Servias Ministries Blog

Bitterness and jealousy masquerade as the need for justice!

The biggest battleground we face is the mind.  It’s in our thought world.  Bitterness refers to a deep-seated resentment, anger, and negativity, often stemming from feelings of being treated unfairly or wronged. It’s a destructive force that can corrode relationships and hinder spiritual growth.  We see ourselves as victims who want justice.

James recorded by The Holy Spirit in James chapter 3:

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of Wisdom.

14 But if there is bitter jealousy or competition hiding in your heart, then don’t deny it and try to compensate for it by boasting and being phony.

15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17]But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Wrong thinking is where the demonic hides.  Jealousy is the desire for what someone else possesses and is a form of idolatry.  One thinks that they should have what the other person possesses and is viewed as not being fair or just.  We must root out this subtle form of idolatry.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in 2^nd Corinthians chapter 10:

3 For although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energized with Divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide.

5 We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.

6 Since we are armed with such dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience.

Paul also wrote by The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 4:

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the Life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak Truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.

27 nor give place to the devil.

28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

If you are dealing with bitterness, resentment, or jealousy, you need to repent and confess your sin.  You must not give place to the devil but instead, be forgiving just as Jesus forgave you.  We need to succeed in feeling GOD’S Heart for the person in question.  The opposite of Love is not hate, it is indifference.  We can’t know another person’s heart and motives, only FATHER can.  We must let HIM deal with any perceived injustice as we walk in Love and forgiveness.

If you will wash another person’s feet, you will find out why they walk the way they do.  Think about it.  We are to serve and Love people as Jesus did.

Why is there such emphasis on patience?

We all have trials and how we deal with them determines the final results.  GOD’S process is slow because HIS interest isn’t in the outcome, it’s in the process.  Maturity doesn’t happen overnight.  Seeds planted don’t produce fruit all at once.  Our society encourages impatience by developing our mindset to focus on how fast versus how complete and how excellent.

James recorded by The Holy Spirit in James chapter 1:

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

In other Words, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

As I wrote yesterday, patience will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.  How joyful it will be to walk in full maturity in the areas you were formally walking in immaturity!  Maturity occurs in the journey.

Could you be patient for forty years?  Joshua and Caleb were, and in the end, they received their reward.

It is recorded by The Holy Spirit in Deuteronomy chapter 8:

1 “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers.

2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every Word that proceeds from the Mouth of the LORD.

4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD Your God chastens you.

6 “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD Your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills;

8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

FATHER has to chasten us so that we will walk in maturity and be good stewards as we walk in the power and authority of Jesus Christ.  HE will not give such power to the immature who would abuse the privilege.  Patience is required to achieve such maturity.

Unwavering patience develops complete trust in THE LORD.

King David recorded by The Holy Spirit in Psalm chapter 21:

7 For the king trusts in YAHWEH, and he will never stumble, never fall. The forever-Love of the Most High holds him firm.

As kings and priests, we should walk in the same mindset as David.

We all like the breakthrough when it happens.  Will we walk in joy while we are in the midst of the process of maturing?  What we are in the journey is what THE FATHER values.  It’s the day-by-day decisions to renew the mind to fully trust IN HIM for the outcome.  It’s the day-by-day decisions to put the Word of THE LORD in response to what we are confronting.  We guard our hearts with HIS Word expressed through declaration, confession, praise, and worship.

It takes nothing for GOD to take Israel out of Egypt and just plant them in The Promised Land, but they don’t have the character to stay there.  They will wander out.  If they don’t go through a journey to get there, the maturity developed in the journey is what keeps them there.

For you and me, it is the process that enables us to steward the wealth of fulfillment of the process.  The delay is to help us to see what is hard to see otherwise.

I don’t need the fruits of THE SPIRIT if I don’t have others in my life.  Those who are mature are intended to minister to those who are not.  Instead of complaining about the immature, we are to minister life to them.  I assure you that it will take patience on our part.  If we don’t learn patience, we will live a frustrated life.

We are to confront our challenges with joy!

