Levi Lusko - Breaking Free From A Spirit of Resentment

TOPICS: Resentment

Okay, he’s much more interested in you growing the fruits of the Spirit than in using the gifts of the Spirit. We love the idea of giftedness and unique ability, and yes, God, come upon me so I can become powerful. I want to do great things; I want you to bless my business. I want you to use me as I do ministry in this world. We’re focused on the use of gifts, and God’s Spirit is much more impressed with the growing of fruit. All right, we’re excited, and registration is now open, by the way, for Movement Conference 2025.

We’re very excited about that! We have the dates: July 24th through 27th. You want to take note of that. If you’re part of Fresh Life Church, of course, get your student registered to participate with our group. Then we have groups registering from around the country, so if you are a youth pastor or a parent of teens, get your group registered. A price increase is coming at the end of September, so you will want to lock yourself in with even just one registration, and then you can fill your group out, but you’re locked in at the rate at the time you pay your first registration. So that’s a pro tip! Get the rest of your group filled out and finalized as time comes, but get locked in here, and we’re excited about what God’s going to do at Movement Conference. Amen!

So excited about it! All right, if you have a Bible, we’re going to be in James chapter 3 today. A couple of weeks ago, I was getting ready frantically in the final few moments before getting on an airplane, and in the confusion of the moment-although I will not hesitate to tell you it was absolutely Jenny’s fault-we figured it out later. I sprayed her perfume instead of my cologne just before having to run out the door. She had put it in the wrong spot, and the bottles were roughly the same size and shape. I sprayed it and felt something was off, but I just put it on my hands and then ran out. Immediately, one of my kids sees me and goes, «Oh, you smell like Mom!» I was like, «I knew it! I knew something was off!» And then I didn’t have any time to fix it, you know?

Weirdly, I got multiple comments, «You smell great!» at the airport. I was like, «Yeah, well, thank you! Very flowery, very lovely; I’m in touch with my inner woman, apparently, on this day.» And yeah, that is something that can happen to all of us. On the inside, we can end up with the wrong smell on our lives. The Bible talks about how God wants to, through the Spirit’s work inside our hearts, diffuse the aroma of Christ. But we can end up with the wrong smell on our lives if we’re not careful, and that’s what we want to speak about today from James 3.

The title of the message is «Breaking Free from a Spirit of Resentment.» There are very few things in this world that can cause the wrong smell to be on your life quite like resentment. Reading from James 3, starting in verse 13: «Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 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. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.»

When we were in Turkey earlier this summer, venturing out on this journey of Paul Adventure, teaching the New Testament through some of the places where the story takes place, we were laughing as we walked around the streets because we kept noticing these signs advertising the quality of the forgeries they were trying to sell to us. It’s one of the things you notice when you travel: you have these brands and you have knockoff brands, but seldom do you see it so openly. We would literally see signs that said «Genuine Fake Watches,» which is an oxymoron, in case you’re wondering. The two words do not actually belong together. It’s like «The Princess Bride,» where one character says, «I don’t think that means what you think it means.» The idea of something being genuine and fake, of course, cancels each other out, and that’s sort of what James is trying to get us to see here in this section of his book, often called the Proverbs of the New Testament.

James has so much to say about wisdom and foolishness, using the same vehicle that the Book of Proverbs does-comparing and contrasting two different things. He helps us understand what is real wisdom versus counterfeit wisdom, and it’s all connected to the Holy Spirit, of course, as that is the heartbeat of this collection of messages. This season in the life of our church is called «Welcome the Wind» as we’re trying to understand what it means to open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit’s influence in every single way. You cannot disconnect the Holy Spirit from wisdom. The Holy Spirit will lead you in the fear of God. The fear of God, or the awe of God, is the sense of humility before God: «You are God in heaven; here am I on earth. I want to hear you whisper.» I’m not going to give you a lecture about how things should be; I’m going to put myself under Your authority.

