How do you overcome bitterness toward God?

[simply christian]

How do you overcome bitterness toward God that is easy get to know God! Once you get to know God, all you will have is love and admiration for him.

I have a hard time loving someone who is doing evil to me. That's not to say I don't love him, but it is hard loving such a being, as you might guess.

 

[Scottmcc1]

Then why do you preach prosperity, health and wealth if your only goal is to preach the cross and resurrection? The cross and resurrection, i.e. the gospel, have nothing to do with people being rich or healthy. It is all about Jesus and what HE did, not about what you want. So why preach those things, when you've just said they are irrelevant?

Did I say I only preach prosperity, health and wealth? No I didn't say that!

There are 31,103 verses in the Bible. Don't throw out a promise because of an example of trial. Job was healed eventually. Why he went through many problems I don't know. But I know that he was healed. And I know Jesus heals. And I know He wants to heal. And I know the promise for healing is for us today.

Healing teaching is not false teaching because of life experience. Healing teaching is true teaching because of the Word of God.

There is a tie to salvation and healing.

Mark 16:17,18 these signs will follow those who have believed ... they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

There is no conditions to Mark 16:17,18 if you believe you will be healed.

Now if you still feel sick what are you to do?
I guess there would be a lot of answers to my question. But my answer is FIGHT. But I'm not you simply christian. You need to hear God for yourself.

And so, what do you do with the book of Job, and other portions of scripture that disagree with some of your tenets of faith? Just ignore them?

I have done the same myself, but the problem is that I'm finding all the bad parts of scripture are true. So that creates a problem for me. It's hard to deny what reality is.

I go to Philippians 4:4-9 and cry out to God till I get His answer.
And I am fighting and crying out to God even this night over problems with my brother's health. But I will not turn from God or His promises. Where would I turn to? Jesus has the words of life!

Here is what DKBWarrior had to say about healing in the atonement
http://www.christianforums.com/t7567298/#post57705185

 

[simply christian]

Did I say I only preach prosperity, health and wealth? No I didn't say that!

There are 31,103 verses in the Bible. Don't throw out a promise because of an example of trial. Job was healed eventually. Why he went through many problems I don't know. But I know that he was healed. And I know Jesus heals. And I know He wants to heal. And I know the promise for healing is for us today.

Healing teaching is not false teaching because of life experience. Healing teaching is true teaching because of the Word of God.

There is a tie to salvation and healing.

Mark 16:17,18 these signs will follow those who have believed ... they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

There is no conditions to Mark 16:17,18 if you believe you will be healed.

Now if you still feel sick what are you to do?
I guess there would be a lot of answers to my question. But my answer is FIGHT. But I'm not you simply christian. You need to hear God for yourself.



I go to Philippians 4:4-9 and cry out to God till I get His answer.
And I am fighting and crying out to God even this night over problems with my brother's health. But I will not turn from God or His promises. Where would I turn to? Jesus has the words of life!

Here is what DKBWarrior had to say about healing in the atonement

I try not to blame God if I happen to get sick. I'm getting sick now, but I'm not sure it's his fault. I hope he doesn't give me some serious illness, and that will only complicate things later, but at the moment, I don't blame God for illness. I think that's just a part of life. I wasn't talking about sickness.

Pretty much everything else about my life is horrible, however. When I turn to the words of Jesus as you say, I find him say, "To become a eunuch for the kingdom of God" and that "There is no marriage in heaven" and "You must hate your wife (and other family members)." None of those anti-family, anti-marriage sentiments are particularly helpful, encouraging or faith-building for me or my life (not that it would matter anyway, since God has already chosen to leave me as I am, for some reason). He also said to "Take up your cross, deny yourself (i.e. what YOU want) and follow me." That only adds to my suffering.

If someone was sick, I would probably tell them something similar to what you said. Generally speaking, I don't think God wants people sick.

 

[Scottmcc1]

I try not to blame God if I happen to get sick. I'm getting sick now, but I'm not sure it's his fault. I hope he doesn't give me some serious illness, and that will only complicate things later, but at the moment, I don't blame God for illness. I think that's just a part of life. I wasn't talking about sickness.

Pretty much everything else about my life is horrible, however. When I turn to the words of Jesus as you say, I find him say, "To become a eunuch for the kingdom of God" and that "There is no marriage in heaven" and "You must hate your wife (and other family members)." None of those anti-family, anti-marriage sentiments are particularly helpful, encouraging or faith-building for me or my life (not that it would matter anyway, since God has already chosen to leave me as I am, for some reason). He also said to "Take up your cross, deny yourself (i.e. what YOU want) and follow me." That only adds to my suffering.