We all have trials and how we deal with them determines the final results.  Without the proper approach, the problem will constantly bind us in fear

James recorded by The Holy Spirit in James chapter 1:

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

In other Words, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

FATHER is inviting us into freedom.  We are to profit from our trials.  It’s not mind over matter freedom nor is it hype.  It’s not to psych yourself up.  The substance of liberty is at the end of this verse: patience will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.

The end result of “count it all joy” is that you are perfect, complete, lacking nothing.  The implication is that if I don’t count it joy when I face certain trials, I am incomplete, immature, and I will always be lacking.

How do you extract the nutrients or benefits from a trial?  There are a lot of people who are in all sorts of trials, and they are not becoming more like Jesus.  When you can give thanks in the midst of a trial, you have just tapped into how to extract out of that which the enemy designed to destroy you, and THE LORD reverses the effect so that it actually becomes the thing that sets you up with maturity, stability, and complete total provision.

Because THE LORD can see the end from the beginning, HE can come to you and minister joy at the beginning of your trial, knowing that in the end, you will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  You start choosing joy and start offering thanks in the midst of trial.  In doing this, you are going to cause the effect of that thing that was designed to destroy to be the very thing that promotes you into completeness, maturity, strength, and provision!

There is provision in the trial.  It isn’t just to help you endure.  Yes, endurance is important, he who endures to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22, 24:13, Mark 13:13).

In this particular case, there is an invitation for triumph and an invitation for open vindication.  What is meant to take you out and cause you to lack is actually your point of access for personal gain and abundance in all areas of your life.

That problem that is so intimidating to you is actually breakfast.  Consider what Joshua and Caleb said by The Holy Spirit in Numbers chapter 14:

6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;

7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.

8 If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’

9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.”

An expression of faith comes from two guys that have refused to live in fear.  As far as they were concerned, the inhabitants of Canaan were toast!  They saw the giants that terrified a nation, they saw them as breakfast.  Bread nourishes.

A lot of people are spiritually fasting, they are not devouring the enemy.  We are to confront our trials head on with great joy knowing that THE LORD has set us up to utterly overcome and destroy the enemy.

Embrace your challenge!  If you are seeing through THE LORD’S Eyes, you will see with His promise.  He gives promises because He sees differently than we do.  This is why He called it The Promised Land.  If you don’t know HIS promises for a situation, you cannot properly embrace your challenge.

The destiny of every believer is to live in a liberated place of promise.

Fatigue gives birth to unbelief!

Fatigue creates a jaded heart and causes us to lose enthusiasm.  We are tired and can become disillusioned in many aspects of our lives.  We learn just to live in the routine. 

We become accustomed to activity in the place of a relationship with THE LORD.  This doesn’t happen overnight, it is a gradual turning.  However, we allow a distance to be formed in that tenderness, that intimacy with THE LORD.  We get in the mode of doing rather than being.  We become too busy.  We become resistant to the very things that we are crying out for.

Let’s look closely at a well-known Psalm.

David recorded by The Holy Spirit in Psalm chapter 23:

1 The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His Name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the House of the LORD Forever.

When the enemy is loud and harassing me, Jesus responds.  HE prepares a place to feast in the presence of my enemies so I can be nourished from the meal that’s in front of me.  GOD intentionally prepared a banquet so that the enemy could see.

When things look dark, turn your head to the Light!  In HIM, there is no shadow.

James wrote by The Holy Spirit in James chapter 1:

17 Every gift God freely gives us is good and perfect, streaming down from the Father of Lights, Who shines from the heavens with no hidden shadow or darkness and is never subject to change.

18 God was delighted to give us birth by the Truth of His infallible Word so that we would fulfill his chosen destiny for us and become the favorite ones out of all His creation!

Jesus spoke in John chapter 4:

34 To clarify, Jesus spoke up and said, “My food is to do the Will of Him Who sent me and bring it to completion.”

This is the table set before us… to do His Will and fulfill our destiny.  There is something nourishing about being in the center of what GOD is saying and doing.

As I remove my focus on what’s working against me and I turn my focus to Who is working for me, I no longer see what is before as a dark moment.  Instead, it will become a training and preparation encounter.  It could be a health scare or a financial crisis, but we are meant to overcome the issue by focusing on Our Provider and Healer.  Pretending that it is not there doesn’t help, but not letting it rule my heart does help.

