Strife or Life?

Jesus told us specifically that we would speak out of the treasure of our mouths. And that what we spoke would be either good fruit or bad fruit. It would either edify and please God and build us and others up spiritually, or it would oppose the truth and Word of God and tear others and ourselves down.

It would be either good or evil, but not both together.

Luke 6:44-46 (KJV) “ 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? “

We get into habits, either good or bad. And when we get into a habit of taking time with God and He moves through us and we get full of His Word to where we start speaking good things because we are taking good things in, then we will habitually speak good things that edify and minister to others!

WE ARE TO LIVE LIKE CHRISTIANS AND LET THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT SHOW:

Ephesians 4:29-32 (KJV) “ 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

WE HAVE THE CHOICE TO EITHER SPEAK LIFE OR STRIFE – TO LIVE EITHER IN THE ABUNDANT LIFE, OR IN THE CHAOS OF STRIFE

We are commanded to NOT allow any corrupt communication come out of our mouths. We are commanded instead to replace the ungodly speech of the lost with the godly speech of the Holy Spirit. We are to edify or lift others up.

It’s the difference in you being happy and making others happy, or you being miserable and making others miserable. It is a foundational life decision, and the power to speak life comes from God!

We are to minister grace to those who hear us. ARE WE MAKING PEOPLE BETTER BY OUR WORDS, OR ARE WE TEARING DOWN OR CREATING AN ATMOSPHERE OF EVIL BY OUR WORDS? Is God happy with what we are saying and how that we are saying it?

Proverbs 18:21 (KJV) “ Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. “

James 3:14-18 (KJV) “14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. “

If you have bitterness and strife, then it opens the doors for every evil work and confusion in your life. You open the door wide in your life for the Devil to destroy you and demons will eat your flesh up and manipulate you. It will destroy you, and it is destructive to those around you. It brings EVERY EVIL WORK.

When we allow some bitterness to create evil in us and it comes through our words, then we GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD and that is a dangerous thing to do considering He is the one who seals us to God.

WE ARE TO STRIVE TO BE PEACEMAKERS. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS… the nature of the love of God forgives the wrongs that others do to us. The nature of Jesus Christ in us helps us to submit to the authority that God has given to us and to forgive and to live lives that bless others!

Hebrews 12:14-17 (KJV) “14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 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; 16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. “

Holiness and peaceful living is the way of living for the child of God, but a root of bitterness sown in your heart will always bear an ungodly and destructive fruit. In fact, living in the holiness and peace of God following the forgiveness and love of God is the way to keep any such root from ever coming into your life. Allowing Bitterness to grow destroys LOVE in us!

You cut out the root of bitterness with the Word of God and replace it with the fruit of righteousness. You sow the fruit of righteousness with the peace of God. You forgive and make peace, and God brings peace into your life and brings purity, mercy, good fruits, and kills hypocrisy in your life.

IF BITTERNESS IS NOT ROOTED OUT AND TAKEN OUT OF A PERSON’S LIFE, IT WILL DESTROY THEIR SOUL.

Bitterness is the poisonous root from the seed of unforgiveness. It springs up when we bury hard feelings instead of repenting of them and allowing forgiveness to flow. It’s poison, and it causes all kinds of sins/iniquities from hatred to lust to depression. It will grieve the Holy Spirit and then continue on to grieve the person and it will grieve anyone else that they come into contact with.

Fits of anger and wrath are secondary sins that spring from a deeper problem. They spring from a root of bitterness that was sown through unforgiveness.

This root’s nature and essence is bitter, and can only produce evil fruit. It is corrupt by nature and nothing sweet or beneficial can come through it.

When we give into unforgiveness, then God quits forgiving us according to Jesus Christ. We are warned about this specifically. As the evil fruit keeps growing and secondary sins which could include sexual immorality, profanity, hatred, cursing, and keeping a critical attitude will grow and grow as fruits from that root. ~ SIN ALWAYS GROWS, AND GROWS BIGGER THAN YOU WANT IT TO!

People who get full of bitterness gets twisted and will even feel justified in their sin. They will wind up literally hating those around them who are Christlike, even though they might still go to church and say that they are still Christians. It is dangerous, because the full end of this road eventually leads to apostasy, or a falling away.

When the Word of God is moving in our lives, and we are walking in the Spirit, then that keeps bitterness out. Forgiving others will keep us forgiven and keep bitterness from our lives. The love of God is the cure for bitterness, and we have to move in that love to be filled with it.

Jesus said that whatever is the treasure of your heart (the thing that you tend to and is center to your being) is will produce out of your heart words from your mouth. This fruit will come from the treasure inside of you. If faith and love and peace and edification comes out of your mouth, then it is because God is in your heart and the root of the Holy Spirit is producing the Fruit of the Spirit.

BUT, if evil speaking, bad language, cursing, nagging, gossip, backbiting, criticizing is what is coming out of your mouth, then this is corrupt communication coming from a corrupt treasure. There is some root of bitterness bringing an evil fruit through your lifestyle and words.

Our words will show what kind of treasure is in our hearts that we are feeding
Our words will show if we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus or defeated
Our words will how if we love others or are critical of them
Our words will heal others or they will harm and kill them
Our words show if we love God or we love ourselves and sin more
Our words will determine if we walk in life or in strife

If we walk in life, then the powers of darkness fear Jesus in us. But if we walk in strife, then the powers of darkness have us and manipulate us and use us to hurt others and ourselves.

Its time to surrender the treasure of our hearts to Jesus Christ… and if there be things coming out of us and something in our fruit that is not good, then it is time to repent and confess it before the Lord… to let Him cleanse us and set us free.

John 8:36 (KJV) If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.