You cannot separate the Holy Spirit from wisdom. Why? Well, it’s not just what He does-lead you into wisdom-it’s who He is. In fact, Isaiah 11 calls Him just that: «The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him» — that’s Jesus-"the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.» So part and parcel of having an interaction with the Holy Spirit is moving toward wisdom, for He is the Spirit of wisdom. That’s why Paul prayed like he did in Ephesians 1:17: «I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.» Luke 2:40 refers to Jesus, who grew and became strong in spirit and was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.

To interact with the Holy Spirit, to have the Holy Spirit in your life, is synonymous with growing in wisdom because He is the Spirit of wisdom. So what am I trying to get you to see? Jot it down: the key takeaway, the big teaching idea is this: to welcome the wind, you must welcome the right wisdom. To welcome the wind into your life is to welcome the right wisdom, and that means rejecting the counterfeit-the genuine fake Rolex that the world tries to offer on Canal Street in New York. Here’s this amazing thing: it’s not a Louis Vuitton handbag; it’s a «Fuy Vuitton» purse that we can offer to you. That’s what the world offers us — what the devil wants for you-to walk in.

James lays out two forms of wisdom; he lays out the wisdom that comes from above and the wisdom that comes from below-the wisdom that comes from heaven and the wisdom that he calls demonic in origin. So what does that mean? The Holy Spirit is not the only spirit; there is more than one kind of wind that can fill your sails. To walk in the power of God’s wisdom, we need to do what He says we need to do: we need to overcome the power of resentment in our lives.

Now, what is resentment? Resentment is a salty stinging sharpness-a salty stinging sharpness that can grow inside our souls and will fester inside our souls. God wants you to overcome it. So we’re going to talk today about what it means to overcome resentment, where it comes from, how it grows, and more importantly, how do we walk in victory over it? But let me just say this: this is where God really wants us to live when it comes to the subject of the Holy Spirit. I’m convinced that we want power. When we think of the Holy Spirit, we say, «Yeah, I want power! I want God’s power!»

Check this out: God whispered this to me this week. He’s much more interested in you growing the fruits of the Spirit than in you using the gifts of the Spirit. We love the idea of giftedness and unique ability, and we say, «Yes, God, come upon me so I can become powerful! I want to do great things! I want you to bless my business! I want you to use me as I do ministry in this world.» We’re focused on the use of gifts, and God’s Spirit is much more impressed with the growing of fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is evident, which is what? Love! And what does love look like? Well, Galatians 5 tells you all the different things that love looks like. The singular fruit of the Spirit is love, and all the goodness and patience and self-control-those are all attributes of love.

So why is it so much more important to grow in fruit than to focus on gifts and what we do for God? Because it’s possible to be used in great ways by God but not get any eternal benefit from it. Did you know that? That should scare you. That should shock you! In fact, when we die and stand before God as Christians, our basis for heaven has nothing to do with our works; that’s all Jesus. Getting to heaven is all about Jesus. But did you know that how you are rewarded in heaven is connected to your level of faithfulness on this earth? That connects back to the life we lived. Many of us are going to stand before God and see a great ministry we led or an amazing company we built, and all the amazing things we did for the poor will all be there. When we stand before God, as it says in 1 Corinthians 3, we are going to find out whether we built with gold, silver, or precious stones-those are good building materials-or wood, hay, and straw-things you do not want to build a house on.

But many people will find out when they stand before God that their ministry efforts and their work, everything they did on this earth, essentially was of inferior quality. Each one’s work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one’s work of what sort it is. Now, notice this: if anyone’s work, which he has built on it, endures (that is, if it’s silver, precious stone, or gold work and not wood, hay, and straw), he will receive a reward for that work. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved. Why? Because salvation has nothing to do with you; it has everything to do with Jesus. But rewards do have everything to do with you.

