Chapter 2
Commentary
Hopefully you can now see that there is a spiritual something inside you that
is impelling you to be angry. How did it get there, and what is the way to get
rid of it so it no longer controls you?
You may now be tempted to say, "What’s the use? If I can’t stop the
operation of God’s laws which are impelling me to do what I don’t want to do,
I might as well give up." But there is a way to obey the Lord. The way is to
apply the spiritual cure that Jesus provided. When this happens, you are no
longer controlled by the “bad” thing that is controlling you. Through His
provision, you actually become a partaker of His divine nature. Then the
anger will no longer control you.
(This web page is also from my book “Exceedingly Great and Precious
Promises).
You therefore need to understand what it means to be a partaker of
the divine nature, and how to accomplish that; because when you become
a partaker, you will be able to do the good you want to do, and won’t do what
you hate. After all, Jesus didn’t struggle as we do.
Let me give another example. Another huge truck is speeding down the
highway. A traffic jam lies ahead, and the truck driver needs to stop the truck
quickly. Does he open the door and drag his foot on the pavement to stop
the truck? Of course not. He doesn’t have within himself the power to stop
the truck. What he does do is to decide to press the brake pedal, and then to
act by actually pressing it. This activates a powerful brake system, which has
been provided for just such a purpose, and the truck comes to a stop. The
driver didn’t stop the truck by his own power, but he did need to do the
following:
That was his job as the driver. If he didn't act, there would be a mess. In this
same way, in spiritual matters, we have to:
As you can see, our willpower does have a part to play in our being
set free, but it is not the force or power that brings it about.
God has provided a “system” that has sufficient power to stop the operation
of God’s laws that are bringing destruction, frustration, and failure into our
life. However, before we can activate it, we first need to understand more
about how God’s laws cause us to do the things that we hate.
When God created the spiritual realm, there were two possible ways for a
person to exist. If we align our lives with what brings good things (we "obey
the Law"), we receive good consequences (blessings). When Adam and Eve
walked in the Garden of Eden in obedience to God, life was good.
Similarly, if we align our lives with what brings bad things (we "disobey the
Law"), we experience bad consequences.
Our “God-Wannabe” Arrives
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, bad things resulted.
Satan’s temptation was:
When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, there was planted in mankind
a tendency to want to take God’s place. This impulse is exactly what got
Satan kicked out of heaven.
still exists in all of humanity, because we are descendants of
Adam and Eve.
The New Testament refers to this tendency as our “flesh.” However, the
term “flesh” has a wide range of meaning, sometimes including things that
are not “bad,” such as our physical body. \
Therefore, for the sake of clarity, I am going to coin the term “God-wannabe”
to refer to this tendency in us to take God’s place.
We take God’s place whenever we judge another.
God is the only one who has a right to judge; and so when we judge another,
we plant a “bad root” inside ourselves. This is referred to as a “root of
bitterness” in Hebrews 12:15.
Blessings always flow when we are aligned with God’s laws. All of us are
reaping blessings in certain areas of our life. We don't want the blessings to
stop. We want more of them. As we align ourselves with the way the
spiritual realm is constructed for blessings, we receive blessings.
Therefore it is important for us to know how the spiritual realm works for
blessing so that we can receive more good.
What is called “sin” is doing something that will cause the spiritual
realm to bring about bad consequences. This is why God hates sin: it
brings destruction to the children who He loves.
We therefore need to understand how the spiritual realm works
against us when we sin, so that we can stop the bad things from
continuing to happen in our lives.
When we sin, we set in motion God’s laws against us. We will surely reap
what we sow. We don’t sow corn and reap cotton. We don’t sow sin and
reap blessings. We sow sin and reap bad consequences. There are, of
course, many ways that we can sin, and they all have consequences.
The most destructive consequences are the sinful behaviors that we don’t
want to do. We are impelled to do them by the operation of God’s law; and as
a result, our willpower is completely unable to free us from this bondage.
