Frustration And Self-Righteousness

Frustration can be the result of self-righteousness and unresolved sin. You may desire to get back on course with God, but are hindered because your heart is not in the right

place with His people; or you may find in the midst of sin, that you are able to see the negative effects it has on the people around you. Yet, pride will keep you from doing

what is righteous in resolving the problem. Therefore, God will not afford you forgiveness nor bring deliverance in light of your pride. If you continue to walk among the people you have offended without acknowledging your wrong, you are training yourself to be arrogant. God will not bring you out of that sinful situation until you have fulfilled the righteousness

of true repentance. In the meanwhile, you may become extremely frustrated with the manifested consequences of the sin itself.

Let me make this very clear. Many times individuals are sorry for the consequences of the sins they commit. However, they are not sorry for committing the sin itself. You see, the consequences may cause you to be denied some things you really want. When sorrow is due to personal or materialistic loss, it is not repentance. True repentance is gendered when one considers his relationship with God at risk.

If God removes you or others from a situation, for the sake of those affected, that does not mean you are delivered from the sin. In such a case, the move of God is for His

people in spite of your selfishness. If you continue in your sin and do not heed that small voice within, deliverance will not come and your frustration will continue to build. Forgiveness will only come when the love of God fills your heart for the victims of your offense. It is very frustrating to seek forgiveness for sin and find all your efforts are

fruitless. Your heart must be in the right place with people in order for forgiveness to come from the Father. Frustration causes you to do nothing. You can frustrate the grace of God when you become complacent, selfish and arrogant. In the midst of circumstances, situations and relationships, faith needs to operate. However, if you do not examine your heart for motive and true disposition, repentance for sin will not be found. For example, if you really want deliverance, you must despise the shame involved in humbling yourself and asking God and man for forgiveness. Faith without works is dead. The best way to handle frustration when you are burdened with unforgiveness and guilt is to deal with the situation

head on. Do what the Word says. When you obey the Word, you change. When you change, the situation has changed. Confrontation is the catalyst for change. Once you confront the situation and acknowledge the wrong, you will feel a release of the burden. Open confession is not always confessing to an entire congregation. Open confession is to go back to the situation or relationship and confess your wrong to those involved. If you continue to disobey that still, small voice, you will be inhibited in moving ahead in God. You will not move spiritually until that voice is answered.

Romans 10:3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Another cause of frustration is the desire to establish your own righteousness inside a situation, circumstance or relationship. This is called self-righteousness. When you fail to submit to God’s way, you will always experience frustration. Remember, the Lord will allow you to encounter negative circumstances, situations and relationships to reveal your mindsets. You must always judge what you feel in everything that is set before you. Judge righteously, checking to see if you have dishonored anyone in a situation. You must never be presumptuous, thinking that because your heart is pure and no malice was intended, that the other person was not offended. Always consider the spiritual disposition of another. Self-righteousness is also a result of judging others by your own standards. Tell the truth and tell it to the ones who can benefit by it.

A few days before the release of this book, I noticed I had a missed call on my cell phone. I recognized the name on the caller ID and immediately checked the voicemail

to see if the caller had left a message. Well, there was a message, but I am sure the caller didn’t intend to leave it. Apparently she had dialed my number by mistake and

when I didn’t answer my voicemail picked up. She and another veteran leader were in a car looking for an address in the town where they lived. While doing so, they began to talk about the disposition of people in their local assembly, including the leaders. The recording was several minutes long, but the gist of one’s concern was ‘members of the congregation forming

opinions of you based upon what they have heard, without knowing the whole story.’ She rehearsed how leaders need to have wisdom too; implying that the one they were referring to just didn’t have any. The other minister in the car with her was obviously in agreement and offended by those who stand on platforms that do not reach out with love. She went on to say that stuff doesn’t just blow over etc, etc, etc. But interestingly enough, she also stated how in such cases you are expected to be all loving, and self- righteous when you come around that individual. In other words, you’ve got to fake it.

