MANIFESTATION OF HIS GLORY NETWORK, INC. WORD WEDNESDAY KILL IT AT THE ROOT! Hebrews 12:15, KJV

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Welcome to Word Wednesday with Manifestation of His Glory Network, Inc.

I am grateful that you have taken time to meet me here around the Word of God today.

Wherever you are reading this from, I want you to settle yourself for a moment because today's Word is going to require something from us.

It is going to require honesty.

It is going to require examination.

And for some of us, it is going to require the courage to finally confront something we have learned how to live with.

Because everything you have learned to live with is not something God intended for you to keep carrying.

Listen to me closely.

There are things that happen in our lives that we deal with immediately.

And then there are things that happen that we bury.

We don't necessarily forget them.

We bury them.

We keep functioning.

We keep working.

We keep serving.

We keep raising our families.

We keep going to church.

We keep smiling.

We keep moving.

And because life continued, we assumed we were all right.

But functioning is not always evidence of freedom.

You can function around something that is still growing beneath the surface.

You can learn how to compensate for something you never confronted.

You can become so accustomed to a response, a defense mechanism, a fear, an attitude, or a pattern that you stop asking where it came from.

And eventually, what started as an incident becomes a pattern.

What started as pain becomes a posture.

What started as disappointment becomes an expectation.

What started as offense becomes bitterness.

What started as protection becomes isolation.

What started as one painful experience begins influencing areas of your life that had nothing to do with what originally happened.

That's when you know you're no longer dealing only with an event.

You're dealing with a root.

And the Word God has placed on my heart for us today is:

KILL IT AT THE ROOT!

Because if you keep cutting off what you can see while leaving alive what you cannot see, you will keep fighting different manifestations of the same root.

The names may change.

The circumstances may change.

The relationships may change.

The environment may change.

But somehow, you keep arriving at the same emotional place.

At some point, you have to stop asking, “Why does this keep happening?”

And start asking, “What is still alive underneath this?”

That's where we're going today.

Not to condemn you.

Not to make you relive everything that hurt you.

But to allow the Word of God to reach beneath the surface and deal with what has been trying to grow in soil that belongs to God.

Because your heart belongs to God.

Your mind belongs to God.

Your future belongs to God.

And you cannot allow something that happened in your past to keep planting itself in places God has designated for your future.

Let's pray.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank You for another opportunity to gather around Your Word.

Father, I ask You to move through this online sanctuary today.

Reach every person reading these words.

Go beyond the screen.

Go beyond the distance.

Go beyond what we have learned to say and touch what we have struggled to explain.

Search us, Father.

Search our hearts.

Search our motives.

Search our responses.

Search the places we have protected from everybody, including ourselves.

And by Your Spirit, reveal anything that has taken root that You did not plant.

Give us courage to confront what You expose.

Give us grace to release what we have carried.

Give us wisdom to recognize patterns we have normalized.

And give us strength to stop feeding anything that is contaminating the soil of our hearts.

Father, don't allow us to leave this Word merely inspired.

Transform us.

Let Your Word cut where it needs to cut.

Heal where it needs to heal.

Correct where it needs to correct.

And uproot what needs to come out.

In Jesus' name, Amen!

Now, let's get into the Word of God!

Hebrews 12:15 says:

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

Hebrews 12:15, KJV

I want you to look carefully at this Scripture because there is something here we cannot afford to miss.

The writer says:

“Looking diligently.”

That means pay attention.

Watch carefully.

Don't become careless about what is happening inside of you.

Why?

Because roots don't announce themselves when they enter.

You see the fruit later.

But the root has already been working.

Hebrews says:

“Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.”

Notice the order.

First there is a root.

Then it springs up.

Then it troubles you.

And then Scripture says something that ought to make every one of us examine ourselves:

“And thereby many be defiled.”

Did you catch that?

The root is in you, but eventually many can be affected by it.

That's why this cannot remain surface.

Because what you refuse to deal with internally can eventually begin touching people who had nothing to do with what happened to you.

Your spouse didn't cause the original wound, but the root can reach the marriage.

Your children didn't cause the original wound, but the root can reach your parenting.

Your friend didn't betray you, but the root of mistrust can reach the friendship.

Your new relationship didn't create the abandonment, but the fear of abandonment can enter the new relationship before that person ever has an opportunity to love you correctly.

Your ministry didn't cause your rejection, but if rejection remains rooted, you can begin interpreting correction as attack, accountability as disrespect, and disagreement as dishonor.

Pay close attention.

A root does not ask permission before it starts reaching into other areas of your life.

That's why Hebrews says many can be defiled.

Somebody else can end up experiencing the fruit of something they never planted.

And if we aren't careful, we will punish new people for old pain.

We will respond to present circumstances with past emotions.

We will call it discernment when sometimes it is fear.

