Sips from the Fountain
Learning to drink from Jesus, the Fountain of Living Water, isn’t as hard as I thought, especially when you just start with sips, and those will change everything.
Sips from the Fountain
Deep Drink: Harnessing the Blessing of Spiritual Law
Since our first episode with Susan Litchford, you’ve been asking for more from her and her life-changing teaching. “Too short!” you said. “We need more from her!” you begged.
So here it is. The first of its kind in our “Deep Drink” genre.
Susan has helped hundreds of people engage with spiritual law and its connection to forgiveness in a way that has transformed their lives, redeemed their pasts, and changed their futures, for themselves and all those around them.
Over and over those people have wished that their own friends and families could find the same kind of freedoms they discovered with that one-on-one time with “Mrs. Susan”.
Yes, this episode is more than a sip, but you’ll discover that whenever we launch a “Deep Drink” episode, it’s so worth it.
***PLEASE NOTE, as you listen to this episode, that just gaining the knowledge you learn from Susan will not change your life. Take note of the action steps she provides, and DO THEM. You’ll never be the same.
Hello everyone. It's s to hear this message today. I thank you that they are your treasures, they are your jewels, that you knew them before you formed them in their mother's womb. According to the word of God, it's very clear that you knew them before you formed them in their mother's womb, into the deep things of God, which will give them the freedom in their lives from all sorts of lies spoken over them, bondages that have attempted to hold them back in life, and that you're providing a pathway of healing and restoration, redemption and resurrection. So today we just say yes, lord, yes, lord, show us the things that you have been holding for all of us. You have been holding for all of us because you don't withhold anything from us. You hold all things for us. So we bless you, we thank you, we honor you and we love you in Jesus name, amen. So today we're going to just look at the depths of forgiveness and in this teaching, rather than being so focused on the offender, the person who hurt us horrifically and, we think, damaged us for all of life, that we are completely damaged and never can walk out of the damage, that we are tarnished goods. And so if the enemy can get us to believe that foundational lie. We are snagged into a life of desperation, into a life of desperation. So I'm going to do a little quick teaching now to just understand how the economy of the earth and life work. Just a little bit of teaching, so to begin with. Begin with, we are.
Susan Litchford:When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Word of God says we are born again. Now the reason we have to be born again is that when we were born into the earth we are basically. What the Word of God says is we are born in sin. And so when I'm born again, that means that in that moment I experience that I say Jesus, your death on the cross paid the price for that sin that I was born into and even the sin that I had committed since I was born. Your death on that cross paid for my sin, yes, and so I am born again as a new creature in Christ, as a new creature in Christ, and I have gone from a life of destitution and desperation and a life headed toward eternity in hell to a life moving now toward eternity in heaven. In other words, the minute I receive Christ, my eternity in heaven starts right then.
Susan Litchford:So, first of all I'm born again, and when I am born again I embody soul and spirit. So my body and soul and spirit there's a work that begins there now. My spirit is the part of me that is completely filled up with Holy Spirit, which God is God the Father, god the Son and God the Holy. He is a triune God, three in one, and that's another teaching. But my spirit, the part of me that lives forever, that when I die, my spirit leaves my body and I go to heaven, and I go to heaven, that spirit, so that spirit, part of me, is completely sanctified, totally filled up with God. But my soul, my soul is my mind, my will and my emotions that part of me is not actually sanctified yet. So that part my mind, my will and my emotions is in need of sanctification.
Susan Litchford:Sanctification is bringing to death in me everything that is not Jesus, and God in his goodness will reveal those things to me, and that's some of what we're going to talk about today how God brings to death in me and I have to be in agreement with it that, um, the things that are not jesus, that is sanctification. And then, once that, as those things are being brought to death in me. Through sanctification, boom. Then I am released into transformation, which means that I am becoming like Christ, I'm transformed into his image. Old things are passing away. Behold, all things are becoming new. Transformation, and it's a process. Transformation and it's a process. So, in sanctification, the Holy Spirit leads us through a process in order for us to live out the gift of salvation, and we're bringing to death those things in us that are not Jesus Christ. In transformation, by applying the biblical principles to our lives, our old nature is transformed into a new nature. We are bringing to death, to life, those things in our redeemed hearts which are Jesus Christ.