As I listened to the recording, I could hear the bitterness and resentment in their spirit. Even if all they said were true, the bitterness in their souls negated any righteousness on their part. The tone they spoke in was that of malice, resentment and jealousy. I wanted to cry. I said, “Lord, these are veterans of the faith. But they are so carnally

minded and malicious. They are in no way able to help the situation.” They themselves are standing on platforms that do not attempt to reach out with love, mercy, grace or truth to those they deem as off course. Instead, they buried that opportunity in the bond of iniquity, false loyalties and self-righteousness. They are not worthy to judge others regarding the lack of love, because their own hearts are full of darkness. These are people in the Body of Christ, in whom sin is lurking at the door of their mind, waiting for an opportunity to manifest itself in the flesh. The Holy Ghost is a discerning Spirit and will always reveal your true mindset. Self- righteousness is an attempt to cover your wantonness and ways of the world. It is a powerful resistance to the Word. It is strengthened by religious jargon and use the Word for its covering.

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BLINDING

The amazing thing about self-righteousness is its ability to blind its victims to the truth. After more than four decades of ministering, I have found it to be easier to deliver fornicators, adulterers and witches, than those saints who suffer from self-righteousness. Even though they are the most frustrated people in the church, being hard workers, striving to reach goals that always end in failures and disappointment; they just never seem to get it. They never connect the dots. God never allows their agenda to prosper, even if it is a righteous agenda. They never accomplish it because their work is done in iniquity. Even though they have witnessed it repeatedly, they just don’t get it. A man or woman could fall into sin causing pain and disappointment in the lives of others. But if that individual truly repents, God will continue to use him or her in His reformation.

Some judge this falsely because they might have seen the individual fall more than once. But what they refuse to judge is that when the individual gets back up, he or she is able to do well in ministry. The people who witnessed the fall continue to love them, and the Lord continues to use the individual in a way that all must testify it is the Lord. The self-righteous never accept the fact that God judges the content of an individual’s heart at the moment of repentance. Even if in the future, the individual falls again, at that interval their heart was pure toward God and man.

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS PUTS YOU ON YOUR OWN

Self-righteous saints do not understand that when they fall they struggle to get up because they never go to God with a clean spirit and a pure heart toward His people. There

are always elements of resentment and iniquity in their soul. And because they don’t enjoy the quick restoration that another may receive, they become frustrated, angry

and malicious in their thoughts regarding those who find favor with God.

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FORTIFIED BY PRIDE

Self-righteous individuals never judge themselves justly. They always make allowances for a little leaven. Their spiritual dispositions are fortified by their pride. This keeps

them from ever meeting the requirements of humility. They walk on in the pride, struggling with life and pushing away the helping hand of God. I counseled a minister once who had resentment and iniquity in her heart against two other ministers. In the scenario, they were all guilty of something. So I told each of them individually what they needed to do to satisfy

God’s requirements. Well, the two immediately humbled themselves to the one and apologized for the breach in their relationship. They begged to move on in righteousness.

But the one was hard-hearted and merely said all the right things. It was obvious her spirit was not in agreement with God. The Lord sent me to her again and I called her in for more counseling. I told her the Lord’s mind and she agreed with me. She promised me that she would go to the other, humble herself and make real peace among them. But, of course, the image of herself which she worshipped religiously, would not allow it. Things in her life began to deteriorate more and ministry became an afterthought. Months later she called one of the other women saying that she had been in prayer the night before and God said she needed to call her and apologize. Wow, what a revelation! He only said it over and over again several months prior.

Nevertheless, this was an attempt to appease the conscience who knows that righteousness had not been achieved in the situation. How long will it take for the young minister

to contact the other woman and humble herself? But more than that, who knows whether God will even tarry with her any longer. Her pride is an affront to the Lord. It has devastated her ministry, buried roots of bitterness and infringed upon her anointing. I wanted to go to her and plead on God’s behalf again as I had done several times before. But God said, “No. She has to receive or reject me now.” I was so afraid when I heard this. A year has passed and she still refuses to humble herself to that particular person (whom, by the way, God is using mightily in

ministry). Self-righteous people do not see God through the impurities of their heart; so the best they can do is sit back, judge, criticize and look for fault in those whom God is using.

They are quickly becoming spectators, who had their spot, blew it, but would never truly repent. They are as Esau in the wilderness peeping at the Jacobs who inherited their

blessings; the same Jacobs who caused them much pain and heartache but wrestled with God until they changed. If you are one who walks in self-righteousness, learn from

this chapter. You may not be a minister but these principles are the same in any situation.