Notice this: he will be saved, yet so as through fire. Now, what does this mean, and what does it not mean? What this does mean is that you can do amazing things for God but in heaven find out that your motives were wrong. You can find out that your character was off. You can find out that even though you were a success in man’s eyes, you were a failure where it counts morally-when it comes to integrity, purity, virtue- when it comes to love. Because as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, we can give our bodies to be burned, prophesy, preach great sermons, do great things, be considered a leader in the community, and be known for all the things that we do to help people. Those are all awesome, but on the inside, your spirit was off. On the inside, there was a deficiency. There was vanity, too much ego -it was so much about you. Hence, you won’t receive the long-term reward of it.

Even though, listen, here’s what it doesn’t mean: the works themselves that you did were accomplished by God and did great things through them. So something can be good; for example, a pastor who’s living in sin, keeping a secret life or a double life, and perhaps being unfaithful to his spouse or being unethical when it comes to finances can still preach God’s Word, and that preaching can still save lives. That person, that preacher will find out in heaven that they personally aren’t going to receive any reward for it because they were off where it counted when it came to fruit. But the gifts of God are without repentance. So God is so good that He can still draw a straight line with a crooked stick. That stick will find out he was crooked and thus doesn’t receive the reward for it, but God will still use that crooked stick to draw the straight line.

So this doesn’t cancel out any of the ministry done in that person’s life who was on the receiving end of that ministry. God will still get His work accomplished. I mean, He even spoke through a donkey in the Bible! So don’t flatter yourself if you do something great for God. What I’m saying is it would be a major red flag to welcome the wind and be like Tom Hanks on the island: «Look what I have created,» and be in a place where you’re doing all this great work because you got the power of the Holy Ghost upon your life but missed it where it counted-at home, in secret, regarding integrity and holiness- where no one sees but the Holy Spirit, who will reward you openly one day.

So, we need to focus on the fruit of the Spirit, letting Him grow that love and holiness and all those things in our hearts. And if we grow, listen to me, if we grow the fruit as we walk with Him, the gifts will take care of themselves. Or, to put it another way, if you take care of the depth of your devotion, God will take care of the breadth of your impact on this earth. Amen? Do you receive it? Do you receive it? Do you receive it? If you take care of walking with Jesus and fearing God on the inside, living a pure and holy life before Him, He’ll take care of your impact and the scope of how big your platform is and all those other things.

But to chase after influence, to chase after being used and being seen, often will mean that your branches grow taller than you have roots to support them. Trees that bear too much fruit without enough root will topple and become victims of their own success. So what do we need to do? We need to overcome-James says resentment-walking in the true wisdom that’s from above, not the genuine fake wisdom that’s from below.

So what is resentment? Our English word comes from a French word that means «an intense feeling.» If you’ve ever felt resentful or said, «I resent that,» if you’ve ever experienced resentment, you know it really is that -it’s a good description. Someone defined resentment this way: resentment is what happens when an actual or perceived injury from the past cannot be forgiven in the present, so it’s carried into the future. Can I repeat that? Resentment is what happens when an actual or perceived injury from the past (and that’s a big distinction to make; it can be real or imagined) cannot be forgiven in the present, and so it moves with you into the future.

Resentment can grow because of correction that you received but didn’t want or correction that you received that didn’t come in a way that was palatable to you. Resentment can grow because of disappointment with leaders over you when you don’t like how they lead or what they do. Resentment can be harbored in your heart because of a feeling of rejection-a feeling that you weren’t appreciated. It can arise because of difficult circumstances you face. You can grow resentful, or resentment can grow in your heart because of a sense of injustice. It can come because you feel like your sacrifice isn’t being recognized or because your efforts aren’t being appreciated.

In my life, I often feel resentment when I give love but don’t feel that love is being returned. Resentment can pop up in a marriage, at work, in your job, or in ministry. There can also be vicarious resentment — you can grow resentful by watching someone else go through hard or difficult things. But it’s dangerous, and that’s why we need to come around our first heading: Let’s talk about the danger of resentment. If we’re going to break free from the spirit of resentment, we need to understand its danger.

