Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. Hebrews 12:14-15.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I am the God of peace. YHWH Shalom. My Holy Spirit through Paul wrote: “Now, may the Lord of peace Himself continually give you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with all of you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16.
Do you have peace? The peace that passes understanding? If you are surrounded by troublesome complicated, sin filled people that you cannot seem to get away from and trials and toils, you may not have any peace—but this is your fault. I gave you My peace in Jesus. You can walk in the footgear of the gospel of peace. If you let Me walk with you, I am with you to give you rest among a wicked and contentious people, as I was with Moses. Exodus 33:14. And of the over two million people Moses was bringing to the Promised Land only two were like minded in faith to him. And you know who they were, Joshua and Caleb. Faith makes you stand out. Even Moses’ own siblings, Aaron and Miriam, were jealous of and contentious with him. And I had sent Aaron to help Moses, which he did to a certain extent, but he also was troublesome, as in the golden calf incident and the jealousy issue.
But I will tell you what keeps you out of peace, as it did to Moses and finally kept him out of the Promised Land, it is when you begin to hate and resent the people with whom you are in relationship, the people I have entrusted to your care so that you may open their eyes to turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to Me, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Jesus, My Son. Acts 26:18. But when you get bitter against them for what they have done to your peace then you lose your peace. As Moses did. You start acting in disobedience and feeling you are justified by their sinful behavior.
But how do you get hatred out of your heart? In the same way that you get weeds out of a garden. You pull them out and stop cultivating them. Every time you let your mind dwell on the negative things about a person or situation you are cultivating hate. You have to divorce it, kill it, pull it out, and burn it in the fire of love. If you recall in the parable, I burn weeds in unquenchable fire.
Pursue peace with all men and the SANCTIFICATION without which no one will see Me. See to it that no one comes short of My grace, that NO root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many are defiled. Like Moses, if you are harboring bitterness and cultivating it in your heart you will finally tell the other just what you think of him. Moses did at the rock, I still caused the water to flow so as not to shame him, but I drew it up before his eyes later. His anger beat them down and shamed them but did not change them. For the anger of a man does not achieve My righteousness. James 1:20.
So what is the answer? You are not at Sinai any longer, you have come to Mt. Zion, to superabundant GRACE. Hebrews 12:22. My grace is sufficient for you. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Come to My throne of grace in confidence with your great High Priest Jesus who has opened a new and living way for you right into the Holy of Holies. Know He who is ushering you in sanctified in My sight by His blood is able to sympathize with you in your weakness for He was tempted in every way but without sin. He can help you. And you come to My throne to receive mercy and find superabundant grace just when you need it. Hebrews 4:14-16. Without Me you can do nothing, but with Me, you can do all things in Him who strengthens you. Jesus suffered great persecution from his own family members and from his neighbors and friends but in this He never lost His peace that He rested in with Me. His glory came from Me. And so does yours. You may, like Isaiah, think you have uselessly spent your strength looking after an ungrateful and disobedient bunch but your reward is with Me. Isaiah 49:4 (“But I said, “I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, and my reward with my God.”)
A very good antidote to thoughts of bitterness or hate against a person in your heart is to begin thinking of the great things I have done for you in Christ and am doing for you through your time of trial and testing, “Let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28. I am Light and I am Love and Love consumes the hate in your heart, ignite that fire by praise and thanksgiving, by abiding in My Word that gives you hope and comfort. I am the God of peace and I will give you continual peace if you direct your mind to Me. The answer: whatever you do for the least of your brethren you are doing for Me. Do what you are doing to serve others, no matter their response, as unto Me, not for men. Ephesians 6:5-7. With good will render service as to Me and not to men. Go the extra mile that you would do for Me. For if you do not love your brother whom you have seen, how can you love Me whom you have not seen? Do not turn your back on your own. You sanctify the unbeliever who is willing to live with you and let you continue in the practice of your faith.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, you have peace with Me through your Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom you also have obtained your introduction by faith into the grace in which you stand, and you exult in hope of My glory. And not only this, but you also exult in your tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proven character and proven character hope. And hope does not disappoint, because My love has been poured out within your heart through the Holy Spirit, who was given to you. Romans 5:1-3. My gift of My love in you. It will pour in so much that the hatred will be flooded out. Just open your heart to receive, it will flush all the weeds out of your garden.
You have the anointing. And that is the anointing on Jesus, the Christ. And I tell you what it is. It is the anointing of joy, for My joy is your strength. And the anointing of joy sets you above your companions. Hebrews 1:9; Psalm 45:7.
I want you to be secure and safe in the place of grace in which, in Christ, you now stand through faith. I do not want you to be displaced by the strife of tongues, by the actions of those who have no God but their bellies. Pray that I rescue you from the wicked and dead and keep you with My saints instead. Be careful the company you choose as friends.
Watch your heart. No bitter roots. I will give you the grace to stay in the Holy Place and not to be moved. But you must stop harboring thoughts of hatred in your heart, this is a bitter root that will have offspring shoots. Let in the light and the love, be empowered from above. Stay in My hand, sheltered from the wicked band, where no evil can touch you or pull you into like response.
Do not be surprised if the world hates you, even your siblings, for you are of Me and the whole world lies in the evil one. 1 John 5:19. Stop going down to their level, you are in the world but not of the world.
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. They will lead you to self-righteousness, envy, hatred, discouragement, bitterness, fear, and lust. If anyone loves the world, My love is NOT in him. Watch for these. And watch yourself. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is NOT from Me, but is from the world. The world is passing away and its lusts, but the one who does My Will lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17.
The answer? Abide in Me. Abide in My Word and My Word in you. So that when I appear you will have confidence and not shrink away from Me in shame. 1 John 2:27-28.
The one who keeps My commandments abides in me and I in him. 1 John 3:24. And this is My commandment: Believe in the Name of My Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as He commanded you.
Faith in My Son sanctifies you and sets you apart for service, for worship. And what is that service? Many assignments but one purpose “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Jesus.” Acts 26:18. These were the instructions to Paul and they are the same for you. Pray for others to have a change of heart. A new heart instead of their stony heart. When you took Jesus as your Lord you got a new heart. Open it up to hear My voice.
I love you. It is by My doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to you wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31. Do not hate, pull out all roots of bitterness for they will defile you and spill out upon those you are resenting. Do not beat My sheep, feed My sheep, and that includes yourself.