In yesterday’s DWOD, we were alerted to the danger of allowing a bitter root to develop in our spirits. “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:15)

The picture demonstrated how a small tree root could grow into a monster that takes up an entire sewer pipe, aided and abetted by the abundance of moisture.

Let’s consider a scenario in which you are fully aware that you have indeed allowed a bitter root to be planted. You know it must be removed. You are confident that it is still in the early stages of growth, so it can be removed before it gets bigger and causes a blockage, resulting in sewage backing up into the house.

While you are seeking Holy Spirit to remove that root with the help of a counselor or a ministry team, the root will keep on growing unless…

Unless you pay attention to the feeders.

What is a feeder, you ask?

Well, a feeder is any contributing factor that allows the root to grow and expand until it eliminates the possibility of anything flowing through it.

In the case of the sewer pipe, ironically it is the water (sewage) flowing through it which permits the root to prosper. So, for the root to stop growing completely, the water supply needs to be cut off totally.

Since this is virtually impossible in a typical house, one could stunt the growth of the root by
a.    reducing the moisture that is available to it or
b.    by changing what flows through it.

How does this translate into the bitter root scenario to which we referred earlier?

There are two basic ways in which we facilitate the flourishing of the bitter root.

Firstly, we do this on our own, simply by regurgitating, rehearsing, re-living and brooding over the cause of the bitterness over and over again. This has the effect of giving the root moisture to keep on growing bigger.

Secondly, we do this with the help of others, by placing ourselves in an environment where we allow them to add moisture to the growing of the root.

When family members, co-workers, friends, strangers on coffee row, lawyers or whoever else, start sharing their own reasons for holding on to bitterness and encourage you to do the same, it is as though your bitter root received a supply of water (or is it sewage?) that promotes its growth.

Movies and TV shows we watch that extol the virtues of vengeance, popular music that invites us to stay in the place of revenge, books that encourage getting back at those who hurt us—watch out for these feeders!

Deciding not to dwell on the hurt and to stop receiving the unhelpful input of others will indeed go a long way towards stunting the growth of the root.

Next, we need to change what flows through. The love of the Father is the place to start, amen? “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

Several years ago, when I became aware of a bitter root in my spirit, I increased the amount of time I spent soaking in the presence of the Lord. It was amazing to see how Holy Spirit used that time to replace the sewage of hatred with the water of love. It was the love of the Father that kept the root from getting bigger.

Another thing I trained myself to do was to offer forgiveness every time an angry thought arose or a flashback of a hurt popped up on my internal screen. That also had the effect of changing what flowed through.

These measures kept me going until the root could be pulled out through prayer ministry.

Dear DWOD friend, what else have you done to prevent the bitter root from growing in your spirit? Please share with the rest of us, will you?