The great danger of resentment is what it looks like when it’s fully grown. Resentment in your life wants to grow into bitterness — full-fledged bitterness. So, resentment is just bitterness in progress-bitterness in the making; it’s bitterness in cocoon form. But when it comes out of the cocoon in your life, that little resentment will always lead you to being a bitter person. Bitterness will always tie you up and turn you toxic, and those are things we don’t really want in our souls. None of us goes, «Yeah, I really want to be toxic. I really want to be tied up.»

But that’s Scripture speaking because there’s a man named Simon the Sorcerer who grew resentful. He was watching the apostles being used by the Holy Spirit. They had welcomed the wind in their lives in a way that made him jealous. Watching them do what they did made him want to have what they had. So he went to them and said, «Could I give you money, and you pray for me so that I could get that same power?» Talk about envy! Talk about bitter jealousy! Talk about self-seeking-everything that James is saying the wisdom from below, the genuine fake wisdom that will make us prone towards.

He was envious; he was jealous; he was self-seeking. Simon Peter said to him in Acts 8:23, «Simon, I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.» You are poisoned by bitterness and are bound by iniquity. These are the two things that make resentment so dangerous because they lead to a future where you’re tied up, where you’re bound, where your hands are cuffed and your feet are tied together, where you’re literally carrying around chains from the past that you can’t forgive in the present.

This is leading towards a future where you’re completely tied up. And notice, you’re poisoned-you’re poisoned and bound, tied up and poisoned. Adrian Rogers once said, «Bitterness blows out the candle of joy and leaves the soul in darkness.» Think of that! Bitterness will blow out the candle of joy in your life and leave your soul in darkness. Not only will it harm your relationships to be resentful and for that to fester into full-fledged bitterness, but it hurts you in the process. Why? Because bitterness is an acid that dissolves the container it is put into.

I have this stuff I breathe when I’m congested, and I usually put it in hot water. I breathe it before I preach because it clears out my sinuses. When you’re giving a long talk, it doesn’t help to be sniffing all the time and feeling congested; your voice can get trapped, and it can be kind of annoying. I read a long time ago in an article in an interview with Paul McCartney, where he was asked, «How do you sing so well?» He said, «Oh, I found this Swiss oil that’s just peppermint, menthol, and eucalyptus, and I put it in hot water.» I went on and bought some of this stuff from Switzerland and put a couple drops in, and I started singing like Paul McCartney. No, I’m kidding; that’s not what happened.

But I always put it in a little mug or a little vessel, add some hot water, and it clears my sinuses before I speak. It really helps if I’m giving a lot of messages to not lose my voice. I’ve turned many other pastors and singers onto it over the years; at this point, I really should be receiving royalty checks, just throwing that out there for the universe to hear. One time when I was preaching in Seattle, Washington, I had someone from our team traveling with me and said, «Hey, could you throw some hot water in that cup and add a couple drops of this oil?» The only thing he could find was a styrofoam cup, so he grabs the styrofoam cup and puts the oil in it.

When he goes to pour the hot water in, I got burns all over my entire hand. I was standing there, and everything started hurting. I was so confused. Well, it turns out the combination of those oils and that hot water dissolved the styrofoam instantly. It was like it was never there. Styrofoam can hold hot water just fine, but something about this oil-maybe it was the eucalyptus, the peppermint, or the menthol- whatever the combination was, we did a little science experiment that day, and I literally stood there shaking. I didn’t know what to do. We poured water on it, but that didn’t do anything because the oil was trapping the heat on my hand.

I started preaching with a third-degree burn in my hand, and it was awesome. I hadn’t thought about that until today because thinking about bitterness as a poison that dissolves the vessel that contains it gives you an accurate picture. When you’re harboring hurts in your life, carrying resentment, letting it fester, and feeding it like some little grudge you nurse, it blows out your candle of joy and slowly but surely dissolves the vessel that you’re holding. The combination of all that bitterness and all that resentment, how unfair it feels, how they don’t notice or appreciate you, how all that love you’re giving isn’t coming back to you-just carrying that poisons you, ties you up slowly but surely, and it will hurt your health.