Real faith doesn’t deny a problem’s existence; it just denies the problem a place of influence!

Resistance and adversity are invitations for breakthroughs and advancement in The Kingdom!

As overcomers, we must change our mindset to embrace adversity.  We tend to see adversity differently than THE LORD does.  If I am not positioned well in what I am willing to speak, confess, and declare over my life, then I can actually partner in thought and in conversation with the enemy’s reason for sending the adverse winds.  I actually empower what the enemy meant for evil, and it will suddenly have the effect of destruction.

The enemy has no authority over you or me.  We have the authority, and we are not to give the enemy authority by our words, confessions, or declarations.  Don’t bow your head to adversity, do not accept defeat!

King David wrote by The Holy Spirit in Psalm chapter 24:

7 So wake up, you living gateways! Lift up your heads, you doorways of Eternity! Welcome the King of Glory, for He is about to come through you.

8 You ask, “Who is this King of Glory?” YAHWEH, armed and ready for battle, YAHWEH, invincible in every way!

9 So wake up, you living gateways, and rejoice! Fling wide, you Eternal doors! Here He comes; the King of Glory is ready to come in.

10 You ask, “Who is this King of Glory?” He is YAHWEH, armed and ready for battle, the Mighty One, the invincible Commander of Heaven’s hosts! Yes, He is the King of Glory! Pause in His Presence

Jesus is The Lion of Judah, and a lion doesn’t cower when challenged by an adversary, neither should we.  We need to be ready for battle.  King David was made ready for battle against Israel’s adversaries even as he tended sheep.

It is recorded by The Holy Spirit in 1^st Samuel chapter 17:

26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the Living God?”

David was not intimidated by Goliath, and neither should we be intimidated by our own Goliaths who appear bigger than life.

David reflects back on his past challenges with the lion and bear.

36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the Living God.”

37 Moreover David said, “The LORD, Who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”

We should refer back to past deliverances and expect Our Heavenly Father to deliver us as we face our current challenges.

King David also wrote by The Holy Spirit in Psalm chapter 34:

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Joshua, as well as David, was a type and shadow of an overcomer.

THE LORD spoke to Joshua in Joshua chapter 1:

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

We are to take ground for The Kingdom no matter what resistance or adversity we encounter!

We are to be partakers of HIS Divine Nature!

Do you believe we are manifested Sons and Daughters of GOD?

It is written by The Beloved Disciple in John chapter 1:

12 But those who embraced Him (Jesus, the True Light) and took hold of His Name He gave authority to become the children (Sons and Daughters) of God!

Once we received Christ, what should be our highest priority?  To mature in Christ and walk in His authority, to become Christlike.  You and I determine our own progress toward becoming mature in Christ.

Peter wrote by The Holy Spirit in 2^nd Peter chapter 1:

2 Grace (enablement) and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Our Lord,

3 as His Divine power has given to us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue,

4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Lust leads to corruption.  Promises lead to Divine Nature.  The Promised Land in the Old Testament was an inheritance of geography.  Now, we are given promises of transformational miracles such as jobs, healings, and abundance in all areas affecting our lives through which we are partakers of HIS Divine Nature.  We access Heaven’s resources to bring forth fruitfulness on the earth.

When you experience fulfillment of a promise, it’s never just GOD doing something for you, HE’S also doing something in you.  In Acts chapter 3, the lame man gets healed through Peter’s words and actions.  He’s walking (physically healed), he’s leaping (emotionally healed), he’s praising GOD (spiritually healed).  His understanding of Who GOD is has ascended to a higher level.  The promise, the fulfillment was a miracle, but the lame man was healed and transformed emotionally and spiritually.  Peter wrote about what he had experienced firsthand.  The lame man became a partaker of Divine Nature.

As we manifest Heaven on earth, we ascend to a higher level of being a partaker in HIS Divine Nature.  The fulfillment of promise gives us access to live at a level in grace that we did not have before the miracle. 

