Offensive Breakdown: 'Out of all people..... Why YOU!'

If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide.¹³ But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,¹⁴ with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.¹⁶ As for me, I call to God, and the LORD saves me. 

   Now that we have come to the understanding that we have to acknowledge the realization of what we have been facing- which is the fact that we have been or are offended- then our next step is to talk about the plans of satan and the plans of God. In everything that happens in life there is a two-fold plan. One fold of the plan comes from the prince of the air, satan, and the greatest plan comes from God. 
   Though we are dealing with two different sources we must come to know that the lesson that we are to learn from the plans are the same. Here is the lesson: "Our response to an offense determines our future." Regardless of what happens to us in life we all have to understand that the way we react to the things that take place in our life, will truly play an important part in what we do in life and the roads we will have to take in order to get there. 
   We as Christians, followers of Christ, have to be willing to take responsibility for our actions, but also work to make sure we are doing the right things to not fall into the same deadly traps that so many others have already fallen into. As I stated once already, God will not be pleased with us trying to justify the wrong that we do to others, although they have done wrong to us. Remember we will receive the same consequences as the offenders if we decide not to act the way in which God has called us, as His followers, to act.
   Therefore since the way we respond determines our future now that means you probably want to know the two-fold plan that I began talking about at the beginning? Well here it is.
   The plan of satan is that we become: shocked, bewildered, and amazed by being offended by others. Understand that satan uses the very ones that are closest to us to bring us into a state of shock, bewilderment and amazement. Now amazingly enough most of us think the same way that David did when he wrote Ps.55:12-14. David says it this way, "If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers." In essence what David said was, if it had been my enemies or someone that I didn't know, then I could probably just be upset about this and go on about my business a lot faster, but that's not the case. These are the one's whom we sing alongside in the choir; the one who stand's before me in Sunday school teaching the lesson; or better yet the one who is delivering the sermon from the pulpit. The one's we spend holidays, attend social functions, and share offices with. And for most of us it's even closer than that. It's the one's we grew up with, confide in, and sleep next to. Yep, it's the church family, those we consider as friends, and our very own family members.
   What I've learned and what David is saying is that, we are truly only offended by those whom we care about. No, I'm not saying that we don't get hurt by others that we don't truly know, but when it comes to dealing with offense there is a deeper root to the problem we are facing. The deeper root is caused by the fact that the relationship is much closer. It is a relationship that we have come to expect more from, because we have given more of ourselves to them. Which in return has allowed us to place higher expectations on them, which makes the offense cause us more pain and hurt. All of this in return causes us not to only be: wounded, hurt and bitter, but it also causes us to put up a wall against others that may try to befriend us.
   Now that is the plan of satan, but the God we serve has a greater plan than that. His plan is that the potential and purpose, that he has placed in us, be fulfilled. God wants us to understand that everything we face and go through in life is so that we will be prepared and armed for the offense of others that may come our way. If we go back to what David says in Ps.55:12-14 then we should come to understand and know that if it was someone else then we could handle it, but God gives us the strength and power to handle those things in which we don't expect. 
   The amazing thing about this scripture is not what David says in the following verses, but really what he further goes on to tell us in vs. 16. David says, that "He called on God, and the Lord saves me." So many times we are relying on our own strength and power to handle that which we can't handle, but we need to rely on the protection and provision of God. No, it won't always feel good, because flesh will always rise up to want to do what it feels is the best thing to do, but we are responsible for controlling our flesh and those things which we may be influenced to do that totally go against the word and plan of God.
   In the end please understand  that satan's plan is that our God given potential and purpose become handicapped and hindered. But the plan of God leads to our purpose and potential being fulfilled, by us serving those whom we are called to serve, so that we might please our Heavenly Father. 
   If you don't get anything else please don't forget, that "Our response to an offense determines our future." Be Blessed! -AJH
            

'Offensive Breakdown'

Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! Luke 17:1

With the society that we live in currently it seems to be that offensive motives and actions are becoming a norm for us to deal with. It has become a regular for politicians to talk down about other politicians; it is a norm for marriages to end in divorce; it has become a norm for all people (both the young and old) to have sex before marriage/ with multiple partners because it's the thing to do; it is okay to tell a little lie; it is okay for the leaders in the church to do whatever they want to do, without punishment, because they are yet human and they too have the ability to fall; and it even seems to be okay for ministries/denominations to teach whatever part of the bible they want to teach as long as it satisfies what their congregation wants to hear. All of these things, and a host of many others, have  become a norm and yet to most of us offensive, but we as Christians have to understand that this is the worlds way and system of dealing with things so we shouldn't be amazed or find ourselves compromising with them to try and make them fit into God's word or his way.

The crazy part is when it comes to Christianity there are some norms that we have begun to accept as well, but really are offensive to the ways and teachings of God. What are these ways you might ask? It is the normality of believing that we have the right to be: angry, bitter, jealous, envious, resentful or outraged towards those who have hurt us. No, I am not suggesting or saying that it is right for anyone to intentionally or unintentionally offend/hurt us, but we do as Christians have to act accordingly to what God's word says for us to do when we have been offended by others.

Jesus tells the disciples in Luke 17:1, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come." He wanted the disciples to know, as well as each of us who have made the decision to follow Him as a believer, that in this life we will be offended but it will be more sorrowful for the offender than for those of us who have been offended. It is not our place to try and repay them for what they have done to us, because then we will receive some of the same consequences that they receive. Not to mention our negative reactions to their offensive ways, could risk us to cause: insults and attacks on others, division and separation in the lives of other people, broken relationships in families and we could even cause people to backslide against God or begin to betray other people as well.

Through much prayer God will use the words of wisdom that he has imparted in me as well as a great study by John Bevere, "the Bait of Satan", as a guide to help us defeat satan and the tricks and schemes of offense that he has tried to place within us. Satan wants us to believe that it is truly okay to be offended, but really and truthfully it is the very thing that is holding us from getting the blessings that God truly has in-store for us.

I know about this all to well because there have been many times in life in which I have been hurt and offended by others. Whether it was the family member that used me; the parent that didn't care anything about me; the pastors/church leaders that have hurt me spiritually/personally; the friends that turned their back on me; or all the other stuff that I allowed to come my way because I totally disobeyed the signs that were right in my face. All because I was angry, bitter or had hatred towards those people for what had happened, I held up the purpose and blessings that God had in-store for me.

Often times we are trapped by offense because we refuse to acknowledge the realization of it. We become so blind to the condition of offense, because we are so focused on the wrong that was done to us, instead of us focusing on a solution that will help us overcome the hurt and lead us to forgiving the one who has wronged us. It wasn't until I acknowledged the realization of what I was facing and that I went to those persons to ask for forgiveness and to forgive them, that God started to make some different things happen in my life. Through these next 30 days my prayer is that the blessings God has for you will be released as we walk through this journey of no longer being offended.

John Bevere says it this way, "Offense isn't deadly, as long as it stays in the trap, but as soon as we decide to pick it up and consume it, then it becomes deadly, because it makes us become offended." In the end the only way we can get to a point of no longer being offended is by: truly forgiving all of those whom have offended us, asking for forgiveness of those whom we have offended and by not picking up the offensive attitudes that satan wants us to carry in order to try and justify what you are doing. Be Blessed! -AJH