There’s a book called «None of These Diseases.» It’s a phrase from the book of Exodus, where God says to the children of Israel, «I know that all the pestilence and plague are coming upon the Egyptians, but just so you know, none of it is coming upon you.» None of these diseases are going to hurt you. The plagues-frogs and lice and flies and all of that — were all connected to different deities that the Egyptians worshiped. Worshiping these demons and opening themselves up to these unholy spirits caused the Egyptians to experience the consequences, whereas God assured His people that none of these diseases would come upon them if they continued to worship Him.

It’s amazing to think about all of the physical maladies we will be spared just by walking in wisdom and not in foolishness. I was talking to a friend at dinner this week, and I asked about a mutual acquaintance. I said, «How’s he doing?» They said, «Oh, he tragically passed away.» I said, «I’m so sorry to hear that. I haven’t spoken to him in a while. What happened?» They said, «Well, he was struggling with alcohol abuse. His mom died, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He just completely drank himself to death.» I thought about how if we honor and worship God, looking to the Holy Spirit and not to other spirits for validation, strength, or peace, we would be spared. You literally can’t be walking with God and have your liver rot with cirrhosis.

God tells us, «None of these diseases are going to come upon you.» There are so many things that you just will not experience by way of pain and difficulty in your life as you do things God’s way. Well, in the book, Dr. McMillan, a medical doctor, writes that there are over 50 diseases in the body specifically triggered by emotions. Think of it: over 50 diseases that we know of that are impacted by emotions that we might end up living with. One of the things he says about resentment specifically is that it has a way of freezing in your body. When you’re festering in it, when you’re picking at it like a canker sore in your mouth, when you’re ruminating over one of your resentments-whether it’s in marriage or work-or, by proxy, you could be a spouse bitter at your spouse’s company.

You have a resentment that you have to be careful about when you come home. What you unload on your spouse about your job could just be a Tuesday for you, but they’re confused as to why you’re upset. It could be that you can’t believe they don’t appreciate your passion, that you don’t get recognized. You unload on them because it was just Tuesday and part of the deal, but you forget to give them closure about it — the next day, that person might say sorry to you, and you might have a wonderful day. But we end up just venting about the bad stuff while not talking about the good stuff. It’s like when you have a terrible restaurant experience; you’ll tell 20 people, but if you have an okay one, you might not tell anyone.

And we can end up with our spouse that way and give them second-degree burns, developing bitterness in their spirit, tainting and poisoning them while we aren' t even actively caring about it. Then one day, we’re confused as to why they’re disenchanted and jaded. We have to be careful with our words. Resentment gets frozen in the body. When you’re carrying, feeling, and replaying old wounds over and over in your head, what does it do? It stresses you out in your body, pumping cortisol through your system. That stress hormone causes inflammation. He links resentment with higher blood pressure, ulcers, arthritis, heart disease, and those are all on the really serious end of the spectrum.

But then you also have to consider focus and productivity. It’s hard to be productive when you’re nursing old hurts and letting things fester. What am I trying to get you to see? The danger of resentment is that it holds you back from God’s best, and that should be enough for us to want to welcome the wind of freedom from resentment in our hearts.

Now number two: let’s talk about the deceitfulness of resentment. The deceitfulness of resentment is that it is a sin, and as sin, it never feels like sin when you’re doing it. Sin doesn’t feel like sin when you’re in the midst of it. When you’re tempted by it, drawn to it, and hypnotized by it, the Bible says that we sin when desire gives birth through temptation to the sinful act. You get carried away by the lusts inside you.

Think about David: he was on that roof, and instead of going out to battle, he stayed home. He was already given over to sloth and comfort, and then he saw this beautiful woman and strayed into lust. What happens? He gave himself over to that, brought her home, and had an affair. By the end of the story, you’re saying, «Dude, is this my Psalm 23 David? What is going on here?» This is so off-brand for the man after God’s own heart!

