2018 “The Year of Victory & Release from Bondage”

2018 “The Year of Victory & Release from Bondage”

What’s been oppressing you all these years? What’s been holding you back from your prophetic destiny in the Lord? What dreams and desires have you simply let go of, because you believed that it’s too late or that you are simply no longer qualified?

All throughout the bible, the Lord does things in appointed times and seasons - To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1. In Leviticus He says: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: These are my appointed times, the times of the LORD that you will proclaim as sacred assemblies” Leviticus 23:2. 

The number 18 in Hebrew has significant meaning in Jewish tradition and how timely this is with our current year of 2018. Let's look further at the Hebrew meaning. 

(Google Image of Chai)

According to Jewish custom, the word "chai' translated from Hebrew to English means "life." Within the Jewish faith, the word "chai" possesses both numerical and symbolic meaning. The Hebrew word consists of two (2) letters in the alphabet (image above): Chet (ח) and Yud (י). Together these letters form "chai" which signifies life and represents being alive. In Judaism, the word "chai" is numerically significant and the number 18 is universally synonymous with this word. Numerically, the words consists of the eighth (8th) and tenth (10th) letters of the Hebrew alphabet Chet (ח) and Yud (י), adding up to eighteen the number 18, which is also the word "Chai".  Reference: Shiva.com

To further illustrate the importance of the number 18, the Lord has been revealing to me in many ways that this year is the appointed season where He is setting His Body free from the things that have been oppressing us. This will be a supernatural deliverance from our bondages and the things the have held us back from enjoying His promises. As Jesus began his early ministry by reading the following passage, so the church is about to step into her destiny and will do the same miracles Jesus did!

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD's favor has come." Luke 4:18-19  

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Freedom from Bondage - 2018 is a very significant year for the Body of Christ. It is the year we are being released from our bondages and infirmities to enter our prophetic destinies. We have been bent over and crippled so to speak because of fear, lack, sickness and other bondages. The church in this hour will once again stand up and RISE up to praise God for His Glory and Faithfulness. We see this Hebrew number 18 again in Luke.  

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen (18) years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God… Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen (18) long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” 

Luke 13: 10-16

We are currently in the Hebrew year of jubilee (2017-18) which signifies a Sabbath. Just like Jesus healed this lady who was demonically oppressed for 18 long years on the Sabbath, so is the church (represented by the woman in this passage) will be set free from what has bound her. Today, in this jubilee year of freedom, Jesus is setting us free from everything that has held us back from our promise land (His Promises). All we need to do is come to Him and believe and trust in His word. This is the prophetic season to be set free from our crippling diseases and infirmities that have held us back!

Things Are About To Get Good! – Church, this is our hour to shine! It is time to dust of those hopes and dreams that we left in the valley of dry bones. The four winds are blowing and the mighty breath of God is moving upon us to renew us. It is time to let go of the fear, the disappointments, the hurts, and the sicknesses that have had us crippled in the past so that together we can all enter our destines!

As we are about to enter our promise land of freedom, we must be in agreement and alignment with God in order to be set free from the bondages (of the wilderness) that have kept us bound in unbelief. To conquer our Jericho’s, we must first be willing to listen to his voice by staying in His presence and be ready to obey. We must also desire true freedom (Galatians 5:13). It’s important to know that we don’t fight our way out in our own strength from the oppressions of bondage and sickness (this represents the flesh trying to get free by its own efforts). 

We start this process of freedom with genuine repentance (which is turning away from the old man and his ways). As we put on the new man and let go of any unbelief, we sow after the Spirit by trusting and obeying  His WORD. Just like the Israelites obeyed God and saw the walls fall down outside of Jericho, we too will have this similar victory in our life… “...Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit say’s the Lord Almighty” Zechariah 4:6

Age of Maturity - 18 also represents the age of maturity from childhood to adulthood. When a child turns 18 he or she is no longer under the legal supervision and authority of their parents. Likewise, in this prophetic year we are being released from the things that have been unfaithfully parenting us and holding us back from our destinies in Christ. Because of this, it’s also our time to grow up.  As Paul put it best…”When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me” 1 Corinthians 13:11

By faith and trust, we put away the past fears, disappointments and childish ways in order to move forward with new things that God has called us too. The Apostle Paul also expresses this well… “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:13-14

We may not be there yet, however, in this prophetic year, we are entering our maturity in Christ. Because of this, we must learn to let go of the old and fight with God’s promises. No land or victory thereof was ever won by a passive people. Could you imagine watching a baseball game where your favorite team never went up to bat? Every time it was their turn to bat, they just gave it to the opposing team so they could remain on the defensive. How could they ever score points and win? There would be no opportunity for victory. 