Paul reveals the answer to our bondage to these consequences when he
writes:
The System That Has Enough Power
For us to have victory over the destruction, frustration, pain, and failure in our
life, God had to provide a system that had sufficient power. In fact, for us to
be set free requires a miracle!
Jesus was sent by the Father to provide a way out for us. He came to take
away our sins. His blood is the only cure for sin, and sin is what is causing
us to do the things we hate. When we pray, as we repent, forgive,
and are forgiven, Jesus pays off our debt and takes it upon Himself. The
negative consequences resulting from the sin will continue into eternity, but
Jesus will take over bearing the weight of that, and we are set free. For us, in
regard to this particular sin, it is as though we had never committed it. The
bad behavior going on in our life as a consequence of our sin ceases to
happen.
Even though Jesus paid the penalty for our sin when He died on the cross
2,000 years ago, we need to do something to bring the benefits of
that provision into our lives. He has offered to pay our debt for us, but
we need to accept it in a specific circumstance. We need to apply this
provision purposefully to a particular sin for it to have an effect. Only when
we take specific action (we pray to repent, forgive, and be forgiven), do we
benefit from the provision He has already made for forgiveness of our sins.
In my previous example, the truck driver had to press the brake pedal to
engage the powerful brake system built into the truck.
Suppose some generous person placed $1,000 in my checking account.
When I write a check, I benefit from the money. As long as I don't know about
the money being there, or as long as I don't believe it is there, or as long as I
don't decide to make a withdrawal and act by writing a check on that account,
this money is of no benefit to me. It could remain unused in my account until
the day I die. So it is with the gift God gave us in the sacrifice of Jesus. We
need to know that the provision is there. We also need to know how to apply
it to our real life struggles, and we need to act.
“Bad Roots” and “Bad Fruit”
When we sin and plant an area of wounding in our heart, the sin dwelling in
that area can be called a "bad root." By their very nature, “bad roots”
produce "bad fruit," whereas "good roots" produce "good fruit."
The bad things that persist in our lives, including bad behavior, are "bad
fruit" from a "bad root." There is no “bad fruit” without a “bad root” being
present. A “bad root” always produces “bad fruit,” and a “good root”
always produces “good fruit.” The root produces fruit after its own kind.
There are no exceptions. Bad behavior never comes from a “good root,”
and good behavior never springs from a “bad root.”
“Bad fruit” is compulsive, rigid, extreme, and beyond our
conscious control.
There Are Two Ways To Stop Bad Behavior
When we recognize undesirable behavior, we have probably thought there
was only one way of stopping it – with our willpower. But it should now be
clear that there are two ways, because there are two possible sources of
the bad behavior: the psychological realm and the spiritual realm. To
stop the undesirable behavior we need to use the "tool" that is effectual in
that particular realm.
If we have "tried" (decided with our intellect) to change our behavior by using
our willpower (psychological realm), but the bad behavior (“bad fruit”) has
continued, we have simply been using the wrong "tool." Since our willpower
was ineffective, we now know we are dealing with a spiritual problem and we
need to use the appropriate tool - the blood of Jesus. In the past we may
have thought the only option available was our willpower.
Our willpower and intellect are not trash, nor are they useless. They are gifts
that God gave to us to do certain things. But our willpower’s area of
authority is in the psychological realm, not the spiritual realm. Both
a watchmaker's screwdriver and a sledgehammer have a purpose. One
would not be very successful in splitting wood with a watchmaker's
screwdriver, nor be very successful in repairing a watch with a
sledgehammer. We need to use the right tool for the job at hand.
Undesirable behaviors that have their source in the spiritual realm
are rigid, compelling, and powerful; and they resist our efforts to
overcome them. We are stuck, are at their mercy, and feel defeated.
Track Backward From-Fruit-To-Root
Once you realize that your willpower is impotent to stop certain bad behavior,
you can recognize that you are dealing with a spiritual problem in your life
(the bad behavior is “bad fruit”). Then you must find the source (the “bad
root”). You must track backward from the “bad fruit” to the “bad
root” (from the behavior to the cause).