God draws straight lines using crooked sticks, and we see that in David’s life. God redeems him, cleans him out, and opens it up- all the rest. But there was damage and residual consequences; don’t get me wrong. God will forgive, but there’s always going to be fallout from sin, and there is in David’s life. It rings on into his family because of that infidelity and uncleanness. It held him back from being able to build the temple like he originally wanted to, but it all started small. When he was being carried away, he didn’t feel like a sinner; he felt like a lover, a passionate person.

So it is with resentment: resentment doesn’t feel like sin, and neither do the initial stages of bitterness. No one sets out to become a bitter person. Do you know anyone who, when describing how they want to grow old, says, «I’d love to be bitter! I’d love to be jaded and cynical „? How do we get there? We get there one little mistake at a time.

Hebrews 12:15 tells us: „Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.“ When we are not paying attention, these roots spring up innocently, causing trouble and ultimately defiling many. So they’ll wipe you out. Why? Because they’re roots, and roots trip you up.

I was at an event a couple of weeks ago, and while there, they said, „Hey, at this event, guys can choose if they want to go fly fishing, mountain biking, or do this and that.“ I chose C: „Get some work done.“ All these guys were out doing high-adrenaline, high- amazing things, while I had some edits I needed to complete on a new publishing project. I was hammering down and having the most peaceful day ever; they all came back with, „Here’s the fish I caught!“ and „Look at this epic mountain bike ride I did.“

One of the guys I had made friends with earlier in the trip was named Albert. He came up limping and I asked, „Albert, what’s the matter?“ He said, „Mountain biking.“ I said, „What happened?“ He lifted up his arm to show me an injury and said, „I got hit by a root!“ I asked, „What do you mean?“ He replied, „I came around the corner, and there was a root I didn’t see. The next thing I know, I’m going over the handlebars and went full sand, landing all my weight on this arm.“ He ended up with road rash to prove it.

This is what resentment will do in your life. Bitterness will spring up like that root. All of a sudden, you didn’t see it, and now bam, you’re flipping end-over-end. We see this from the beginning to the end of the Bible. How did Cain end up murdering his brother, Abel? He was resentful. „You received his gift but not mine; you don’t appreciate it. It’s not fair! God, don’t you see this?“ He was poisoned by bitterness, bound up in iniquity, and now he destroys his brother.

The rivalry of Esau and Jacob — jealousy-"I want to be like you! I want to be hairy like you! I want your birthright. I want your blessing. I want Dad’s affection!» We see Miriam and Aaron -jealous of Moses being used by God. Why should he get to lead God’s people and not us? Leprosy breaks out on Miriam’s body. Leprosy, from beginning to end, is a picture of sin — a spiritual representation of what happens internally when we allow ourselves to get caught up in the roots we are meant to spot and jump over.

Let' s consider Saul and David. Saul was jealous of David -» Saul has slain his thousands; David his tens of thousands.» That spirit of resentment from that day forward led Saul to keep a close eye on David. Why? «You’re being used. I want to keep the throne! I want my son to sit on the throne! Not you!» Why did Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt? They were resentful of his dreams, resentful of his greatness, resentful of his jacket.

And of course, the most notorious example: Judas Iscariot. Matthew 26:14 states, «Then one of the twelve called Judas went to the chief priests and arranged to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.» How do you go from being a disciple, walking around to watching Jesus feed the 5,000, and being there for the Sermon on the Mount to selling Him into slavery? The answer: resentment, bitterness, jealousy, and self-seeking.

Chronologically harmonizing the New Testament stories, the event immediately preceding Judas’s betrayal is fascinating. It’s the moment when Martha and Mary invite Jesus into Simon’s house, who was a leper but got healed. You don’t have to stay stuck in your bitterness, by the way. Simon got healed from his leprosy, and so can you. I’m going to tell you how in just a moment if you’re struggling with the heavy chains and deep poison of resentment today. I believe there is hope for you.