Well… it’s our time for Victory as the church, and we are up to bat. Its guaranteed victory for us who don’t give up. In the past we may have lost battles because of sin, disobedience or simply we may have been out of sync with Gods appointed season; however, in this 2018 prophetic season it will be different. This time we will win as we fight not for Victory, but from Victory because our home plate is the finished works of the Cross.

“You were dead because of your sins and because you’re sinful nature were not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the Cross” 

Colossians 2:13-15

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The Cross - Our Victory! Our spiritual enemy has been fully disarmed and defeated at the Cross! It’s not about what we’ve done, it’s about what He’s done. We fight not from the flesh, we fight by believing and confessing what His word says’s over us daily (see Joshua 1:8… another 18!) The power is in the Word of God and as we read, mediate and diligently speak His promises over us, we are set free from our bondages so that we can enter our true destines in Christ Jesus. This is all accomplished through our Faith. 

If you want true freedom in this prophetic season, consider making a list of what has been oppressing you all these years? It could be fear, doubt, worry, lack, sickness, lust, bitterness, unbelief, selfishness, generational sins and the like. Repent of any agreements and partnership with these things. Then ask God for His Love, Mercy and Forgiveness (See 1 John 1:19) giving you the power to walk in total freedom from these lies. Remember it’s by His grace alone, not our efforts; that we obtain freedom and remain free and it starts with trust and obedience to His word.

Confess the word of God over yourself on a daily basis and praise Him for His faithfulness even before you see the Victory. Strongholds are broken as we come in agreement with His truth. Here are just a few to help you, but don’t give up or back down even if you don’t see immediate results. Simply keep confessing these truths and others in the scriptures until you achieve your personal victory. His WORD does not return void and we succeed every time we know and obey the will of God. His will is for us to simply agree with Him. This is YOUR TIME to enter your prophetic destiny. Believe and receive your miracle for supernatural healing & deliverance!

I AM free from Sin – “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” Romans 6:18

I AM the Righteousness of God - “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21

I AM no Longer a slave to fear - “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” 2 Timothy 1:7

I AM Forgiven, Healed and Redeemed – “He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies” Psalm 103:3-4

God’s Promise to You!

“It is the same with my WORD. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow… These events will bring great honor to the LORD's name; they will be an everlasting sign of His Power and Love." Isaiah 55:11-13

Mourning or Joy?

One morning out of my heart I prayed the following prayer: "Lord, I want to grieve where you are grieving and to rejoice where you are rejoicing". I meant this from my heart and assumed that God would answer me, but I didn't realize how quickly He would answer this prayer. Later this same morning, He gave me the following vision.

In the vision I was standing before Jesus who was sitting on His throne. He was weeping. I was so shocked that I did not know to adequately comfort Him. I sensed in my Spirit that the Lord was weeping because His people were not believing His word (bible commands and promises to us).  

Jesus then handed me a bible with a sword placed on top of the pages and He said: "It brings me great Joy when you fight with my Word". He continues as He points to the bible..."I purchased all of those promises with my blood - JUST BELIEVE!"

After this revelation I heard in my spirit "Gird up your Loins". I actually did not know what that meant, but I thought to myself that sounds like something I read once in scripture. Sure enough its in two places in the new testament: "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 1:13 and again it says in Ephesians 6:14: "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness"

After I received the vision, Jesus shared the enemy's strategy which is "to take the fight out of my children". Think about this for a minute....if we are not willing to fight then we won't stand for the truth when its most needed. The authors of the new testament were constantly reminding us to stay sober and alert. To be watchful and ready with the truth of Gods word in our hearts and on our lips ready to stand and fight for His promises.

And just as importantly, we are to keep our Hope fully trusting in His Grace. It reminds me of the lyrics from the song "Oh Lord" by Lauren Daigle that say's "I will stand my ground where Hope can be found". During this revelation, I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit putting "the belt of truth" on me. What a powerful impression God was making about the importance of girding ourselves to His truth. Its the truth that sets us free! We must have a love and hope for the truth to overcome.

