to me. I believe He’s absolutely fair, and all the reasons will eventually come out; He’s absolutely just, and nothing is going to change my mind about it. And I believe the things He does and the things He allows even very wicked people to do to me, I believe He works them out for good, therefore I don’t ever get bitter about them. I believe I can leave God to take care of judging and vengeance and justice and all of that, with the exceptions of where mountains are in the way of what He’s calling us to do and we must ask them to be removed, and with the exceptions of prophetic utterances that He gives through men to deal with wicked people. But when such things come, they’re from God, from the Spirit, and they don’t come out of any bitterness within, but out of a responding to the Spirit of God. In a pure heart there is no bitterness; there are no evil thoughts; there’s nothing evil to come out under any circumstances because you never let anything evil in. Now, how do you go about purifying your heart? Actually it’s pretty simple. Submit to Christ and God in the things that you have not been submitting unto. Repent in those areas where you’ve been resisting Him, that you have felt were unfair. Ask God to forgive you for not previously and completely submitting to Him. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! (Jas4:8,9) Be sorry that you’ve allowed things to get into your heart that shouldn’t be there. Repent of thinking evil of the Lord and ask the Lord to give you the grace to trust Him completely from now on. Ask Him for grace that you will never again allow circumstances in your life to cause you to question Him; or doubt His goodness. In every situation we have to make sure that we know all the time that God is good, that God is in charge, and that God is working things out for good, not just directly in His dealing with us, but even through the people He may allow to be around us, and that if we don’t think He’s being good we don’t understand Him. And it’s quite possible the people around us may be very wicked. They were wicked people who crucified Christ, but God let it happen, didn’t He? And He worked it for good, didn’t He? Jesus knew God was letting it happen, didn’t He? And He never questioned the judgment of His Father, did He? Jesus accepted the “bitter herbs,” didn’t He? Even if they didn’t taste good Jesus ate what was good for Him, He ate His vitamins, and was grateful for it. (Heb12:2) And that is what kept His heart pure and that is what will keep your heart pure. Prophecy: David said, “I was born in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” And that is the state of fallen man. He doesn’t have to learn iniquity. It’s his very nature, but he has to be delivered from iniquity. He has to be born again from a different Spirit. He has to see in his mind the righteousness of My light and My Word, and My ways versus the wrongness of serving himself at any cost. He has to eat the bitter herbs and do the hard things. And he has to put the wrongness away and take hold of what’s right to be saved, and then he has to learn every day to put on the Spirit of Righteousness. To hold on to the love of the truth and the love of the right, to love equity and justice and every good way; to take hold of the Spirit of My Son Jesus and walk in that Spirit of rightness, so that iniquity would not take hold again and rise up and bring him down to ruin. I tell you My people, indeed I do know who are Mine, and those who are Mine are turning away from their iniquities, and they’re putting on the love of truth and the love of rightness and the love of equity even when it hurts them personally, because they would love to be truly right better than love their own lusts and pleasures. And such are the people of Christ and there are no others, saith the Lord. And there is no other way into the Kingdom than to turn from iniquity and turn to the light, and to put on righteousness and truth, and equity, and mercy, saith the Lord. Prophecy: I tell you, children are brought forth in iniquity because when children are brought forth they only think of themselves. The children today who claim to be My children are not My children, because they are those brought forth from iniquity. In most of the churches they seek their own. Do they add to themselves so that I may be glorified? I tell you no. They add to themselves that they may be glorified. Look around you. It looks as if they are doing good, but it is not good. It is not good because it is in iniquity, and the iniquity is they do it for their own selves, they do not do it for Me. But that is what I have delivered you from, My people. I have delivered you from that selfishness, I have delivered you from that iniquity. I have delivered you so that you can bring forth fruit in abundance. Because you cannot bring forth fruit unless you get out of your self and you see the needs of those around you. When you see the needs of those around you, it will cost you to meet the needs, it will cost you, saith the Lord. These are the bitter herbs; that your flesh will not benefit from what I ask you to do, because I ask you to do things that involve a cross. But in the end you will bear much fruit, and the benefit will come in the day in My Kingdom when the fruit is shown forth and you have your thirty, sixty and one hundred fold. My children get the iniquity out. If you are serving yourself you are in a wrong spirit. But My children; their heart is on Me, their heart is on My way and their heart is on My Kingdom, and their heart is towards bringing My children home. In this place and in this house, this is My house and in this house My children are bringing forth all things unto My glory, and My children are bringing forth such things because their heart is connected up to Me. And there is no iniquity in that. That is why you are seeing the fruit come forth, thus saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at “My Father’s House”)
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