When we experience or see a miracle before us, our faith is positively affected.  Any unbelief within us dissipates. Our boldness increases.  We are now ready for the next miracle to manifest.  You start thinking differently, there is nobody outside GOD’S Intent to experience HIM.  There is nobody outside HIS reach.  The lame man had been crippled from birth and was without hope.  Suddenly, his life was full of hope.

We are to be agents of change on behalf of The Kingdom.  How are we to do this?  Peter continues:

5 So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding,

6 and to understanding add the strength of self-control, and to self-control add patient endurance, and to patient endurance add Godliness,

7 and to Godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters, and to mercy toward others add unending Love.

8 Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately.

Peter provides us the path to fruitfulness.  Those who do not devote themselves to maturing in Christ, are said to be blind:

9 But if anyone lacks these things, he is blind, constantly closing his eyes to the mysteries of our faith, and forgetting his innocence—for his past sins have been washed away.

10 For this reason, Beloved ones, be eager to confirm and validate that God has invited you to salvation and claimed you as his own. If you do these things, you will never stumble.

As we mature in Christ:

11 As a result, the Kingdom’s Gates will open wide to you as God choreographs your triumphant entrance into the Eternal Kingdom of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

When the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation comes on you to know about Him, it creates in you a capacity for fruitfulness that you didn’t have otherwise.  The knowledge of His Nature creates in you an ability of fruitfulness that you didn’t have otherwise.

HIS Promises take us to manifesting His Divine Nature!

We are here to make a difference!

Jesus gave us the right and expectation to bring forth Heaven to earth.  He was the One Who expressed FATHER’S Divine Intent when He gave the disciples The Lord’s Prayer:

The Kingdom come Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Jesus spoke in John chapter 15:

7 But if you live in life-union with Me and if My Words live powerfully within you—then you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done.

Many Christians don’t want to touch this verse.  They simply want to escape from this earth without doing what Jesus commanded.  Isn’t this a case of selective acceptance of Scripture, especially the Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ?

My role as a co-laborer is to pray and have results happen.  Jesus continued:

8 When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are My mature disciples who glorify My Father!

Jesus expects us to be fruitful on behalf of The Kingdom.  Those who do nothing will receive their just reward… nothing.  We need to consider what or who we can impact each day, no matter how great or small.

Jesus emphasized this Truth in Matthew chapter 16:

27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

And in Revelation chapter 22:

12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.

13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

Remember, it isn’t how you start, it’s how you finish!  There is still time to be fruitful and walk in His commandments.

GOD spoke the worlds into being by Words from HIS Voice.  What world are you creating through your voice?  If I constantly speak negative words, they will undermine my prayers.  We need to guard our words from nullifying our prayers.

James wrote by The Holy Spirit in James chapter 5:

15 And the prayer of faith will heal the sick and the Lord will raise them up, and if they have committed sins they will be forgiven.

If someone does not get healed after you have commanded sickness or disease to depart, don’t be deterred.  Don’t be disappointed or discouraged.  Continue to trust in GOD’S Word and don’t allow unbelief to enter in.  Continue to immerse yourself in the Word concerning healing.  When you prayed, you did your job, don’t quit. 

Heavenly encounters release our instinctive awareness of what we have the authority to release.  Yes, we do have the authority to release healing and restoration to those who have such a need.

Of all the Epistles that Paul wrote, only the church at Ephesus had no words of correction.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 1:

17 I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of Wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know Him through your deepening intimacy with Him.

18 I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of His calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that He finds in us, His Holy ones!

19 I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power.

Have we become an effective advertisement of His immense power?

Paul also wrote by The Holy Spirit in 2^nd Peter chapter 1:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Our Lord,

3 as His Divine power has given to us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who called us by glory and virtue,

Notice that we have been given, not will be given all things.  This is because of what we know about Him, i.e., through the knowledge of Him.  GOD wants us to use our brain to discover HIM.

It is written by The Holy Spirit in Psalm chapter 77:

6 Then I remembered the worship songs I used to sing in the night seasons, and my heart began to fill again with thoughts of You. So my spirit went out once more in search of You.

As we meditate on the Scriptures, we will embrace all things that pertain to Life and Godliness.  This empowers us to be fruitful in every good work including praying and commanding healing to come forth.