Soon after this stunning vision, I realized that we actually have the power to bring either sorrow or joy to our Lord and it all depends on what we do with His Word. Why is this so personal to Jesus? Because He is the "word that became flesh". When we believe His word, we are believing and honoring Him. And when we are fighting for the promises He gave us (especially in the face of difficulties or even defeat) we are bringing Him Joy. However, when we are allowing defeat and unbelief to infiltrate our thinking and actions we are bringing Jesus grief.

The vision was such a real example of how our action and attitude towards His word affects our Lord. Its a powerful reminder to us all to take the word of God seriously. However, we are not to be in a place of fear and regret, but rather, God wants us to pick up His word with a new boldness and courage rejoicing over His blood bought promises to us. Its time we stop weeping over our past failures and current setbacks and starting rejoicing over His faithfulness to us in His word by believing His promises for us.

Therefore, I want to encourage all of us to simply take Jesus at His word. Get in the bible daily and start standing and believing His promises to us. It brings Him great Joy when we choose to stand and believe in the face of trials and difficulties not relenting from His promises! Our breakthrough has already been promised to us in His word. And the power of our breakthrough is locked up in His promises...waiting for our believing faith to open and release it. When we do this, it brings Him great Joy and as the scriptures declare...The Joy is the Lord is our Strength!

So Rejoice! Don't let the enemy take the fight out of you. Jesus already PAID the price for all of God's promises for us to claim and walk in: "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ..." 2 Corinthians 1:20. We all have a destiny to fulfill. Now is our time to advance into 2018 with courage and fortitude. By doing so, together as the church we will step into our prophetic destinies, but we must have believing faith in His promises to do so. God told Joshua when he was entering the promise land to spend time DAILY meditating on His word:

"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8).

Notice that there was a condition to Joshua's success. He needed to meditate on the word of God daily (morning and night) and THEN he would be successful in the promise land. The same is true for us today. We need to spend more time in His word. So let's take the word of God seriously and step into our callings for us and for our families. Amen?

"...This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, ....This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8: 9-10

"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" Isaiah 55:11

The Faith To Forgive

The Holy Spirit is such a good teacher! He led me into His word one Sunday morning and this is what I got from just a few versus from Luke Chapter 17. As I was reading the versus I mention below, I felt such an anointing that I knew it was a message that the Lord wanted me to understand, retain and share with others. As I set my heart to understand and meditate on His word this is the revelation I got. In the epistle of John, it say's the following: “…His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as He has taught you, remain in Him” 1 John: 2:27. We can trust His leading as we set our hearts to understand the scriptures at a deeper level. Therefore, I submit this revelatory teaching to you, taught not by human wisdom or understanding, but I believe by the spirit of God. 

In the bible we are instructed over and over again about the importance of faith. We know that we are saved by grace through faith. This means that our faith is not only important to God, but paramount to a victorious walk. Because of this, our spiritual enemy will do everything he can do circumvent our faith walk. Its a house of cards, if our faith is built on anything less than the words and commands of Jesus. This why the scriptures remind us: "Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, strong in your faith..." 1 Peter 5: 8-9.

Our spiritual enemy wants to devour our faith. He does this by getting our focus off of the word of God and unto our circumstances. He will use many things to attempt these distractions. One of these distractions is to set up road blocks that hinder our faith. He will deceive us into thinking we need to fight for ourselves instead of trusting God. One of the most common road blocks he uses is unforgiveness in the heart of the believer. Let’s take a look at the verses in Luke together...

“So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them. The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”. He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree (Sycamine Tree), ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” Luke 17: 3-6 NIV

Jesus starts by warning his disciples to watch themselves. Many times, when we have been in church for awhile, we tend to get our eyes off of Jesus and pursuing Him with passion. We can become distracted with what others are saying, doing or not doing (especially if it affects us). In many Christian relationships there can be disappointment, betrayal, and gossip that leads to further wounding's. These wounding's can all be a set up for an offense. In this teaching, Jesus is cautioning His disciples to be on guard against themselves. So what do we need guard ourselves from? Pride. We need to be extra careful of a spirit of Pride that can leak into the church. Pride will cause us to focus on ourselves (how we were hurt) instead of how to love those who are unlovely (pray for our enemies). This sort of self-focused thinking will always leads to unforgiveness and offense in the heart of the wounded believer. 