If someone was sick, I would probably tell them something similar to what you said. Generally speaking, I don't think God wants people sick.

By fighting I use 2 Cor 10:3-5 as a template.

I don't hate my wife. But she is not first. We walk together as we follow Christ. And I did not hate my kids. They went with me as I followed Christ. My daughter now is in Chile serving as a short term missionary. And my son wants to go to China. He went to Uganda and Sudan. Yet I held things from them because I wanted them to serve God and not love the world.

God does not leave us as we are and God does not give us sickness. Life is in our hands and we can choose life over death. Yet at times there is a fight.

If God is asking you to do something you don't want to do you should follow Him and not your own desires. If it is truly Him, He will turn it for your good.

 

[simply christian]

By fighting I use 2 Cor 10:3-5 as a template.

I don't hate my wife. But she is not first. We walk together as we follow Christ. And I did not hate my kids. They went with me as I followed Christ. My daughter now is in Chile serving as a short term missionary. And my son wants to go to China. He went to Uganda and Sudan. Yet I held things from them because I wanted them to serve God and not love the world.

God does not leave us as we are and God does not give us sickness. Life is in our hands and we can choose life over death. Yet at times there is a fight.

If God is asking you to do something you don't want to do you should follow Him and not your own desires. If it is truly Him, He will turn it for your good.

Good is a relative term. His good may not be ours. For some, "good" means dying alone in some war-torn nation as a martyr.

Your post makes me wonder something: Why did God choose to bless you and not I? It makes me wonder why he has favourites.

Also, why do you keep mentioning illness? I didn't even bring that up and was never talking about that in the first place. As far as I'm concerned, that is completely irrelevant to our discussion.

 

[Zeek]

I think if you truly know G-d and understand His character and His ways, it will go a long way to re-adjusting your focus, including where anger and resentment end up.

Romans 12:2 talks about being renewed in our minds...and for the Christian that means dumping our own opinions and thoughts and getting in line with the truth of His revealed life-giving word to us....the alternative is to remain in stasis, and maintain a worldly understanding about ourselves, the way we think, and act, sin and disappoint....but we are called to be more than conquerors through Jesus.

That's not a cop out or a religious platitude, it is a way forward for everyone who struggles in similar ways, and most of us are like the rest of us.

 

[jamadan]

That's true, but I believe God did do it.

If God is in control of all, and can answer all prayer and doesn't, then only he can be to blame. Satan, as far as Job goes, simply works for God and does whatever God tells him. God has no equal, so the devil is even under his control. At least as far as the Bible goes.

I don't see how not to hold God as responsible in this situation.

A few things to consider . . .

God did not "do it". He allowed it. An important distinction.

I suspect few, myself included, actually understands the rules under which God created the earth, the angels to watch over it and govern their affairs (I'm speaking of the original angelic council), and man who was to live in a paradise with all needs met and to rule over it. When God would meet Adam in the Garden, it reflected His heart and original intention to be an integral part of man's life here.

Once Adam and Eve rebelled and fell, all of those plans and intentions changed - man rejected God's gift. Satan came into power and is called the prince of this world by Christ because he has authority to do as he wants. And God's rules of free will, He made man in His image, free to create, love, and obey as well as to sin and rebel, allowed it all to happen.

As Job demonstrates, God had placed a hedge of supernatural protection around Job blessing his property, his family and his health. Why was this necessary? Because without it, Job would have been subject to Satan's rule and heart to destroy and kill at any time; this is price of our fall and the rejection of God. Yes - God allowed Satan to take all away and to physically harm Job, but limited Satan's authority over His servant. And God made sure to have these events recorded for all time for a purpose: (1) to show forth His heart to bless, protect and shield us from Satan, (2) to show forth Satan's heart to kill and destroy, and (3) to show forth the virtue of truth and faith should transcend circumstances, as Job's response demonstrated.

It's a beautiful and powerful story. We see it repeated in Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemene and then to the Cross. We have a better understand of God's purpose in asking His Son to die on the Cross to purchase our atonement, yet even there, we fall short, don't we? Why does an atonement have to be paid? Why can't God just forgive without requiring blood? We know that the Cross is what 'perfected' or 'completed' Christ and His purpose, without it, He was incomplete. We see it again when Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked permission to sift Peter. And again, it makes some sense for all Jesus entrusted Peter to do, a sifting is beneficial to remove all of the dross, all that is not yielded to God.