We will call it boundaries when sometimes it is avoidance.

We will call it being guarded when sometimes we have simply become afraid to trust again.

Now don't misunderstand me.

Boundaries are necessary.

Discernment is biblical.

Wisdom is necessary.

But we have to be honest enough with God to know the difference between something the Holy Spirit is showing us and something an old wound is telling us.

Because pain has a voice too.

And if you don't heal, pain can become so familiar that you mistake its voice for wisdom.

The question is not simply:

“What happened to me?”

The deeper question is:

“What did what happened to me produce in me?”

Because the event may be over while the root is still alive.

Joseph's brothers betrayed him.

David experienced rejection.

Hannah endured provocation.

Job experienced devastating loss.

Scripture never teaches us to pretend painful things did not happen.

But God does not intend for what happened to become the lord over what happens next.

Your wound does not get to disciple you.

Your rejection does not get to disciple you.

Your betrayal does not get to disciple you.

Your disappointment does not get to disciple you.

Jesus does.

And this brings me to my first point today, men and women of God.

IDENTIFY THE ROOT

You cannot uproot what you refuse to identify.

And sometimes the thing you are calling the problem is only the fruit of the problem.

The anger may not be the root.

The anger may be fruit.

The jealousy may not be the root.

The jealousy may be fruit.

The isolation may not be the root.

The isolation may be fruit.

The need to control everything may not be the root.

It may be fruit.

So don't stop at what you did.

Ask God to show you why you did it.

Don't stop at what you felt.

Ask God to show you why that feeling has so much authority over your response.

Don't stop at the argument.

Ask why that particular statement touched something so deep inside of you.

Don't stop at:

“That's just how I am.”

No.

How did you become that way?

Who told you that you had to protect yourself like that?

What happened that convinced you nobody could be trusted?

What happened that made you believe being vulnerable was dangerous?

What happened that made you believe you had to control everything in order to feel safe?

What happened that made you believe rejection was always waiting around the corner?

We're going beneath the surface now.

Psalm 139:23–24 says:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Psalm 139:23–24, KJV

David says:

“Search me.”

That prayer requires maturity.

Because it's easier to pray, “God, fix them.”

It's easier to pray, “God, show them.”

It's easier to pray, “God, make them understand what they did to me.”

But David says:

“Search me.”

Father, while I'm telling You what they did, search me.

While I'm explaining why I'm angry, search me.

While I'm explaining why I don't trust anymore, search me.

While I'm explaining why I keep everybody at a distance, search me.

While I'm explaining why I reacted the way I did, search me.

Not because what happened was acceptable.

Not because the person who hurt you gets excused.

But because you cannot allow somebody else's behavior to become a permanent root in your heart.

They may have wounded you through what they did.

But now that God is showing you what remains, you have to decide whether you will continue feeding it.

That's where responsibility enters healing.

You may not have chosen what happened.

But now that God has shown you what it produced, you have a responsibility for what happens next.

Freedom requires truth.

John 8:32 says:

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 8:32, KJV

Sometimes the truth that makes you free is not truth about somebody else.

Sometimes it's truth about you.

Father, I am still angry.

Father, I am still afraid.

Father, I have not forgiven them.

Father, I keep expecting everybody to leave.

Father, I sabotage relationships before people have an opportunity to get close.

Father, I keep rehearsing the offense.

Father, I keep returning to something You are trying to bring me out of.

That's identification.

And identification is not condemnation.

It is the beginning of uprooting.

Now stay with me, because identifying the root is only the beginning.

Once God shows you where it is, you have to make a decision about what you are going to do with what He showed you.

I pray you are still with me!.

STOP FEEDING WHAT NEEDS TO DIE

Listen to me closely.

You cannot ask God to remove something at the root while you keep feeding what is growing there.

Some of us are praying for freedom from things we keep revisiting.

We pray about it, and then rehearse it.

We surrender it, and then pick it back up.

We say we forgive, but every time their name is mentioned, we water the root again.

Every time we retell the story for the purpose of staying angry, we water it.

Every time we imagine what we should have said, we water it.

Every time we go looking for something that will stir the offense again, we water it.

Every time we compare our lives with theirs, we water it.

Every time we allow the offense to become the center of another conversation, we water it.

And then we ask:

“God, why am I still struggling with this?”

Because you cannot starve what you keep feeding.

Ephesians 4:26–27 says:

“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.”

Ephesians 4:26–27, KJV

Look at that word:

Place.

Paul doesn't deny that anger can happen.

He warns us about giving it territory.

That means the emotion can come without receiving permanent residence.

You can acknowledge anger without allowing anger to become your identity.

You can acknowledge pain without building your life around pain.

You can acknowledge betrayal without becoming suspicious of everybody.