In these passages, Jesus instructs his disciples to not only forgive, but to forgive up to 7 times a day!  This statement seemed so impossible to the apostles that their only response was “Lord, increase our Faith”!. They needed more faith to believe and apply what Jesus was saying. Its hard to implement our faith when we are struggling with a grudge towards our brother or sister. Really it a lack of love because love does not keep a record of wrongs. The answer to this dilemma is Faith working through Love. It takes FAITH, operating through love, to forgive those who sin against us especially if its multiple times and/or has caused much damage. 

Think about this...Jesus responded with such an impossible number (7 times in a single day!) to warn his disciples against the sin of holding unforgiveness in their hearts. By forgiving others when they sin against us, we are choosing to walk in faith because we are submitting to God's word over what our feelings are saying. Let's read this verse again to gain a deeper understanding of the number 7 and why Jesus used this in his teaching about forgiveness: "Even if they sin against you seven times in a day...you must forgive them"

Why does Jesus use the number 7? In Hebrew the number 7 represents divine perfection or completion. In this parable, Jesus is really expressing the need to forgive our brothers and sisters until our forgiveness (from the heart) is complete. Too often we tend to forgive people because we know its the right thing to do; however, the bitterness towards that person or what they did is still lurking underneath the surface (hidden in our thoughts, feelings and emotions). These feelings are strongholds (in our roots) that need to be uprooted.

To further illustrate the importance of forgiving from the heart, let us read Mathew 18. This is a sobering parable about forgiving our brothers/sisters from the heart and/or what happens if we do not: “Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you? In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." Mathew 18: 33-35

In the illustration above, Jesus is putting the forgiveness from the Father towards us into perspective. We must forgive from the heart if we want to be forgiven. True forgiveness then requires faith, working through love, for the forgiveness to be complete. Love does not keep a record of wrongs and faith always obeys God. The two working together makes the impossible actually possible. We know that Faith is pleasing to God and when we forgive by Faith (apart from how we feel) we are pleasing to God.

It's important to note here that we simply cannot forgive people in our own strength. It’s only by His grace towards us through our faith and empowered by the Holy Spirit that we can actually forgive sins. The same process that brought us forgiveness is how we forgive others. We receive forgiveness of our sins by faith and grace, so we also forgive others by that same faith and giving grace to others...especially when they don't deserve it, otherwise it wouldn't be grace.

The Power of Forgiveness 

The mark of a true Christian is not their church attendance, their good works or even their confession of the word of God. The true mark of a believer is their ability to love and forgive others no matter how large the offense. Remember one of the final words from our Lord on the Cross is "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing". And to cement this importance, almost immediately after the resurrection, one of the first encounters Jesus has with his disciples is the empowerment to forgive others. . . “And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit” If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven…” John 20:22-23.

It's the Holy Spirit that empowers us to forgive others. This is why we are taught multiple times in scripture to walk in the Spirit (not in the flesh). This teaching was the central message of the gospel then and its the same for us today. Really...the ability to forgive others is the basis of our faith. Without it we are powerless as believers. Forgiveness was also the central message of Jesus and when He spoke, He would often speak forgiveness to an individual that required healing. We see this in Luke chapter 5 shortly after Jesus starts His ministry. 

Luke 5:18-22

“Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their FAITH, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?”

Notice how Jesus does not address the fact that this man was paralyzed; He simply say's "Friend, your sins are Forgiven" and immediately the man is healed. Our Faith proceeds forgiveness and then healing (both physical and emotional) comes as a result. But, notice how the Pharisees responded. They were holding a grudge because of the forgiveness and goodness of God. This is where Satan deceives God's people. He will whisper lies to us primarily through our emotions (empowered by pride) when others sin against so that we do not fully forgive our brother or sister from our hearts. This puts us into a spiritual prison making us ineffective to be salt and light. 

Our spiritual enemy is after our faith and when we do not forgive from the heart, we are not operating in faith. When we are struggling with unforgiveness (even a grudge) towards others, we (like the Pharisees) are adopting religious and judgmental thinking. In this situation, Jesus would say to us today: “Why are you thinking these things in your heart?”. I can almost hear Jesus saying....Why are you thinking thoughts of bitterness towards others when I have forgiven you of so much? When we hold a grudge towards others who have offended us, we have lost sight of the fact that we were forgiven of all of our sins. This is a dangerous place to live because it grieves His Spirit. 