The following story illustrates how a person's bad behavior is connected to
sin. Mike had an angry father. When Mike was a little boy, his father sinned
against Mike by abusing him verbally and physically. Mike hated the abuse
and judged his father for it. Mike's father used to lose his temper and beat
Mike; and much to his dismay, as an adult he found himself losing his temper
and beating his own son, just like his father did to him. Mike hates the sinful
behavior he is impelled to do, but he can't stop it, no matter how hard he tries.
In truth, he is being powerfully impelled to do these sinful things by
the operation of God's law. He has a “bad root” (the Bitter Root Judgment he
made as a little boy) that is producing the “bad fruit” (the present sinful
behavior that he hates).
The Cure: Once You Identify The “Bad Root,” You
Need To Pray
Once you identify the “bad root,” you need to pray about it. There is no other
cure. Mike has judged his father; and the only way to remove the “bad root”
is to forgive his father and be forgiven by the Lord.
Without prayer, (repenting, forgiving, and being forgiven)
there is no forgiveness of sin.
Does this seem too easy, too simple? It is simple in concept, but it
is often difficult to do. Sometimes forgiving someone who hurt us
is very difficult. But absolutely necessary.
This is how the unchangeable laws of the spiritual realm work: if we judge
(plant a “bad root” of sin inside ourselves), we will suffer because of the
operation of God’s spiritual laws which always bring negative consequences
when we sin (we find ourselves producing “bad fruit”).
However, when we forgive, we are forgiven; and the “bad root” is removed
and Jesus fills that place. Now we have a “good root” inside ourselves.
When the “bad root” is gone, a bad tree no longer is present to produce the
“bad fruit.” An apple tree can illustrate this principle. An apple tree bears
apples. If we pick the fruit off an apple tree, apples will grow back. The tree
will not replace the apples we picked with peaches, but with more apples.
When we see an apple, we know that it came from an apple tree, not a peach
tree. When the apple tree is removed, there are no more apples produced.
When the “bad root” is gone, a bad tree no longer exists to produce the “bad
fruit.”
Please be aware that once our heart has been cleansed by Jesus, and the
reaping in the spiritual realm has been stopped, there may still be some
residual consequences in the world around us from our previous sins. For
instance, Mike's own children will likely still be angry with him and will have
judged him for his past abusive behavior towards them. They are therefore
wounded and will need to be healed by Jesus. In addition, his past abusive
behavior may have led his wife to divorce him. Then, even though he has
been healed, his family may remain broken.
Commentary
As a Christian, it may seem strange to you that there can be something “bad”
inside you that is impelling you to sin. After all, when you were “saved” (the
one-time event), weren’t all your sins forgiven? Also, you might be asking if
you have a demon inside you that is compelling you to get angry.
The next chapter will answer these questions, and more.
Commentary
Hopefully you can now see that there is a spiritual something inside you that
is impelling you to be angry. How did it get there, and what is the way to get
rid of it so it no longer controls you?
You may now be tempted to say, "What’s the use? If I can’t stop the
operation of God’s laws which are impelling me to do what I don’t want to do,
I might as well give up." But there is a way to obey the Lord. The way is to
apply the spiritual cure that Jesus provided. When this happens, you are no
longer controlled by the “bad” thing that is controlling you. Through His
provision, you actually become a partaker of His divine nature. Then the
anger will no longer control you.
(This web page is also from my book “Exceedingly Great and Precious
Promises).
You therefore need to understand what it means to be a partaker of
the divine nature, and how to accomplish that; because when you become
a partaker, you will be able to do the good you want to do, and won’t do what
you hate. After all, Jesus didn’t struggle as we do.