You can acknowledge rejection without spending the rest of your life auditioning for acceptance.

Stop auditioning for acceptance because somebody once rejected you.

You don't have to prove your worth because somebody failed to recognize it.

You don't have to become smaller so somebody will keep you.

You don't have to overperform so somebody will value you.

You don't have to abandon yourself so somebody else won't abandon you.

That root has to die.

And part of killing it at the root is refusing to keep feeding the lie attached to it.

Because roots survive on what feeds them.

If the lie says, “Nobody will ever love you correctly,” stop feeding it agreement.

If the lie says, “Everybody eventually leaves,” stop feeding it agreement.

If the lie says, “You will never recover from what happened,” stop feeding it agreement.

If the lie says, “You cannot trust God because He allowed this,” stop feeding it agreement.

Bring the lie under the authority of the Word.

Romans 12:2 says:

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Romans 12:2, KJV

Transformation requires renewed thinking.

You cannot enter a new season with an old internal script and expect different fruit.

At some point, your thinking has to come under the authority of God's Word.

Not your history.

Not your fear.

Not the voice of the person who hurt you.

The Word.

Proverbs 4:23 says:

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Proverbs 4:23, KJV

Guard the soil.

Be careful what gets watered.

Be careful what gets rehearsed.

Be careful what gets your agreement.

Because whatever you continually feed gains strength.

Now we're getting to the heart of this Word.

Because identifying the root and starving the root still requires us to understand something else.

If we continue dealing only with what appears on the surface, we can spend years cutting branches from something that is still alive underneath.

And this brings me to my final point.

DEAL WITH THE ROOT, NOT JUST THE FRUIT

Jesus says in Luke 6:43–45:

“For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

Luke 6:43–45, KJV

Jesus brings the fruit and the heart together.

“For every tree is known by his own fruit.”

And then:

“For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

In other words, what keeps coming out can tell you something about what is being stored within.

So if something keeps manifesting, stop asking only how to control the manifestation.

Go deeper.

If anger keeps appearing, ask what keeps feeding it.

If fear keeps appearing, ask where fear first gained agreement.

If insecurity keeps appearing, ask what happened that made you question what God placed inside of you.

If mistrust keeps appearing, ask whether somebody from your past still has influence over how you treat people in your present.

If people pleasing keeps appearing, ask whether rejection taught you that acceptance had to be earned.

And hear this.

The fruit can change while the root remains the same.

A root of rejection can produce people pleasing.

Then it can produce isolation.

Then it can produce jealousy.

Then it can produce competition.

Then it can produce a constant need for validation.

Different fruit.

Same root.

That's why you cannot simply keep cutting off behaviors.

You have to let God address what is producing them.

Because God isn't interested only in modifying your behavior.

He wants your heart.

He doesn't only want you to stop yelling.

He wants to heal what keeps producing the anger.

He doesn't only want you to stop pushing people away.

He wants to heal what convinced you closeness was unsafe.

He doesn't only want you to stop comparing.

He wants to heal the place that forgot who He created you to be.

He doesn't only want you to look healed.

He wants you whole.

Hebrews 4:12 says:

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.”

Hebrews 4:12, KJV

The Word can reach the root.

The Word can reach beneath the behavior.

The Word can reach beneath the smile.

The Word can reach beneath the title.

The Word can reach beneath the position.

The Word can reach beneath the “I'm fine.”

And when God exposes something, don't cover it back up.

Exposure in the hands of God can be the beginning of healing.

He's not showing it to shame you.

He's showing it because He loves you too much to allow something He did not plant to keep occupying your heart.

So kill it at the root!

Not the person.

The root.

Not your emotions.

The root.

Not your ability to love.

The root.

Not your tenderness.

The root.

Not your future.

The root.

Kill the bitterness at the root.

Kill the agreement with rejection at the root.

Kill the lie that says you will always be what happened to you at the root.

Kill the cycle that keeps making innocent people pay for somebody else's behavior at the root.

Kill the pattern before the pattern becomes an inheritance.

Because if Hebrews says “many be defiled,” then your healing is bigger than you.

Your healing can change what reaches your children.

Your healing can change what enters your marriage.

Your healing can change how you lead.

Your healing can change how you love.

Your healing can change what you tolerate.

Your healing can change what you reproduce.

There are some things that have traveled long enough.

Somebody has to say:

“It stops with me.”

The bitterness stops with me.

The dysfunction stops with me.

The unforgiveness stops with me.

The unhealthy pattern stops with me.

I will not hand somebody else fruit from a root God gave me an opportunity to confront.

Kill it at the root!

And make room for God to produce something different.

Galatians 5:22–23 says:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22–23, KJV

Do you see it?

We started with a root.

And now we're looking at fruit.

God does not simply want to remove what is unhealthy.

He wants His Spirit to produce what is holy.