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, FORGIVING each other, just as in Christ God FORGAVE YOU” Ephesians 4:30-32

In the scriptures forgiveness is not a suggestion....its a command from our Lord. Forgiveness also requires trust - a trust that God will make it right. Choosing to forgive is not ignoring what happened, but it is remembering what happened to Jesus. More specifically, what we did (our own sins) that put Him up there. Once we get a heartfelt understanding and revelation of the cross, we can then more easily let go of the grudges and bitterness that might haunt us daily.

Forgiving others (no matter what they have done) is always a trust issue. Not in the offender, but in God. Do we trust God to make it right? Do we trust what His word say's? The Lord told me one morning "Forgiveness is the key to Trust". When we forgive others we are trusting God because its His command to us who believe. Therefore, we could use the following acronym for FAITH to help us to remember the importance of practicing forgiveness in our faith walk.  

Forgiving Always In Trusting Him

Forgiveness is the 1st base in our Christian walk and it’s absolutely foundational to our growth and maturity in Christ. Remember the Lord’s Prayer: “forgive us of our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned us against us”. We cannot simply forgive when we feel like it. We forgive (by faith) because we choose to obey His commands. “Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” John 14:23. Back to our parable in Luke 17…

"And the Lord 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 KJV

This is such a powerful verse and filled with so many connotations. Notice how Jesus likens using our Faith to speaking to a particular tree and pulling it up by the roots. More specifically a Sycamine Tree (some versions call is a mulberry tree; however, the correct translation is from the New King James version - a Sycamine Tree). So why does Jesus use the Sycamine Tree in His parable to symbolize unforgiveness? For starters, a tree and more specifically the fruit, can symbolize something in regards to the root system.

Go back to the garden and what was the focus in the beginning of time? You guessed it! There was a tree with certain fruit to avoid. More specifically….the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why did God want to keep mankind from eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Because the fruit from eating from this tree is judging for ourselves what is good and what is evil instead letting God judge by trusting Him. Jesus points us to a very important truth using a tree in this parable as His illustration on how to have more faith to forgive. Let's read this verse again...

"And the Lord 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 KJV

In the old testament God puts man and woman in the garden. I believe in the new testament God puts the garden in us (our hearts). We have many trees in the garden of our heart. Some are good, yet some are very harmful to our faith and they need to uprooted. Why do these trees need to be uprooted? Because they hinder our love and forgiveness towards others, which blocks our own faith, healing and forgiveness. Our love towards others in what our faith is really about.

Let's visit how Jesus answers a Pharisee who was trying to justify himself about the law: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Mathew 22:36-40

"And the Lord 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 KJV

All of the law hangs on our ability to love God and others. And Jesus teaches us in Luke 17:6 what blocks our ability to operate in faith and love towards others. He say’s a mustard seed (small amount) of faith can actually uproot this tree that is an obstacle to our faith. In others words just a little faith can do a lot of forgiveness. Every one of us has dealt with an unloving person that has sinned against us allowing unforgiveness and the roots of bitterness to surface. This tree, in our hearts, has a voice and it speaks to our emotions causing us to meditate on the evil done to us instead of the goodness of God. This tree (similar to the knowledge of good and evil) keeps knowledge (a record) of others sins including our own and it demands justice, shame and/or condemnation.

In order to have victory in our Christian walk, we need stop eating its fruit; however, we cannot stop there. We need to cut it down, but that's still not enough. We must uproot this tree (by the root system) in order for it to be effective. It's important to mention here that we cannot never forgive others by focusing on the sin done against us. Rather, we put our focus on removing the tree that is producing the thoughts of bitterness and offense towards others. The thoughts and feelings are coming from within not from the outside. In other words, by uprooting the tree, out goes the difficulty of forgiving our brothers and sisters because the tree (or memory) that remembers the sin is gone. It might sound impossible and it is apart from God, and that's why we can only do this by faith.

Now that we understand the need to garden our own hearts, let’s look into more detail on why Jesus specifically picked the Sycamine Tree in this passage. There are 4 primary characteristics of a Sycamine tree that I want to discuss here. It's absolutely amazing and it makes so much sense on why Jesus picked this tree out of all trees that could hinder our faith and love.