Simon got healed from his leprosy, so he said, «I’m going to invite Jesus into my house and have a party.» Mary and Martha said, «We want to pay for the catering bill and rent a disco ball because we’re grateful that our brother was raised from the dead to life in Jesus Christ.» Hello, somebody! Lazarus came out of that grave! They put on a big party-as a church should be-a celebration of the dead who have come to life.

They say, «Let the party continue!» Mary and Martha and Lazarus went all out. They had the good food; they got serious. Mary was like, «This is not enough! It’s not enough!» She said, «My brother was dead!» She dug deep and gave the most precious thing she had — this nard she’d been hanging onto, the most expensive, costly perfume to break at Jesus’s feet so His feet would smell like roses. That was her way of saying thank you.

Her worship was costly and extravagant; it cost her something. But of course, we know that immediately, John 12:4 says, «But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 'Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? '» Truly, he was resentful because of the attention she was getting. He was resentful because he wanted that money to go in the bag, which ultimately meant «to go to Judas.» He was doing great things with his life but lacked character where it counted.

There was no personal holiness, no actual integrity- tons of gifts but not the fruit. He was building with wood, hay, and straw. But ironically, none of the ministry Judas did was canceled out; it still worked in the hearts of those who received it. So don’t be like, «Oh, God’s using me; that’s some big test.» The thing is, God uses donkeys, and He does it every Sunday at this church!

What impresses Him is character; what impresses Him is likeness to Jesus, that sweet spirit like Mary had of worship in spirit and truth. Judas says, «This should have been given to the poor.» But we know it wasn’t-he wanted it for himself!

Now, the sad reality is that resentment is dangerous. Let’s get rid of it. So how do we do it? How can I detect if there’s resentment in my heart?

Three ways: Number one, you have to audit your emotions. Don’t allow emotions to swim through your life without assessment. You might have a spirit of resentment if you feel a huge sense of unfairness or injustice that you can’t stop thinking about, connected to you or someone closely associated with you. You feel stuck in the past, blaming present activity on past injury, replaying things over and over again like a loop, thinking «No one knows!» «I’m the only one!» «I can’t believe this- how could they do that after everything I’ve done?»

You chronically feel unrecognized or unappreciated, and you’re jealous of where others are and what they have. Social media, oh lovely! You look at what others have and think, «Oh, that’s nice for them.»

These are things that can help you audit your emotions. If seeing what someone else has makes you feel less good about what you have, you might have a spirit of resentment moving toward bitterness. If you can' t celebrate others without feeling envious, then that’s a major red flag.

Secondly, examine your reactions. If you get a five-alarm fire from something that should barely trigger the smoke detectors, something’s wrong.

I kept a L’Aroy in my car, intending to drink it at one point. It was a hot day, and when I saw it, I thought I had a cold one. I grabbed it and went to open it, and it mushroomed like twice its size. The agitation hurt my knuckles! That pressure was inside it, and it mushroomed just at the barest touch.

Do you have outbursts of wrath that fly off the handle? When you assess it later in a cooler moment, you think, «Oh dang! Why did that tiny thing create such a big stir?» There’s a spirit of resentment and bitterness brewing inside.

Lastly, pay attention to your body. People ask me all the time, «How do you find these little funny moments in history or quirky things for your sermons?» I read widely, and I pay attention to my body. If something causes me to sit up or respond biologically, chances are that when I communicate it later, the same response will happen to the people I’m talking to.

Our emotions are inside of our bodies. Where do you feel the excitement? On a rollercoaster: you feel it in your stomach-not in your head! I want to pay attention to where things sit in my body. If I feel tightness while rehashing old pain, or if I feel myself balling up my fists, that doesn’t feel like peace to me.

You might not have it all together if you’re grinding the enamel off your teeth while you’re so peaceful! That might just be the wisdom from below, not the wisdom that is from above.

More importantly, how do we defeat resentment? Spoiler alert: Through the Holy Spirit’s power. Told you at the beginning, we are in a series called «Welcome the Wind,» and that’s exactly what we need. If we’re going to defeat the power of bitterness and resentment in our lives, we need the Spirit’s power.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, «For we walk in the flesh; we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments.» Isn’t that what resentment feels like-an argument? The loop in your head of resentment is an argument.

