A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (December 1, 2017)
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)
There is probably no one person in the Bible, except for Jesus, that went through more hard times than the Apostle Paul. If you read the Book of Acts, chapters 13 through 28, you will quickly see the hard times Paul went through just to share his testimony and preach the Gospel.
Paul was persecuted by the Jews, stoned, beaten, lied about, ship wrecked, and thrown in prison for years. When addressing the Corinthian church about some false “Super” Apostles that were trying to infiltrate the church, he said the following about his personal background:
Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? (2 Corinthians 11:22-29)
Now, what I want you to see in this is how Paul handled the hard times. Paul’s secret was when he said, “who is offended, and I burn not”. Paul knew that he could not be full of the Holy Ghost and be full of bitterness and unforgiveness at the same time. He knew that bitterness grieved the Holy Ghost. He knew that if he succumbed to bitterness he would defile many.
Paul was in the midst of all this persecution in Acts 24 when he made the following profound statement that once again revealed his secret to handling hard times:
And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men. (Acts 24:16)
Did you hear what Paul said? He said I am not going to get mad or bitter at God or man, regardless of what happens. What is the first thing we usually do when we go through hard times? We blame God or man and that is what gets us into trouble. It’s a trap of the enemy! Bitterness and unforgiveness is a dead-end street. It separates us from God. If you want forgiveness you have to forgive. If you want to be free of poison in your life you have to reject the poison of bitterness. If you want to be full of the Holy Ghost you cannot be full of hate, anger, bitterness and unforgiveness.
We have all been through hard times but it simply gets back to obedience. If you have become bitter at God or bitter at man you just need to repent and tell God you are sorry. Turn it all over to Him and take Paul’s advice when he said he would not allow himself to be offended at God or man, regardless of what happens. If we will do that same thing it will save us from a lot of frustration and heartache.