1. Roots- Every tree has a root system and the roots always produce the fruits. The Sycamine tree had a very large and deep root structure. Because its roots went down so deep, it was hard to kill. In fact, its roots were so deep that taps into underground water sources. Even if you cut its base, the tree was unaffected and could stay alive by its deep root system alone. Roots of bitterness go down deep in the human heart and lie hidden in the soil of the heart. These bitter roots will suck the water (representing life) out of us.

2. Spiritually Dry- This tree grew quickly and for that reason it was famous in the Middle East. Unforgiveness and bitterness grows quickly and get's out of control. It starts with thoughts of offense and turns into accusation. Also, this tree grows the best in dry conditions. When we are spiritually dry, bitterness runs rapid. In addition, the Sycamine tree’s wood was the preferred wood for building caskets and coffins! What an example to show us how deadly bitterness and unforgiveness is. It will kill your joy, peace and spiritual life. It will kill relationships. In the end it leads to death using its own wood for the casket of the one who desires its fruit. 

3. Bitter Figs - The Sycamine tree produced a fig that was very bitter to eat. This fruit was so bitter; it took a long time to eat little by little. That is what bitterness does. We keep chewing on it over and over again which hinders our faith and forgiveness towards others. Only poor people would eat it to represent their spiritual poverty. The bitterness would keep them in a place of poverty. A poverty of short sightedness. This poverty is different than being poor in spirit (broken in heart). Its poverty thinking that keeps us poor in faith. 

4. Wasps - The Sycamine tree was pollinated ONLY by WASPS. It could be reproduced only by wasps stinging it right in its heart. You could say through the sting of bitterness unforgiveness is reproduced on our lives. The devil desires to pollinate our hearts by stinging us with bitterness - remembering people’s sins, keeping a record of wrongs, and holding a grudge. In short, the Sycamine tree is a tree of unforgiveness with deep bitter roots. The scriptures make a sober warning to us all. “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 12:15. To partner with bitterness is to come short of the grace of God. To put it another way, we fail to walk in God’s grace when we are partnering with bitterness towards others or even ourselves. This is a dangerous place to live and not only does it hinder our own healing it can kill our faith.

Its no wonder why Jesus would use this tree as his illustration on how to uproot bitterness from our lives so that we can truly forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus say’s if we just use a small amount of faith (size of a mustard seed) we can uproot ALL unforgiveness and bitterness; however, we must desire to do it from the heart. Faith always works through Love and when our faith partners with God's unconditional love, we can uproot these deadly trees from our hearts.  “

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” Galatians 5:6

Jesus ends this amazing parable with a final truth using our faith: "be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea". Why a sea and not a lake, river or pond? Because the sea is the same place He hurled our sins: "You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea" Micah 7:19

Jesus is instructing His disciples to plant those sins done against us in the same place where God placed our sins...in the depths of the sea to be remembered no more. When we have an issue forgiving others, we really have an issue with receiving Gods compassion and forgiveness towards us. A bitter attitude not only makes us spiritually poor, but it also leads to feeling defeated, depressed, sick, and financially poor as well. If we choose by FAITH to forgive others, we are uprooting this tree from our hearts. We are choosing the Tree of Life instead of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By choosing forgiveness we are choosing life. Therefore choose life, and choose by FAITH to uproot this tree in your garden!  

Please take a moment and ask the Holy Spirit if there is anyone you need to forgive. It could be a person or an event and even yourself. Then choose to forgive, with His help, and most importantly ask for His guidance to remove any bitter roots from your heart so you are not dealing with unhitched emotions again. I pray this blesses you. God bless you!

Credits:

Some of the article above about the Sycamine tree was inspired and copied from Rick Renner's post below. Its a great article and I encourage you to read it.

http://www.renner.org/forgiveness/why-jesus-compared-unforgiveness-to-the-sycamine-tree/

Every Promise is Yes and Amen!

“So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” Isaiah 55:11 

The Lord said one day. "I am looking for willing vessels who come in agreement with my word, so that my purposes may be accomplished on the earth". Isn't that amazing? God wants and needs us to accomplish His purposes on the earth. Better said...God requires our obedience (our agreement with His word) to accomplish His purposes which are for our good. Imagine what it would be like to know that when we pray we can have confidence knowing that He not only hears us, but that He desires to bring our prayers to pass because He loves us and He has already promised answers to us in His word.  