Let me give another example. Another huge truck is speeding down the
highway. A traffic jam lies ahead, and the truck driver needs to stop the truck
quickly. Does he open the door and drag his foot on the pavement to stop
the truck? Of course not. He doesn’t have within himself the power to stop
the truck. What he does do is to decide to press the brake pedal, and then to
act by actually pressing it. This activates a powerful brake system, which has
been provided for just such a purpose, and the truck comes to a stop. The
driver didn’t stop the truck by his own power, but he did need to do the
following:
- • Recognize the problem.
• Believe in the brake system.
• Decide to activate the system.
• Act by physically pushing the brake pedal.
That was his job as the driver. If he didn't act, there would be a mess. In this
same way, in spiritual matters, we have to:
- • Recognize the problem.
• Believe in the powerful provision Jesus has given us to stop the
operation of God's laws against us.
• Use our willpower to decide to activate that provision.
• Act by praying.
As you can see, our willpower does have a part to play in our being
set free, but it is not the force or power that brings it about.
God has provided a “system” that has sufficient power to stop the operation
of God’s laws that are bringing destruction, frustration, and failure into our
life. However, before we can activate it, we first need to understand more
about how God’s laws cause us to do the things that we hate.
When God created the spiritual realm, there were two possible ways for a
person to exist. If we align our lives with what brings good things (we "obey
the Law"), we receive good consequences (blessings). When Adam and Eve
walked in the Garden of Eden in obedience to God, life was good.
Similarly, if we align our lives with what brings bad things (we "disobey the
Law"), we experience bad consequences.
Our “God-Wannabe” Arrives
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, bad things resulted.
Satan’s temptation was:
- “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be
opened and you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5, underlining is mine).
When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, there was planted in mankind
a tendency to want to take God’s place. This impulse is exactly what got
Satan kicked out of heaven.
still exists in all of humanity, because we are descendants of
Adam and Eve.
The New Testament refers to this tendency as our “flesh.” However, the
term “flesh” has a wide range of meaning, sometimes including things that
are not “bad,” such as our physical body. \
Therefore, for the sake of clarity, I am going to coin the term “God-wannabe”
to refer to this tendency in us to take God’s place.
We take God’s place whenever we judge another.
Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you
shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke
6:37).
God is the only one who has a right to judge; and so when we judge another,
we plant a “bad root” inside ourselves. This is referred to as a “root of
bitterness” in Hebrews 12:15.
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;
Blessings always flow when we are aligned with God’s laws. All of us are
reaping blessings in certain areas of our life. We don't want the blessings to
stop. We want more of them. As we align ourselves with the way the
spiritual realm is constructed for blessings, we receive blessings.
Therefore it is important for us to know how the spiritual realm works for
blessing so that we can receive more good.
What is called “sin” is doing something that will cause the spiritual
realm to bring about bad consequences. This is why God hates sin: it
brings destruction to the children who He loves.
We therefore need to understand how the spiritual realm works
against us when we sin, so that we can stop the bad things from
continuing to happen in our lives.
When we sin, we set in motion God’s laws against us. We will surely reap
what we sow. We don’t sow corn and reap cotton. We don’t sow sin and
reap blessings. We sow sin and reap bad consequences. There are, of
course, many ways that we can sin, and they all have consequences.
The most destructive consequences are the sinful behaviors that we don’t
want to do. We are impelled to do them by the operation of God’s law; and as
a result, our willpower is completely unable to free us from this bondage.
Paul reveals the answer to our bondage to these consequences when he
writes:
- O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body
of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans
7:24-25).
The System That Has Enough Power
For us to have victory over the destruction, frustration, pain, and failure in our
life, God had to provide a system that had sufficient power. In fact, for us to
be set free requires a miracle!
Jesus was sent by the Father to provide a way out for us. He came to take
away our sins. His blood is the only cure for sin, and sin is what is causing
us to do the things we hate. When we pray, as we repent, forgive,
and are forgiven, Jesus pays off our debt and takes it upon Himself. The
negative consequences resulting from the sin will continue into eternity, but
Jesus will take over bearing the weight of that, and we are set free. For us, in
regard to this particular sin, it is as though we had never committed it. The
bad behavior going on in our life as a consequence of our sin ceases to
happen.