Susan Litchford:So the other thing that is significant here is that when God created the earth, he instituted natural law. So I was looking for an ink pen because I was going to drop it and say that if I drop that ink pen 100 times, it will not float into the atmosphere on the 94th time. It will drop every time because of the law of gravity. That is a natural law God put in place when he created the heavens and the earth. There are all kinds of other kinds of natural law the law of thermodynamics, the law of lift. We learned that from birds. The Wright brothers did that when the how you can fly. So the law of science and math, everything on both sides of an equals mark has to be equal. The law of physics, I could just go on. This building is held up by architectural law. Those who built it obeyed the law and the building stands, the house stands. So we don't really sometimes grasp the fact that also, simultaneously, when the Lord put in spiritual, natural law, he instituted spiritual law.
Susan Litchford:So let's just think about something for a moment. Let's say that I said you told me about gravity and I said, oh, that's interesting, where did you learn about gravity? And you then told me that you learned about gravity, that Isaac Newton is the one that found it. And then I said to you oh, I want to hear Isaac Newton speak. And then you said to me well, he's dead. And then I said to you he's dead. You know, I don't think I'm. I don't think I'm feeling gravity. No, I don't think I'm feeling gravity, like, oh, I'm going to be for you about gravity and I'm going to support you about gravity and I'm so glad you found gravity. That's wonderful, I'm for you about it, but for me I'm not feeling it. I just don't resonate with gravity, and then I'll walk off that deck. Right there outside my window there's a story and a half high. I believe my knees will be in my throat and I think it doesn't matter if I believe in gravity or not.
Susan Litchford:It's in operation and spiritual law is the same way. It's in operation in the earth and it matters not whether I believe in it or not or agree with it or not. It operates. For example, in Matthew 18, peter says to Jesus how many times do I have to forgive Seven, which we know that the earth was completed in seven days. Seven is the number in the word of God. That means complete. He thought he made an A with Jesus and Jesus says well, actually it's 70 times seven. Oops, that's like infinite, infinity, infinite.
Susan Litchford:And then Jesus goes. You know, it's like this and he tells a parable, and it's a story which a parable is a story. So he tells this story about a king that had a servant that owed him a vast amount of money and so the servant he was going to call in the debt and that meant that he was going to liquidate all his assets, including his family, wife and children, and then he was going to put him in prison because the guy couldn't pay the debt. And the guy goes on his knees and says just give me a chance, I'll pay you what I owe you. Well, the king looked at him and said I forgive the debt, I forgive the debt.
Susan Litchford:So this servant who was just forgiven is going through life, going along his way, and he sees a fellow servant that owes him maybe a couple hundred thousand, where he owed a billion. Let's just say well, that servant goes over to his fellow servant and instead of saying I need some money to pay my family and could you just give me a couple hundred of that 200 that you owe me, 200,000 that you owe me, could you just give me a couple hundred so I can go to the market and buy a few groceries, he didn't do that. Jesus says that that servant went to his fellow servant and he put his hands around his throat without a word, started choking him and said pay me what you owe me. Well, do you see the bitterness there, the unforgiveness there, whoops. So that servant that owed him the $200,000 goes down on his knees and he says to his fellow servant just give me a chance. Oh, I'll pay you back, just give me a chance to work and start paying you and I'll pay you back. Same exact words this guy just said to the king back. Same exact words this guy just said to the king. So this guy, this servant who had just choked his fellow servant, said hand him, you over to the jailers. And he had him put in prison for the debt. Well, the rest of the servants you know how all the rest of us little servants are we made sure that the king found out about what that servant had done to his fellow servant. So the king calls him in and he said the king says you, wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt and you would not forgive your fellow servant. So the king handed that wicked servant over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed.
Susan Litchford:Matthew 18, verses 21 to 35, look it up. But then Jesus says this very telling statement. Jesus says and such will it be for you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Well, back in the 80s I remember Sharon calling me and saying Susan, what does that mean? In Matthew 18, from your heart. I said Sharon, I don't know and I would like to sit there and think okay, from my heart I'm going to forgive. I couldn't even think of anybody I needed to forgive and I was very confused about it, but now I'm not and I want to share it with you.