Then one day while in a place of needing breakthrough, the Lord gave me a great understanding of this truth. Because of this, I wanted to know if I could make a handshake agreement with God. This is where I could know for sure that I could count on Him to hear and answer me - such as..."God I will do this if you do that". I know this might sound childish or even irreverent, but I needed a breakthrough and wanted the assurance the Lord would answer me. The truth is that I was dealing with some doubts and insecurities, and I was searching for more confidence in God's faithfulness. While meditating on these things, I fell asleep on my sofa with my phone turned onto auto-play listening to worship music on YouTube.

When I woke up...I heard a familiar song playing on my phone, and still weak from my nap, I could hear the chorus in the background: "Every promise is "Yes" and Amen" by Bethel Music. These fantastic lyrics would just repeat and reverberate over and over again: "Every promise is "YES" and Amen". "That's it!", I thought. Through His Word, God has already given us a "handshake agreement"! He has confirmed in His word His faithfulness to hear us and answer us. Jesus has qualified us for our "Yes" to every promise God has made. The scriptures make a very bold statement in 2 Corinthians. That this promise He makes us is: ..."Yes" in Jesus Christ"... God is glorified when we pray in faith using the name of Jesus. Let's look at this verse in more detail.

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God” 2 Corinthians 1:20

The Vision

Immediately following this scripture revelation, I saw an incredible 2-part vision. In the vision, I saw the Father on His throne and He was engaged in answering the prayers of His people. It was an amazing revelation on when, how and why God answers our prayers. I share this vision in detail below.

The First Vision:

In the first vision, I saw the Father (on His throne) beholding the prayers of His people. He was expectantly leaning down into their prayers wanting to hear the cry of their hearts. As the Father listened, I could tell by His response that He was troubled... Something was wrong. As I continued to watch him intently, His body language showed that He was grieved. I sensed in my spirit that these prayers were not faith-filled prayers being made by His people. My discernment was that He was grieving because this group of believers was praying more from a place of fear, need and separation than from a place of faith (knowing that He hears us through his Word qualified through Jesus). Then immediately I saw the Father sit back into His chair and sigh, as He stared off into the distance. He had a longing in His heart... A longing for His people to trust Him at His word. As a result, He could not answer the prayers because they were not made in a "believing" Faith.

We must come to the Father with a heart of faith and expectancy, not doubting, in order for Him to move on our behalf. Unfortunately, nothing happened in heaven in response to these prayers... not so much because God did not want to answer the prayers, but He couldn't answer the prayers because He is bound by His word. I could also sense that this group of believers all had valid needs, but they were close to "begging type prayers" and not faith-filled prayers. These believers did not have a full revelation of Gods faithfulness to His promises. "but when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord" James 1:6-7

The 2nd Vision:

Suddenly, I was caught up in another vision. I sensed a new group of believers were praying, and once again the Father would lean down into their prayers... listening gracefully. This time I could tell from His body language that He was pleased with their prayers because "Faith is pleasing to God." This group was praying His word and reminding God of His faithful promise to hear their requests because of His promise made to Jesus: "Every promise is "Yes" in Christ". In the natural, this could look like declaring what the Word says about our situation, not what our circumstances are saying. Such as Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose". When we meditate on these promises we can extract our Faith from His faithfulness to His own promises made to us. Faith comes by hearing God's word. We see this also in Romans 10:17: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God".

This faith (that comes from hearing and believing the word) gives us empowerment to believe and trust God's faithfulness. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for..",  and I sensed this 2nd group was praying from a heart of thankfulness and trust... believing the answer was already met in Gods Word. They were not looking at their circumstances, they were looking to God's faithfulness. They chose to walk by faith, and not by sight. The Father was pleased with their faith and confidence in His Word. 

Suddenly...I saw a white being (I think it was an angel) present some kind of official document to the Father. This document represented the prayers from this 2nd group of believers. The Father then personally signs the document and immediately gave it to a host of angels that were standing nearby His throne. I sensed these angels were expectantly waiting for their next assignment. As soon as the angels received this signed document, they quickly dashed off resolutely focused on their new mission. Nothing could stop these angels from their mission to answer the prayers that were just made in Faith by this 2nd group. It was quite an incredible vision of Heaven's response to prayers made in Faith.