Even though Jesus paid the penalty for our sin when He died on the cross
2,000 years ago, we need to do something to bring the benefits of
that provision into our lives. He has offered to pay our debt for us, but
we need to accept it in a specific circumstance. We need to apply this
provision purposefully to a particular sin for it to have an effect. Only when
we take specific action (we pray to repent, forgive, and be forgiven), do we
benefit from the provision He has already made for forgiveness of our sins.
In my previous example, the truck driver had to press the brake pedal to
engage the powerful brake system built into the truck.
Suppose some generous person placed $1,000 in my checking account.
When I write a check, I benefit from the money. As long as I don't know about
the money being there, or as long as I don't believe it is there, or as long as I
don't decide to make a withdrawal and act by writing a check on that account,
this money is of no benefit to me. It could remain unused in my account until
the day I die. So it is with the gift God gave us in the sacrifice of Jesus. We
need to know that the provision is there. We also need to know how to apply
it to our real life struggles, and we need to act.
“Bad Roots” and “Bad Fruit”
When we sin and plant an area of wounding in our heart, the sin dwelling in
that area can be called a "bad root." By their very nature, “bad roots”
produce "bad fruit," whereas "good roots" produce "good fruit."
"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears
bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree
bear good fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad
tree bear good fruit. . . Therefore by their fruits you will know
them." (Matthew 7:17-18, 20).
The bad things that persist in our lives, including bad behavior, are "bad
fruit" from a "bad root." There is no “bad fruit” without a “bad root” being
present. A “bad root” always produces “bad fruit,” and a “good root”
always produces “good fruit.” The root produces fruit after its own kind.
There are no exceptions. Bad behavior never comes from a “good root,”
and good behavior never springs from a “bad root.”
“Bad fruit” is compulsive, rigid, extreme, and beyond our
conscious control.
There Are Two Ways To Stop Bad Behavior
When we recognize undesirable behavior, we have probably thought there
was only one way of stopping it – with our willpower. But it should now be
clear that there are two ways, because there are two possible sources of
the bad behavior: the psychological realm and the spiritual realm. To
stop the undesirable behavior we need to use the "tool" that is effectual in
that particular realm.
If we have "tried" (decided with our intellect) to change our behavior by using
our willpower (psychological realm), but the bad behavior (“bad fruit”) has
continued, we have simply been using the wrong "tool." Since our willpower
was ineffective, we now know we are dealing with a spiritual problem and we
need to use the appropriate tool - the blood of Jesus. In the past we may
have thought the only option available was our willpower.
Our willpower and intellect are not trash, nor are they useless. They are gifts
that God gave to us to do certain things. But our willpower’s area of
authority is in the psychological realm, not the spiritual realm. Both
a watchmaker's screwdriver and a sledgehammer have a purpose. One
would not be very successful in splitting wood with a watchmaker's
screwdriver, nor be very successful in repairing a watch with a
sledgehammer. We need to use the right tool for the job at hand.
Undesirable behaviors that have their source in the spiritual realm
are rigid, compelling, and powerful; and they resist our efforts to
overcome them. We are stuck, are at their mercy, and feel defeated.
Track Backward From-Fruit-To-Root
Once you realize that your willpower is impotent to stop certain bad behavior,
you can recognize that you are dealing with a spiritual problem in your life
(the bad behavior is “bad fruit”). Then you must find the source (the “bad
root”). You must track backward from the “bad fruit” to the “bad
root” (from the behavior to the cause).
The following story illustrates how a person's bad behavior is connected to
sin. Mike had an angry father. When Mike was a little boy, his father sinned
against Mike by abusing him verbally and physically. Mike hated the abuse
and judged his father for it. Mike's father used to lose his temper and beat
Mike; and much to his dismay, as an adult he found himself losing his temper
and beating his own son, just like his father did to him. Mike hates the sinful
behavior he is impelled to do, but he can't stop it, no matter how hard he tries.