Susan Litchford:Let's think about spiritual law, and the one that I want to mention for a moment is in Deuteronomy. So hang on, I'm going to get my Bible. So I think actually I was going to go one direction, but I'm going to go this direction. So let's think about spiritual law. So one example is in Deuteronomy, chapter five that's Old Testament. And in Deuteronomy five it says that the sins of the fathers are going to be passed to the children, to the third and the fourth generation. Well, that's up in the beginning of the chapter. Then later on in the chapter we see the antidote. The antidote is honor your father and mother. That all might go well with you. I'm going to explain that in a minute.
Susan Litchford:So let's fast forward to the New Testament, where Jesus says in Matthew 7, verse 1 and 2, he says says in Matthew 7, verse 1 and 2, he says don't judge, because in whatever way you judge, you will be judged. That's verse 1. So he's basically saying in whatever way you judge, you will be judged. And then he says in romans one therefore, you are without excuse yourself for you who judge, practice the same things. Then, in James 5, 9, he says do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door, may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door. So Jesus says not to judge. But we say, well, am I not supposed to say, am I not supposed to say what they did? That was terrible. Well, let's think about judging. What does it mean? Let's think about honor your father and mother, that all might go well with you.
Susan Litchford:What is dishonor? What is judging to dishonor? To judge is to hate, to desire vengeance. Like I hope they get what they deserve and I'm going to give them what I've decided they deserve. Watch my big tongue lashing, watch me speak a big old curse over them because of what they did to me. That's judging. That's judging.
Susan Litchford:But also, this is the one I tripped up on, because I was a Christian. I wasn't going to hate and I wasn't going to be happy if somebody got what I thought they deserved. I wasn't going to do that, but I looked down on them. I would never treat anybody the way they're treating me. I'm never going to be that kind of mother. I'm never going to be that kind of parent, wife. Oh, I would never treat anybody that way. Whoa, that's dishonored. That's dishonored, dishonored, and in whatever way I'm dishonoring, especially my parents.
Susan Litchford:Or when jesus says don't judge.
Susan Litchford:In whatever way you judge it will, you will be judged. When I do that, um, all will not go well with me. The word of God is true, it's accurate All will not go well with me. So you're probably sitting there thinking, well, so-and-so did this horrible thing to me, beat me, cursed me, raped me? Well, how do I stay connected to them? I show you how I stay connected to the person that wounded me and hurt me and used me and abused me, or just slighted me, or didn't promote me or left me out or did not acknowledge me. I'll tell you how connected I stay to them. My hands are around their throat and I'm dragging them around every minute of the day, judging them, holding these things against them. My hands are useless because of that.
Susan Litchford:So this is spiritual law. This is one of the spiritual laws. There are many others, but this one is spiritual and it's for our good, it's for our protection, it's for our liberty, it's for our freedom. So it's to hate, unforgiveness is a form of dishonor. It's to hate, to resent, to judge, to desire vengeance or to look down on. So Jesus says don't judge, because in whatever way you judge, you will be judged.
Susan Litchford:I remember our youngest daughter was 17. She's in her 40s now, but she came through the den and she had said something critical and a little ugly about some of her friends. 20 minutes later she walks through the den huffing and puffing, very angry, and some of her other friends had said the exact same criticisms about her that she had said about those other friends. And she said I don't know why Jesus called it judging. I think he should have called it a boomerang, a boomerang. You know what a boomerang, a boomerang you know what a boomerang is? It's a little curved tool which is sometimes used in war, sometimes used for fun. You throw it and it flips and comes back to you. So she had thrown those judgments out and they came right back to her.
Susan Litchford:It's also a scripture in Galatians where Paul is saying to the Galatians do not be deceived, god is not mocked. Whatever you sow, that will you also reap. So the law of the harvest. I grew up in the country. We had gardens, so I know that we would reap what we sowed corn where we sowed it in the lower 40, beside the creek, in a different season. We plant in the spring, we'd reap in the fall With a harvest. We plant one seed, we get a whole stalk of corn with three ears loaded with seed. That's the law of the harvest. So don't be deceived, god is not mocked. Whatever we sow, that will we also reap. So I will reap what I sowed where I sowed it in a different season, with a harvest.
