BITTER ROOT JUDGMENTS AND EXPECTANCIES.

 

Bitter root judgments and expectancies are born from experiences that give you a belief system that you will be hurt again and again.  You then choose a behavior that will protect you from this hurt being repeated, but it never works out that way. The judgment causes you to tempt others to treat you in the same way that you were originally treated.

 

"Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." Matthew 7:1-2 9 (NAS)

This is like a law of sowing and reaping as mentioned in Galatians 6:7 "For God is not mocked, for whatever you sow you shall reap." We used to say years ago, “Whatever goes around comes around.” In other words if I judged my dad for not spending enough time with me, I will reap that judgment if I do not repent of it, by either becoming just like that myself with my own children, or marry a spouse who will be tempted by that judgment to be just like my Father.

Likewise, Hebrews 12:15 says, “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.  Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness flows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” (NLT)

We often forget the judgment that we make as a child, but it is like a seed that is sown and lies dead until the right circumstances show up. Then the judgment is reaped we are now in a position of condemnation to do the same thing again for which we judged our parents, or we will continue to receive the same wound by others as the years pass in our lives.

"Therefore, we are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.  And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things."  Romans 2:1-2(NAS)

We expect, because of our experiences, that the same thing will happen to us again. The belief system that expects negative things to happen causes us to have a certain behavior that really tempts others to treat us the way we expect them to treat us. We make our own self-fulfilling prophecies by our judgments, and negative thinking, negative behaviors that helps people to hurt us in the same way over and over.

We make vows to protect ourselves to follow up these judgments.  These vows are carried out with more negative behaviors such as retaliation, fear, resentment, isolation, and withdrawal. A bitter root judgment expectation will cause a repeated wound.

Some of the judgments we may make are: No one will listen to me; or Men cannot be trusted.  Or I will never be like my mom. These expectancies can be psychological, but the Bitter Roots are operating by the laws GOD has made in the Word.

These judgments and expectancies are often made with parents and spouses, and other primary people in our lives such as grandparents and teachers.

We are accountable to God for these but not condemned.  The guilt we may feel is a friend which brings us to the cross to find healing and transformation. 

Guilt always leads me to repent and make restitution to build relationships.(There is a vast difference between the gentle guilt of the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin and the condemnation of the enemy.  One will lead us to ask for forgiveness from others and God; the other will heap a spirit of heaviness upon us. When we confess and receive his forgiveness the guilt will go away, unless we have not forgiven ourselves or received rejection the enemy sent to us.  That is why sometimes we need a friend to help us with these issues. James 5:16 encourages us to confess our faults to one another.

These are very common sins that negatively affect our lives and cause a wall between us and God.

Whoever has negative fruit has a negative root. For this reason, we must ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the root of this negative fruit.  Often the person will feel bad about themselves and carry hurts in their hearts toward other people.  The pain level you feel in your heart is an indication of bad fruit and the Holy Spirit can reveal the roots if you ask HIM.

Here are ten steps for the healing of bitter root judgements and expectancies.

1.     We first recognize the negative fruit.

2.     We ask the Holy Spirit to give us the root.  We do this by asking the Holy Spirit to reveal a memory, where there was an open door of hurt.  We determine the lie, the vow, and the way the vow was acted out.  

3.     We next confess and repent for our judgments.

4.     We forgive those who offended us.

5.     We renounce lies and declare the truth.

6.     We renounce vows we made to protect ourselves and break the power of them.

7.     We pronounce forgiveness.

8.     We pray prays of bringing to death the negative ways we acted out in response to the hurt, lies, and vows.

If anyone wants to be my disciple, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23

     Phil 3:10 “I want to know Christ and know the might power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead. In other words, we must die to ourselves. 

9.      We may need to make restitution and pay back more than was taken or destroyed.  Exodus 22:1-4 This is necessary to restore trust.

10.  Healing is complete when gratitude is present and when there is complete transformation and the glory of God is working in the relationship.

Pray this prayer:

Father I ask you to forgive me for judging ___________ for _________________.

I choose to forgive them for _____________ and making me feel _____________.

I repent for the lie that I believed ____________________________________.

I renounce the lie and choose to believe the truth that______________________.

I repent and renounce the vow to________________________________________.

I break this power from my life and ask you to restore me to my original design.

I repent of the negative ways that I acted out these vows and bring to death to my members in ways that I (feared, retaliated, resented, isolated, or withdrew)

I choose to forgive myself and make restitution where necessary.  I release now the pain of this experience and ask you to tell me the truth. (Listen for the truth)

In Jesus name, Amen