...If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. - Luke 17:6
When Jesus taught His disciples about the evil effects of bitterness, unforgiveness and offense, He also told them how to uproot and remove offenses and unforgiveness from the heart. Praise God that Jesus didn't just identify the problem and then leave us to figure out our deliverance by ourselves! He took it one step further and gave us the secret weapon for jerking those roots clear out of the ground and sending them to a place where they will never again produce their wicked fruit in us.
Jesus said, "...If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" (Luke 17:6). Notice Jesus said, "...Ye might say unto this sycamine tree..." In order to get rid of these destructive devices, you have to rise up and take authority over them!
Jesus specifically said that you must literally speak to the sycamine tree. The word, "say" used in Luke 17: 6 is the Greek word, "lego," which means to speak, but the tense that is used depicts a strong, stern, serious, deeply felt kind of speaking. In other words, this isn't a person who mutters thoughtless nonsense; this is a person who has made an inward resolution and now speaks authoritatively and with great conviction.
Your voice represents your authority; therefore, when you raise your voice, you release your authority. That is why you must speak to these attitudes and not jus think about them. You can think all you want about removing those poisonous roots in your life, but your thoughts will not remove them. But when you get so tired of living under the stress and strain of bitterness, unforgiveness, and offense that you lift your voice and command these foul forces to go, they will finally begin to obey you!
I promise you friend, - if you wait until you feel like speaking to those ugly attitudes, you'll never do it! If you depend on your feelings and emotions to motivate you, you'll never be free of offense and unforgiveness. Your feelings and emotions will tell you that you have a right and a reason to feel the way you do. Your flesh will talk you into hanging on to those unprofitable, harmful attitudes. So make the choice not to listen to your negative emotions anymore; then start exercising your God-given authority by speaking to yourself!
It is time for you to accept personal responsibility for your inward condition. Stop blaming everyone else for all of your bad attitudes, and acknowledge that there is something inside you that needs to be removed! Jesus said you must speak to that "sycamine tree" and tell it to go!
- If you don't speak to your emotions, they will speak to you.
- If you don't take authority over your emotions, they will take authority over you.
- If you don't rise up and conquer your flesh, it will rise up and conquer you!
- So quit letting your emotions tell you what to think what to do, and how to react.
- It's time for YOU to do the talking and to take command of your own thought life!
You have to treat bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness like they are enemies that have come to corrupt your soul. You must see them as bandits that have come to steal your joy, your peace, and your relationships. Would you throw open the door and allow a bandit to ravage your home? Of course not! In addition to using all the power available to you for removing the bandit, you'd probably command him to get out of your house! And I seriously doubt that you would whisper at him; most likely you would yell and scream as you ordered him out!
Likewise, you must decide not to tolerate this spiritual pestilence any longer, not even for a second. It's time for you to raise your voice of authority and declare to these attitudes that they will no longer dominate you. And if you must, speak to these attitudes and command them to go again and again and again and again and again - until they are finally uprooted and removed forever!
You have to go for the roots! If you want to be free, it's going to take an attitude that says, "I'm going to get to the roots of this beast and yank them clear out of my soul, and I'm not going to stop until I'm totally free!"
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