Susan Litchford:Oh yes, so in thinking about those scriptures and about judging with me, my mother was emotionally ill and it was a somewhat abusive situation and also I mean it would have been abusive here, but it was great here. We did lots of adventures. But my dad traveled. He left on Mondays and came home on Fridays and left us under her control and under her tutelage and parenting. Then on Saturday he would work in his office in the basement all day, and Sunday we were in church all day. She was an organist and choir director. So guess who I judged? I judged my dad for traveling and I looked around Everybody else's dads had jobs in our community and they went home every night and so I processed that as rejection as a little girl. So he was never there from practically day one in my life. So I judged him for it and then I said I'll never be married to a man that travels. So I married my husband. He works in a hospital and I've never seen a hospital travel traveling hospital, nope. But at the age of 29, he was promoted to a corporate position and he was given the responsibility for over 30 hospitals and not one of them was in the state of Georgia. Not one of them was in the state of Georgia. He earned enough frequent flyer points one year for six round-trip tickets to Europe. He traveled and when my firstborn daughter was 15, he came off the road somewhat. I raped a man who travels. So it's real.
Susan Litchford:I can give you so many examples. Your head would spin because it's a spiritual law, just like gravity. So let's talk about this one. Hebrews 12, 14 and 15 says Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. Short of the grace of God, beware unless any root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled.
Susan Litchford:So if I judge in relationship and judging is going to be in relationship I'm not going to judge my little drink here. So I reap a drink. No, judging is in relationship relationship. I judge people and so I'm going to really reap it where In relationship. So where do I experience relationship in my life that I would be reaping it? Well, I told you one. I marry it, I birth it. It's my boss at work. It's relationships at work. It's my boss at work. It's relationships at work. It's friendships In church. I reap it or I become it as it becomes part of my character.
Susan Litchford:So another example is my mother said that when I was born I was the ugliest thing she had ever seen and she felt nothing for me. Now I might be 75 years old. Right now I'm not that ugly. I was not ugly. It was an issue in her heart, which is a fascinating story that caused her to really resent me. The problem is, she would tell that story at various times as I was growing up and she would have an intimate conversation with me. Like Susan, I couldn't wait to have children. Susan, I was so excited about you being born and but, susan, I didn't feel anything for you. You were the ugliest thing I'd ever seen.
Susan Litchford:So as a teenager, I felt like my nose was the size of Mount Everest. I felt like my eyes were teeny little, squinty, teeny little things. I would stand waiting on the school bus in front of the mirror, and there was a window where I could see the bus coming, and I would evaluate every part of me and figure out how each part was ugly. Figure out how each part was ugly. So she, in a sense, did not understand to call me forth to life. She looked at my deficits, which were deficits in her eyes. So then I became that and it became part of my character. So I trashed myself, I evaluated myself ad nauseum and I always came up short. So I reaped it in my own character. I became the thing I hated enough.
Susan Litchford:So in so, in this particular situation, what we're looking at is the importance of relinquishing what I feel is my right to hold this debt against someone. I relinquish it Because I'm unusable. I'm walking around with my list of how, of all the things that I need to hold against that person, the whole long list. Well, the list. I have to keep repeating it over and over to keep it alive. And it has a look. It has a bitter look and it's unattractive and it holds me down and takes me out. So what? How do I get free from this? I want this off of me. I don't want to be judging that person anymore. I want to let them go. I want the depths of forgiveness in my life. I want to forgive from my heart. Like Jesus said, I don't want to be tortured by unforgiveness, bitterness, vengeance and hate. I want them off of me. I want them out of me Out.
Susan Litchford:So one of the things I do is I've got to release them from the prison that I've got them locked in. What they did was not right, but I'm going to let them out of the prison. I'm going to take my hands off of their throats and I'm going to say you know, dad, it would have been good if you'd been home and protected us or even seen what was going on there, but you know what you didn't. And that's between you and God. I'm going to step away as the judge. I'm going to let God be the judge and the jury. I get to let you go. I get to let you go and you know forgiveness is not behavior modification where I just decide oh, I'm just going to forgive.