Love where bitterness tried to grow.

Joy where pain tried to settle.

Peace where fear tried to rule.

Longsuffering where impatience once controlled you.

Gentleness where defensiveness once dictated every response.

Faith where fear once had your agreement.

You are not merely trying to stop doing something.

You are making room for the Holy Spirit to produce something.

That's the goal.

Not behavior modification.

Transformation.

Not looking better.

Becoming whole.

Not learning how to hide the fruit.

Letting God deal with the root.

Men and women of God, before we leave this Word Wednesday, I want you to ask the Holy Spirit one question:

“What is still alive in me that You are trying to uproot?”

Don't rush past the answer.

Don't defend it.

Don't explain it.

Don't immediately turn the attention toward somebody else.

If God reveals it, give Him access to it.

Forgive where you need to forgive.

Repent where you need to repent.

Release what you need to release.

Establish the boundary you need to establish.

Seek wise counsel where you need wise counsel.

And stop feeding what God is trying to remove.

You are not what happened to you.

You are not the rejection.

You are not the betrayal.

You are not the abandonment.

You are not the failure.

You are not the offense.

Those things may be part of your history.

They do not get to become the root system of your destiny.

And before we leave this online sanctuary, I cannot talk to you about transformation without talking to you about Jesus Christ.

Because you can recognize unhealthy patterns.

You can change habits.

You can establish boundaries.

You can make different decisions.

But the greatest transformation of your life begins when you surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

Maybe you've been reading this Word and God has been showing you things about your heart, but you realize you have never truly given your heart to Him.

Or maybe you once walked closely with God, but somewhere along the way you became disconnected.

You can come home.

You don't have to clean yourself up before you come.

You don't have to fix every problem first.

You don't have to uproot everything by yourself.

Jesus is calling you.

Romans 10:9 says:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Romans 10:9, KJV

If that is you today, pray with me.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I come to You just as I am. I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that I need a Savior. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that You raised Him from the dead. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse my heart. Make me new. Jesus, I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Teach me Your Word. Order my steps. Lead my life and help me to follow You from this day forward.

In Jesus' name, Amen!

If you prayed that prayer and believed it in your heart, welcome to the family of God!

Get into the Word of God. Develop a prayer life. Connect yourself with a Bible believing church where you can be taught, strengthened, and grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

And know that we are rejoicing with you right here at Manifestation of His Glory Network, Inc.

Let me pray for you.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for every person who has received this Word today.

Father, go to the root.

Go beneath what people can see.

Go beneath the reactions.

Go beneath the defenses.

Go beneath the patterns.

Reveal what has been growing in places that belong to You.

Where hurt became bitterness, heal.

Where rejection became insecurity, heal.

Where betrayal became mistrust, heal.

Where disappointment became fear, heal.

Where pain became a pattern, break the cycle.

Father, give us courage to stop feeding what You are trying to remove.

Renew our minds through Your Word.

Teach us how to guard our hearts without hardening them.

Teach us how to forgive without returning to dysfunction.

Teach us how to establish boundaries without allowing bitterness to build walls.

And Father, wherever a root has begun affecting our families, our marriages, our friendships, our ministries, our decisions, or our future, expose it and deal with it.

We declare that unhealthy cycles will not continue through us.

We will not reproduce what You are healing.

We will not make innocent people pay for old wounds.

And we will not keep cutting fruit from something You are calling us to confront at the root.

Plant Your Word deeply in us.

Produce Your fruit through us.

And make us whole.

In Jesus' name, Amen!

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Thank you to every person who prays for this ministry, supports this ministry, shares these teachings, and helps us continue the work God has entrusted to our hands.

Men and women of God, thank you for joining me for Word Wednesday.

Don't leave this Word on this page.

Take it with you.

When your reaction seems bigger than the present situation, ask yourself where it is coming from.

When an old pattern tries to appear in a new season, don't just manage it.

Go to the root.

When God reveals something inside of you that needs attention, don't cover it because it makes you uncomfortable.

Give Him access.

And remember this:

You cannot heal what you keep hiding, and you cannot kill what you keep feeding.

Guard your heart.

Guard what gets your attention.

Guard what gets your agreement.

And refuse to allow something from yesterday to keep reproducing itself in your tomorrow.

KILL IT AT THE ROOT!

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May He search your heart, correct what needs correction, heal what needs healing, and transform your life through the power of His Word.

May what tried to travel through you stop with you.

May what God plants in you take root, grow, and produce fruit that brings glory to His name.

My prayer remains the same:

That you logged in one way and you are logging out another!

Go in peace.

Go in wisdom.

Go in freedom.

And guard your heart.

God bless you!

Apostle Dr. G. Denise Gray

Lead Apostle & General Overseer

Manifestation of His Glory Network, Inc.