In truth, he is being powerfully impelled to do these sinful things by
the operation of God's law. He has a “bad root” (the Bitter Root Judgment he
made as a little boy) that is producing the “bad fruit” (the present sinful
behavior that he hates).
The Cure: Once You Identify The “Bad Root,” You
Need To Pray
Once you identify the “bad root,” you need to pray about it. There is no other
cure. Mike has judged his father; and the only way to remove the “bad root”
is to forgive his father and be forgiven by the Lord.
Without prayer, (repenting, forgiving, and being forgiven)
there is no forgiveness of sin.
Does this seem too easy, too simple? It is simple in concept, but it
is often difficult to do. Sometimes forgiving someone who hurt us
is very difficult. But absolutely necessary.
This is how the unchangeable laws of the spiritual realm work: if we judge
(plant a “bad root” of sin inside ourselves), we will suffer because of the
operation of God’s spiritual laws which always bring negative consequences
when we sin (we find ourselves producing “bad fruit”).
However, when we forgive, we are forgiven; and the “bad root” is removed
and Jesus fills that place. Now we have a “good root” inside ourselves.
When the “bad root” is gone, a bad tree no longer is present to produce the
“bad fruit.” An apple tree can illustrate this principle. An apple tree bears
apples. If we pick the fruit off an apple tree, apples will grow back. The tree
will not replace the apples we picked with peaches, but with more apples.
When we see an apple, we know that it came from an apple tree, not a peach
tree. When the apple tree is removed, there are no more apples produced.
When the “bad root” is gone, a bad tree no longer exists to produce the “bad
fruit.”
Please be aware that once our heart has been cleansed by Jesus, and the
reaping in the spiritual realm has been stopped, there may still be some
residual consequences in the world around us from our previous sins. For
instance, Mike's own children will likely still be angry with him and will have
judged him for his past abusive behavior towards them. They are therefore
wounded and will need to be healed by Jesus. In addition, his past abusive
behavior may have led his wife to divorce him. Then, even though he has
been healed, his family may remain broken.
Commentary
As a Christian, it may seem strange to you that there can be something “bad”
inside you that is impelling you to sin. After all, when you were “saved” (the
one-time event), weren’t all your sins forgiven? Also, you might be asking if
you have a demon inside you that is compelling you to get angry.
The next chapter will answer these questions, and more.
Divinely Designed
Being changed into the image of Jesus
Being changed into the image of Jesus
Click here to discover more about removing bitter roots, so you can be set free |
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When Scripture refers to our tendency to take God's place (our "flesh"), for clarity I am going to call that attribute our "God-Wannabe." |
When we sin, the spiritual realm ALWAYS works against us to bring bad things! |
Since the thing causing our ongoing problem is sin, there is only one cure, and that is to have Jesus take away our sin. |
You should get the book to get the rest of the story.
Only about half of the contents of the book are posted on the website,
and you will need the rest of the information to complete your journey
to healing.
Buying and using the book will be one of the best investments you ever
made in yourself. And you can return it for a full refund if it does not
measure up to your expectations.
If you can not afford to buy a copy, email us your situation and
we will consider sending you a free copy. We want everyone to
experience the freedom Jesus promised!
Email us at: edkurath@divinelydesigned.com.
how to buy the book "Exceedingly Great & Precious Promises." |
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"applying the blood of Jesus," I will be referring to the process of repenting, forgiving, being forgiven, having the "bad root" removed, and inviting Jesus to come in and fill that place with His Spirit. |
"Bad fruit" ALWAYS comes from a "bad root." |
Steps for applying Jesus' provison: 1. Find the "bad root." 2. Pray |
To stop the bad cycle, the blood of Jesus needs to be applied to the root rather than just to the fruit. |