Does this happen to all of us? Probably to varying degrees. We're told to consider trials and tribulations pure joy for the benefits and character it brings forth from us. Is all of this preparation for our eternal reward and role? Necessary to mold us into what God has in store for us in His eternal Kingdom? The more responsibility we have, the more likely we'll face such trials? And our response to them is what brings forth the character God is looking for. If we're to continue living in enemy territory, and subject to being occasionally attacked by the devil, then having leaders who know attacks and how to persevere is essential to lead the Body of Christ.

If you find yourself under particular attack by the devil, perhaps it's because the Lord has significant plans for you. If you're hyper-focusing on Job, perhaps that's not a good thing. Perhaps hyper-focusing on Christ, God's own Son, and the trials He willingly endured in order to obey and fulfill all things, is a better place to set your sites. God is not asking you or any of us to endure more than He Himself has submitted to - including suffering and death itself. There must be a profound and unfathomable purpose for it all. I trust Jesus and am willing to walk through these life's persecutions because He did it in a bigger way than I ever will have to.

I hope this helps brother.

 

[simply christian]

It helps, but it is all very depressing.

If life is nothing but misery, why are we even here?

 

[Scottmcc1]

Good is a relative term. His good may not be ours. For some, "good" means dying alone in some war-torn nation as a martyr.

Your post makes me wonder something: Why did God choose to bless you and not I? It makes me wonder why he has favourites.

Also, why do you keep mentioning illness? I didn't even bring that up and was never talking about that in the first place. As far as I'm concerned, that is completely irrelevant to our discussion.

OK I'm sorry about bringing up sickness. But I'm in the dark and am not aware of what is being discussed.

I view life as a gift. I endeavor to use what I have for Jesus.

 

[Zeek]

It helps, but it is all very depressing.

If life is nothing but misery, why are we even here?

What do you think Jesus would say to you if you layed your heart before Him?

 

[simply christian]

What do you think Jesus would say to you if you layed your heart before Him?

I'm not sure what he'd say. Probably something similar to taking up my cross and denying myself and what I want.

 

[simply christian]

OK I'm sorry about bringing up sickness. But I'm in the dark and am not aware of what is being discussed.

I view life as a gift. I endeavor to use what I have for Jesus.

I already spoke of my problems in post #83.

 

[jamadan]

It helps, but it is all very depressing.

If life is nothing but misery, why are we even here?

Most soldiers say the same thing. Their life ends at boot camp and gets worse in battle, but they serve an extremely important function. We're in God's army and its full-time service.

Now, if you are getting beat up all the time, perhaps you need to partner with some who will intercede on your behalf, pray for you and lay hands on you for the refreshing power of the Spirit. I don't fight alone. My wife and I partner for everything and its powerfully protective for the entire family. Even the kids can involved as they often see in the spirit realm when we're being harassed by evil spirits.

I was once getting beat up on every front for about 2 months. One extraordinary expense after another was killing my bank account. The day after the well pump went up and I forked over $2.5K to fix it, my laptop starting making a grinding noise. I got ticked off saying 'not again' as I stormed out of the room. I cooled off a few minutes later and came back. As I approached the room, I could see an opaque dark shadow about the size of our golden retriever moving across the room and away from where the computer was. At first I called for the dog thinking it was her and she was outside. It then dawned on me that it was an evil spirit. I then got ticked off for an entirely other reason, the fact that I didn't realize I was under an attack and simply was taking blow after blow from the thieves. I ran and grabbed some Holy water I keep on the fridge and ran to the laptop. I squirted a stream onto the keyboard and rebuked the evil spirit, it immediately stopped grinding, I'm not joking. I then went through the house praying in the Spirit, cleaning it out through and through. All the problems stopped.

There's a reason we'll be able to say we overcame the evil one. And there's a reason we're in the Body of Christ, we need to support one another in the battle.

 

[simply christian]

Most soldiers say the same thing. Their life ends at boot camp and gets worse in battle, but they serve an extremely important function. We're in God's army and its full-time service.

Now, if you are getting beat up all the time, perhaps you need to partner with some who will intercede on your behalf, pray for you and lay hands on you for the refreshing power of the Spirit. I don't fight alone. My wife and I partner for everything and its powerfully protective for the entire family. Even the kids can involved as they often see in the spirit realm when we're being harassed by evil spirits.