Susan Litchford:No, forgiveness is sin eradication, sin in me, where I am holding this against them and keeping a list and the hands around the throat and I'm bitter. So I know that forgiveness has happened when my spirit or my soul is full of love and blessing when I think of this person, is full of love and blessing when I think of this person. So how do I stop living in unforgiveness? Number one I repent. Repentance means I bring it to death and I am transformed by the renewing of my mind. I no longer hate, judge, resent, look down on, etc. I take James.
Susan Litchford:Chapter 5 says confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that your sins might be forgiven and your diseases might be healed. And I will tell you I have a crippling disease and I was diagnosed 35 years ago. No medication work. My hands were twisting, I couldn't walk on my feet, I drooled because I couldn't open my mouth. I could hardly swallow. It was in every joint on the right side of my body.
Susan Litchford:As I began to walk through this process and I asked God. I told God I'm blind. I cannot see unforgiveness in me. So I say I'm blind. Lord, show me me, I am blind, I cannot see, show me me. When I prayed that prayer, he began showing me so much bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, pride of looking down on somebody, that I had to start taking communion every day so I can remember that Jesus's blood covers my sin for real. So first of all, I repent and confess that sin and it's really good Sometimes if you can find a friend to confess it to and I take that which is my sin and it's really good sometimes if you can find a friend to confess it to and I take that which is my sin, my sin to the cross of holding it against somebody and leave it there, and then I receive forgiveness. Colossians 3, verses 12 and 13. Then I apply biblical principles in my life to build my new life in Christ, and we see that in Ezekiel 36, 26 through 27,. Romans 12 to Matthew 5, 8.
Susan Litchford:So one of the things to be aware of is that the way God designed it is that we have a thought, we take an action on that thought. That forms a habit, which forms our character, which determines our destiny. Well, satan wants to do the same thing. He wants to have imagination, speculations and thoughts, and we take actions on those thoughts. It becomes a habit, it forms our character and it determines our destiny. The same way that we hate, we judge, we look down on, we don't walk in forgiveness, and I take action on it. I keep a list and I am bitter. And then it becomes a habit. I just do it all the time. It forms my character and it determines my destiny. So 2 Corinthians 10 5 says we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Also, romans 1, verses 21 and 22.
Susan Litchford:So I'd like for you to consider praying this prayer with me right now of forgiveness. So just close your eyes, because you have probably seen someone that you need to forgive. So let's forgive. Thank you, jesus, for taking forgiveness out of my hands. I cannot forgive, but you can do for me that which I cannot do myself. You can do for me that which I cannot do myself.
Susan Litchford:For your sake and those defiled by my sin, jesus, I choose to give you any right I felt was mine to throw people, even myself, into a debtor's prison. Lord, I release the person's name. I forgive them for seeing me as an object, using me as an object, treating me like an object, not a person, abusing me, not giving me a father's blessing, abandoning me and whatever the Lord's showing you before you. And these witnesses, this person or these people owe me nothing. I give you the right to hold them accountable for their actions.
Susan Litchford:Lord, tear down the prison that I built for others and myself. Forgive me for my desire for vengeance. Wash my mind, spirit and emotions of the acid of pain, resentment and anger and clothe me in your righteousness. I also forgive myself. I didn't know what I was doing in holding on to my right to judge was doing in holding on to my right to judge. Your word says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Thank you for purifying my heart through your shed blood, through your death on the cross and through this time of cleansing. I received my forgiveness. Give me wisdom to walk the rest of my years on this earth each day with a forgiving heart.
Susan Litchford:In Jesus name, lord also, I resign as the judge, the jury and the jailer of the people I've named the person I've named or other people as a way that I do like I resign and I take the key to the jail cell that I've had those people locked in. I unlock the door and I give you the key. So now I say to you, as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and on his behalf, I declare you are forgiven. Walk out of that prison because the jailer has to stay in the jail with the person they imprisoned. Walk out in Jesus name and I just declare over you the truth about you that you are a reflection of Jesus Christ, who died to forgive us. You are love. You are love. Your essence is love. Your essence is the banishment of fear and punishment to others and to yourself. So I declare love over you today In Jesus' name. God bless you. Thanks for listening.