The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/

James 5:16… Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that youmaybehealed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (NKJV)

I used this same opening scripture back on my writing for 9/25/2013, that was titled…“Heal all Wounds”…  The idea behind that days writing was to urge you to go to those around you that you care most about…and ask them if there were any trespasses or misspoken words you had made to them in the past, which were still harboring bitterness or resentment with-in them…  With an honest response of past trespasses from those we have hurt, we would then be able to ask forgiveness to hopefully bring about healing, as the opening scripture penned by the Apostle James teaches us… 

You could read this days writing by going to www.Godsmanforever.com and typing 9/25/2013 into the search window…

The Apostle Paul pens this, in… Ephesians 4:26-27… “Be angry, and do not sin”: donotlet the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ nor give place to the devil.  (NKJV)   I believe one application of this scripture has the Apostle Paul teaching us that any arguments or ill feelings caused because we (Christians) lose control of our tongue (James 3:6 & 8-12)…should be immediately confessed with humility by making use of the fruit of the Spirit…

The Apostle Paul list’s the fruit of the Spirit (“Christ like” attributes) in…Galatians 5:22-23…  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  (NKJV)  It is indeed the power of the Holy Spirit that gives the Christian the ability to show the love of Christ with humility…even after our flesh has temporarily taken control of our tongue, and caused us to sin… 

The Apostle Paul goes on to pen this, in…Ephesians 4:31-32… Letallbitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evilspeaking be putaway from you, withallmalice. ³² And bekind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christforgaveyou.  (NKJV)

But what about bitterness or resentment from trespasses against us, that have been kept alive in our hearts and minds for years, maybe even from before we became a Christian ??  Maybe our parents mistreated us, or said hateful things to us growing up, that have left the scars of deep-rooted bitterness in our hearts and minds…  Jesus makes it clear, in His “Sermon on the Mount” teaching (Matthew 5, 6, & 7)…that we must be able to forgive all sins against us, if we expect God to forgive us of our own sins… 

Matthew 6:14-15… “For if you forgivemen their trespasses, your heavenly Fatherwill also forgiveyou. ¹⁵ But if you donotforgivemen their trespasses, neither will yourFatherforgiveyourtrespasses.”  (NKJV)

Jesus goes on later, as recorded in the Book of Matthew, and tells the Apostle Peter this, in…Matthew 18:21-22… Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, howoften shall mybrother sin against me, and Iforgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do notsay to you, up to seven times, but up to seventytimesseven.  (NKJV)  

Do you realize that when we harbor bitterness, or hatred, or envy, or covetousness, or jealousy, or any number of other sins against anyone else…we are really sinning against God ??  And that these unconfessed sins will separate us from walking in sweet fellowship with the Lord ??

My suggestion for any Christian harboring bitterness or resentment from past trespasses against them…would be to sit down with the one who caused these trespasses, and let them know how you feel…  It’s possible that they have no idea that these transgressions exist…  By confessing these trespasses one to another, as the Apostle James suggests in the opening scripture…along with prayer for each other…this will hopefully begin a healing process in the relationship… 

You may not be able to mend a broken relationship with the one who caused these sins of bitterness or resentment to begin with…  But you must lay these or any sins at the feet of Jesus, in order to again become righteous in His sight… 1 John 1:9… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from allunrighteousness.  (NKJV)

Heavenly Father, I pray that all of Your redeemed children will search their own hearts and minds for any kind of grudges, or resentment, or bitterness, or anger that they have been harboring for anyone who has sinned against them…  You have called Your children Lord, to forgive any and all sins against us, and in doing so, You promise to forgive us of our own sins…  I pray for this healing of hearts and relationships for all of Your children, I  Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce r mills

P.S.  Here is a link I came across… “Should Christians Carry Grudges”…   http://christianteens.about.com/od/advice/a/Should_Christians_Carry_Grudges.htm

And here is a link with 100 Bible Verses about “Holding Grudges”…  http://www.openbible.info/topics/holding_grudges