AWM Importance of Forgiveness Recovery Program
Agenda Session 7 – July 16, 2013
1. Start session with prayer – ask Holy Spirit to give you understanding and give you inner healing
2. Study each session carefully – this program is focused on healing of the spirit, soul, & body
3. If you have any questions, contact me via email
4. Close in Prayer – pray what you feel in your heart – this is your time between you and God and as you spend time with Him, you will deepen your personal relationship with Him
5. SESSION 8 WILL BE POSTED JULY 23RD
Importance of Forgiveness Recovery Program – Part 1G – 1 – Session 7 – July 16th
III. Take Action By Taking Responsibility (continued):
C. Bitterness – Levels of Bitterness (4-6):
4. Anger – Unforgiveness first gains a foothold, and then resentment gains a foothold. Next, retaliation gains a foothold. Each of these manifests itself in ways that are progressively worse than the other. When retaliation wins its foothold, bitterness sends out anger and wrath. Anger and wrath are outward expressions that remind others that we are not going to forgive them, that we resent them, and that we plan to get even. With anger, we have crossed a line. Anger gives the evil spirit a voice. Unforgiveness, resentment, and retaliation can be kept unspoken, eating away at a person's own spirit through self-deception. Anger is caused by the root of bitterness, because of unforgiveness, resentment and retaliation. Maybe you have experienced this yourself. We all have. We get angry when a trust has been breached, resulting in hurt. We feel victimized. Then unforgiveness, resentment and retaliation well up and overflow with the fourth spirit, anger and wrath.
5. Hatred - After anger and wrath have gained their foothold, hatred moves in. Bitterness gains fuel from unforgiveness, resentment, retaliation, and anger and wrath. Now hatred starts a process of elimination. Hatred says, "I live on this planet and so do you. And one of us has to go and it ain't going to be me." Hatred seeks to eliminate the other person.
Retaliation ferments anger on behalf of bitterness. Anger vocalizes bitterness, and next comes hatred to act out of bitterness. Hatred reveals your feelings toward an offender, tells them that they don't belong in your world, and you absolutely hate their guts. Hatred says, "I will do what it takes to get even. "Hatred provides the fuel for the final level of bitterness. Violence - The sixth level of bitterness is violence. Violence is anger and hatred set into motion. Our emotions erupt into physical or sometimes hate-filled verbal attacks. Fights erupt.
6. Murder - The seventh (there is six levels but when we include unforgiveness, the beginning, we get seven levels) and worst spirit in the principality of bitterness is murder. Just as Cain slew Abel because of his bitterness, so we see others murder their children, spouses or friends in fits of rage. The spirit of murder includes more than taking someone's physical life. God's Word teaches how we can murder someone with our words. Murder starts in the heart, because the ultimate level of the spirit of bitterness is the elimination of someone's person-hood. 1 John 3:15 says, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Murderous hate-filled speech, driven by bitterness, kills a person's own spirit. Whether it is the person who is doing the screaming and his speech crucifies his own sense of decency, or a person who receives a verbal attack, whose spirit shrinks in fear, the end result is a death of a Godly, peaceful spirit.
May God Continually Bless You and Keep You!
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks
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NOTE: These materials in the AWM Importance of Forgiveness Program are copyright protected therefore you must request permission to reproduce any part of this material. To request permission, please contact Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks: dehooks@abusedwoman.org.