I pondered the significance of this document and what made it so powerful... when the Father signed the angels moved into immediate action. A few days later, I got the answer from a devotional by Craig Hill (a seasoned Christian author and speaker). In this devotional, Craig was highlighting the authority that believers have when they pray in the name of Jesus. He likened it to a Power of Attorney. A Power of Attorney is an official document that gives legal power and authority from one individual to another to do something on their behalf. In other words, its delegated authority that carries the power to execute on the One in authority. 

That's it! I thought. "It's a Power of Attorney!" As a result of the prayers made in Faith, God gave His Angels kingdom authority to answer the prayers. Remember Jesus said “…so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you” John 15:16. When the angels were sent off to answer the prayers of this 2nd group, they had this Power of Attorney in hand and all of heaven was backing them up. Because of the faith of this 2nd group, they moved heaven into action. Their faith (not their needs) gave the angels the authority they needed to help bring answers to their prayers. We actually co-labor with the angels when we pray in Faith and it releases tremendous power and authority on our behalf. God is faithful to His Word and He is looking for a people who will simply trust Him at his word.

Remember Abraham. His faith was tested after He was given a promise. However, he chose to believe in the impossible even when He (and Sarah) were considered too old to have children. He held onto God's prophetic promise in the midst of doubts and against all hope... notice the word "hope" here. The enemy seeks to "kill, steal and destroy" our hope during the "trials of patience" while waiting on answered prayers. We see this below in Romans...

"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and....without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised" Romans 4:18-21

Did you catch that? Abraham faced the facts of his circumstances even though it was contrary to the promise God gave him. He did not waver in unbelief, because He trusted (had hope in) God at His word. He held onto God's word even through the difficult seasons of life. True Faith is always tested in patience with circumstances that are beyond our control and understanding. In James 1:2-3 it says, "count it ALL joy when you face various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." The good news is, we too can have this same confidence in God like Abraham. We know this because His word promises us that hears us when we pray according to His will. 

In summary, let's consider the two following outcomes... Both groups were praying to God and both groups had valid needs that required the Lord to move. However, only one of the groups had the faith God was looking for ALLOWING HIM to move on their behalf. God responds to our prayers made in Faith not to our prayers made in desperation. Again we see this in scripture: "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" James 1:6

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him" 1 John 5:14-15 

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God” 2 Corinthians 1:20

It's worth mentioning here that delays will inevitably happen and in fact are quite normal, if not absolutely necessary... One thing is for sure, our faith will be tested. There is going to be enemy resistance to our prayers made in faith. Remember when Daniel prayed the answer did not come immediately. We see this truth noted in the scriptures: "Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia" Daniel 10:12-13. Its important that we don't give up and keep praying and believing for our miracle (warring and ministering angels are on the way). 

Finally, the Lord told me one day: "Heaven is ready to agree with you, are you ready to agree with Heaven?" Our Father is looking for our agreement with His promises and the angels find it necessary. God is ready to sign our power of attorney and release His angels to answer our prayers. He is looking for our faith in His word in which Jesus qualified us for a "Yes". It's important that we stay resolute in our faith expecting to hear from God and expecting to receive answers to our prayers. The Lord sends His delegated authority through His angels when we pray in in Jesus' name. It's time for us to get in the word and start praying, believing and making declarations of faith! I pray that the Lord will fill your heart with His Grace and the fullness of Faith to be bold in your prayer closet. Amen?

"You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it" John 14:14

"Bless the LORD, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word!" Psalm 103:20 

"If you remain in Me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" John 15:7

One final thought. When we trust in God’s word, we are saying to the Father that we trust in His faithfulness to Jesus because Jesus is the word: "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" - John 1:14. Think about this for a minute. Is the Father faithful to Jesus? Yes! Of course! Therefore we can trust that the Father is faithful to answer every promise He has made because they are all "Yes, in Christ" (who is the word). Jesus representing 'the word' is our advocate before the Father to have our prayers answered. The more the word flows from our hearts and out through our lips, the more we look and sound like Jesus. He did give us the "power of life and death" through our words... so LET OUR WORDS BE HIS WORD! God bless you all!

Credits:

Thank you Curtis Simpson for your great help in editing this document.