Today, we end our journey discovering what a rebellious heart can do to your life.  How hatred penetrates the heart and overflows like muck into the atmosphere.

This is what is happening in our Country today – hatred – that has gone to full-blown rebellion.  It’s time to turn around and seek the ways and thoughts of God Almighty.

REBELLION – The Final Step of Destruction to Our Wounded Spirit

This past month we have walked through the five steps that lead up to full-blown rebellion:

1. Hurt or a Wounded Spirit
2. Bitterness
3. Anger
4. Stubbornness
5. Rebellion

Rebellion is a spiritual cancer.  It touches the lives of many along its path of destruction.  It follows the same path as physical cancer cells in that it has the freedom to move about freely in our bodies.

It starts with negative words that have been spoken and begins to penetrate your heart.  BAM!  Another hurtful word is hurled at you.  You remember the agony and how deeply the wound penetrates the heart – becoming tattered.  At first you can hide that bleeding that starts oozing forth from the wounds, but eventually the pain grows deeper and more hurtful to your spirit.

This is the first step to a rebellious heart – hurt or a wounded Spirit.  Too many people have grown up without the necessary tools to handle the arrows that have been hurled at the heart.  We have learned defense tactics that only make the situation worse.

God’s Word warns us about the second step in Hebrews 12:15:  “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.  Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” (NLT)

The second step is bitterness.  Once you have allowed the hurts to be watered and fed, a poisonous root of bitterness sprouts in your heart.  This root of bitterness is like a cancer cell – it will eventually harvest a heart of pain – not only to you but to others in your home, your work, your church, and in your community.

When you cut off the grace of God, you are throwing away the only medicine that will make you better – that will stop the cancer cells from spreading.  God gives you a divine influence to help you overcome the hurts that have been done by others and also by yourself.

Once you have rejected the grace of God, this poisonous root of bitterness attached to your heart will start squeezing and squeezing until finally the fruit of bitterness comes forth in the form of anger.

Anger is the third step to a full-blown heart of rebellion.  It can be seen in behaviors such as temper tantrums; quarreling with one another; fighting with our spouses, children, and others; animosity towards others; cruelty; and vengeance.

That spiritual cancer has now spread and what comes next is step four – stubbornness.  Stubbornness is a choice.  It is the step that immediately precedes full-blown rebellion.  We make excuses for our stubbornness as if we can justify it away.

In God’s Word we are warned once again in Ephesians 4:31:  “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.” (NLT)

With each step up the staircase towards the door of rebellion, it becomes harder to turn around and deal with the messes in your life.  Now you stand at the top of the stairs and the door of rebellion is beckoning you to open the gate – come in and let everyone know that you are tired of being hurt – tired of being toyed with.

Opening that door will be fatal.  The spiritual cancer will continue to spread throughout your whole body.  It doesn’t respect the laws that have been set forth by the human body.  This cancer has no restrictions.

Rebellion the final step is not just an outward behavior but it is an attitude problem and a heart issue.  It resists authority and is likened to witchcraft in the Bible.

I Samuel 15:23 says, “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.  So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” (NLT)

This is a story about King Saul and David.  King Saul allows jealousy to attach to his heart and become cancer cells of rebellion that grow to the point that he would desire to kill another man.

How far have you gone up the staircase to the portal of rebellion?  Have you already entered in? 

Wherever you may be on this staircase – hurt, bitterness, anger, stubbornness, or full-blown rebellion – there is hope.  God can heal and change your heart.

The first step that you must take is turning away from that door of rebellion and admitting that you have watered and fed your wounded spirit until it has formed into a spiritual cancer of rebellion.  The second step is finding someone who is trustworthy and filled with the love, joy, and peace of God to help you find your way back down the stairs.  The next step is to be willing to be accountable to the changes that need to take place in your heart.  It is liken unto heart surgery.

It is painful.  It is humbling.  But with each step that you take – you come closer to the heart of God.  God loves you and He cares about you.  He wants you to know what pure love, pure joy, and pure peace feels like.

Receive the grace of God.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for Your Words of wisdom as we have taken a look at how we can walk towards a full-blown heart of rebellion.  Father God, may we be willing to take the necessary steps to undo the damage that has been done to our lives and the lives of others by allowing hurts to escalate to rebellion.  Help us to find others around us who are able to help us walk through these difficult times in our lives as we remove layer upon layer from our wounded hearts until we truly find the love, joy, and peace of the Lord.  I ask this in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.