I was once getting beat up on every front for about 2 months. One extraordinary expense after another was killing my bank account. The day after the well pump went up and I forked over $2.5K to fix it, my laptop starting making a grinding noise. I got ticked off saying 'not again' as I stormed out of the room. I cooled off a few minutes later and came back. As I approached the room, I could see an opaque dark shadow about the size of our golden retriever moving across the room and away from where the computer was. At first I called for the dog thinking it was her and she was outside. It then dawned on me that it was an evil spirit. I then got ticked off for an entirely other reason, the fact that I didn't realize I was under an attack and simply was taking blow after blow from the thieves. I ran and grabbed some Holy water I keep on the fridge and ran to the laptop. I squirted a stream onto the keyboard and rebuked the evil spirit, it immediately stopped grinding, I'm not joking. I then went through the house praying in the Spirit, cleaning it out through and through. All the problems stopped.

There's a reason we'll be able to say we overcame the evil one. And there's a reason we're in the Body of Christ, we need to support one another in the battle.

What good is another believer going to do for me? I've heard enough sermons on the "gift of singleness". Those don't help me.

It's good God chose to bless you with a wife and family. But others are not so lucky. Count your blessings, because God can take all of them from you in a heartbeat.

 

[jamadan]

I keep reading and re-reading your posts and you know what? I think you're fighting an evil spirit that's got a foothold on you. It's causing depression and killing your faith and love for God. It may even be causing you to despair and consider abandoning your faith altogether or even suicide. If it's not doing it now, it will be soon. You need to take authority over it and cast it out, and begin praising and worshiping God to refresh your spirit in the Lord.

 

[jamadan]

What good is another believer going to do for me? I've heard enough sermons on the "gift of singleness". Those don't help me.

It's good God chose to bless you with a wife and family. But others are not so lucky. Count your blessings, because God can take all of them from you in a heartbeat.

So surround yourself with others in your church. Fellowship with them and ask for their prayers. Let them know when you're struggling and ask them to lay hands on you and pray in the Spirit. What's wrong with you!?! Snap out of it, man! Take authority over this evil spirit and get rid of it!

 

[simply christian]

I keep reading and re-reading your posts and you know what? I think you're fighting an evil spirit that's got a foothold on you. It's causing depression and killing your faith and love for God. It may even be causing you to despair and consider abandoning your faith altogether or even suicide. If it's not doing it now, it will be soon. You need to take authority over it and cast it out, and begin praising and worshiping God to refresh your spirit in the Lord.

I don't disagree with you, actually. I often times do feel that feelings of depression and despair can, and many times do, come from the devil or evil spirits. However, it's hard to ignore those voices when they are correctly quoting the word of God.

I've considered walking away from God, but I know that would be foolish. Nothing is worth that. Moreover, even though God seems to delight in afflicting me, I still love him (which almost reminds me of the way a battered wife clings to her husband). I have considered death before, but I enjoy living too much to want to go to God right now. As bad as life is, I also believe life is a good thing and a gift.

 

[jamadan]

What did Satan do to Jesus in the desert? He quoted the Word of God, and twisted it! This is the devil's pattern. For Adam, he challenged his faith in God asking 'Did God really say . . .?' Satan loves using Scripture to put a wedge between us and God.

 

[simply christian]

What did Satan do to Jesus in the desert? He quoted the Word of God, and twisted it! This is the devil's pattern. For Adam, he challenged his faith in God asking 'Did God really say . . .?' Satan loves using Scripture to put a wedge between us and God.

I've asked before: How has anything I mentioned from the book of Job been misquoted? I completely agree that the devil, and many men, can misquote scripture. However, the scripture itself declares that God is the one responsible for afflicting us. How do you reconcile this with Word of Faith teachings? I am unable to.

 

[jamadan]

True story for you. Years ago, I was asked by my pastor to be on his council. After a year or so, I'd learned he was being barraged by critical letters from a super spiritual subgroup within the church, a church within the church, if you will. When I read one of the letters he was receiving, I became incensed! I asked him how often he gets these letters, he said all the time. These things were evil dressed up to sound super spiritual. They were witchcraft and had this man of God all bound up like Theodan in Lord of the Rings. Not trying to sound all spiritual, I turned to him and the Spirit of God rose up in me in the presence of his entire council. I asked him why he wasn't sharing these with his council. He said he didn't want to burden us with his faults - he was taking in the poison they were delivering. I said 'How dare you deal with this alone!'. You entrusted us to be your council, so put these things before us and let us read and pray them through together. It was like a spell was broken. We dealt with the little sub-church (they wound up leaving) and the pastor has gone on to some unbelievably cool things in God - he's one of the most anointed men I've ever encountered in healing and prophetic words as well as deliverance. But the enemy had bound him completely in depression and confusion.

Surround yourself with a similar band of men to protect you.