What we need are powerful weapons to pull down those arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God-bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. This is what we need: God’s supernatural power to tear down these mental constructs, these little harbored hurts, those slight injuries that eventually add up to full-blown bitterness in our lives.

So what does that mean? I’m going to give you a sequence. First, admit you have a problem. Acknowledge that you' re struggling with resentment. Second, ask for help. «God, would you help me?»

You might feel there’s a root in you. You feel like you’ve tripped up; you feel it’s sprung up within you, defiling you. «God, help me!» Think about it: doesn’t James 1: 5 say if anyone lacks wisdom, they can ask for help, and God will give it liberally without reproach?

Every good and perfect gift comes from above — from the Father of Lights-in whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. God gives what is good, so ask Him for help. Thirdly, forgive quickly. Don’t let these things fester or stick with you.

Forgive quickly; that doesn’t mean glossing over or acting like the bad things weren’t bad. It merely means we carry a light touch of forgiveness with us so things don’t stick to our spirits. Remember, snake bites don’t kill people; it’s the poison getting inside you that will kill you.

Number four: root out double standards. One of the things God was helping me with was as I was receiving this message and preaching about wanting God to take away resentment from my life. I felt like God was prompting me to pick any case of resentment in my life that I wanted to get stuck in and ask myself how I, too, am guilty of the same thing I' m mad at that person for having done.

You see, it can be a double standard wanting there to be a quid pro quo; because I did this, they should do that; but I don’t want you to treat me like that. Heaven forbid I don’t want God to have it be quid pro quo with me! I want His grace, which is never merited; I want His kindness, which is never earned; I want His mercy, which I’ve never deserved!

So, why am I insisting everyone else live in some kind of quid pro quo?

I think, if I’m honest, a lot of my resentments arise from wanting there to be reciprocity. But I did. This can lead to resentment and create a bitter spirit.

Number five, trust God ultimately. Jesus said, «Vengeance is Mine.» If He said vengeance is Mine, it doesn’t need to be mine first. A major red flag comes up. I’m going to let that be His. That means that ultimately every wrong ever done ends up being paid for in hell or at the cross.

So I can trust He knows what He’s doing. And lastly, be proactive. I can have hard conversations. I can get things into the light, doing my best to live at peace with all who are around me.

I can do all that lies within me to foster gratitude and praise in my heart, making it inhospitable to the spirit of resentment, jealousy, self-seeking, and bitterness. Lastly, I can keep the cross in the center.

I love the story from Exodus when the bitter waters were undrinkable. So Moses was told to throw a tree into the water, and when the tree was thrown in, the bitter water became sweet. That’s what’s going on in Exodus or Ephesians 4: «Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.»

He’s saying, «Take your bitter pool with all the clamor and envy, and keep throwing the cross into it.» Even as Christ forgave you, keep throwing the cross into your bitterness, and you can watch that water become drinkable.

One of the titles for Jesus is the «Root of Jesse,» which means He would descend from Jesse through David, from that family tree-not from Saul, but from Jesse to David. And not David’s good-looking sons, not his buff sons, but the weak son — the shepherd’s son. The root of Jesse shall rise to reign, and in Him, we can have hope.

So I pray-my hope for us is that we would let the root of Jesse root out resentment from our hearts. And so, Father, that’s our humble desire. See from heaven, God, the wicked way within us. Search us and know us, God, and would you please root out the bitterness inside of us, the resentment inside of us, so we can be clean, undefiled, and whole? Would you help us to see ourselves, not as we think we are but as we really are?

If that’s you and you would say, «I need that help! I need help with resentment in my life,» could you raise a hand at every location? I got both of mine raised-one for each of my struggles in this area! Heaven, break in, in Jesus' name, the spirit of resentment and the curse of bitterness off our lives as we put the cross of Jesus in the center and stand under His authority. Root of Jesse, prevail in our pain. Give us new life, we pray.