Jesus knew about the road of life and warned us about various kinds of traps designed by the devil to make us fall. One of those traps is offense. In fact, the word offense is defined as the name of the part of a trap to which the bait is attached, hence, the trap or snare itself.
You may have never thought about offense as being bait, or the center of the trap. But once you allow offense to attach itself to your heart, it will stop the power of God from flowing in your life. That is what happened to the people from Jesus' hometown of Nazareth.
54. And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?
55. Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James, and Jeses, and Simon, and Judas?
56. And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
57. And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house.
58. And He did not many mighty works there because of theri unbelief.
Matthew 13:54-58
Although they were astonished by Jesus' wisdom and mighty works, they dishonored God by rejecting His Son Jesus as Messiah. As a result, they put a stop to the mighty works in Nazareth that day
Offense laid its trap and the entire town was swallowed up in unbelief.
When John the Baptist was in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask if He was the Messiah, or should they wait fo another. They were weary and may have listened to people from Jesus' hometown. You know how fast rumors fly. But Jesus answered them this way:
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me. (Luke 7:23)
If you want to be blessed, avoid the trap of offense. Don't allow the devil to plant his seeds in your heart. Don't let him stop your healing or your harvest.
In Mark 4:16-17,Jesus warned us by saying, And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time; afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the Word's sake, immediatley they are offended.
The stony ground is referring to the hard heart that is easily offended. We sometimes say these types of people wear their feelings on their shirtsleeves. Nothing fruitful will be able to grow and produce a good life in that type of environment. But you can avoid the trap of offense. You can recognize this plan of the devil to rob your harvest and keep you from having God's promises.
Proverbs 18:19 says, A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
We do our best to not offend people, but it has happened. The very thing that blesses one person has been known to send another into a raging fit. One lady was highly offended by a comment Jesse made about women wearing makeup. That same comment set another woman free from years of religious bondage.
Offense is like bars of a castle that prevent you from experiencing the abundant life of Jesus. The moment offense lifts its ugly head, send it back to the devil by refusing to keep it in your heart. If you allow it to stay, offense will grow like a weed and destroy your harvest.
You can not afford it! The priceis too high!
Failure Is Never An Option!
It takes great faith to hang on when your world seems to be falling apart. You must maintain an attitude that will only accept victory, because failure is never an option. That is exactly what Jesus noticed about a mother that came to Him for help.
22. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23. But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us.
24. But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26. But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from theri masters' table.
28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Matthew 15:22-28
This mother that begged at the feet of Jesus for the healing of her demon possessed daughter was my kind of lady. She knew what she wanted and she was determinded to get it. It didn't matter what others thought or said. She didn't give a flip about the opinion of people. All she could think about was getting her daughter delivered as she repeatedly cried out for mercy from Jesus. Failure was never an option. When she didn't get an answer from Jesus, she turned to His disciples for help. She pestered them so much until the disciples came to Jesus to get her off their back.
Have you ever been that determined? Have you ever locked your focus on God's Word until you got what you came for?
That mother could have given up. She could have gotten offended when her pleadings seemed to be ignored by Jesus and His disciples. She could have lashed out in anger. But because she was pure of heart and concerned only with the needs of her daughter, she got Jesus' attention. The Amplified Version says, And He answered, It is not right (proper, becoming, or fair) to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.
Now, that would have ticked off most people. But this was a very unusual woman. Failure was never an option. She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little pups (little whelps) eat the crumbs that fall from their (young) masters' table.
Instead of walking off in offense, she maintained an attitude of victory and pressed on in faith. Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that moment..
Faith always pleases God and the great faith of this dear mother made a demand on the power of the Anointed One that day. Her daughter was instantly delivered from the devil because she refused to be offended.
If you are born again, you have access to God's throne room. You don't have to worry about Him calling you a dog when you approach Him with yhour need. The Good News is that Jesus shed His blood to purchase salvation, deliverance, healing and prosperity for you, your family and ALL that call upon His Name. Glory!
So kick the devil out of your territory and refuse offense. Enforce the Word of God in your life and refuse to back off until you have what belongs to you. There is no room for compromise. This is not the time to give up and accept defeat. It is time to get your answer! Although the devil may try to descourage you and plant offense in your heart, you can make a quality decision to guard your heart and mouth and refuse to be offended.
Jesus taught us that our of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. If you catch yourself saying words of offense, check what you are putting in your heart. Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands Proverbs 14:1
When your spiritual house is founded on Jesus, you can stand firmly on Him when the storms of life hit. Also, you will find that when you spend time with God in prayer and in His Word, reinforcements are added to strengthen you. Philippians 1:10 says; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.
You can live above offense. That is exactly what the mother with great faith did when she kept asking Jesus for a mighty work in her daughter. When her answer did not come the way she expected, she avoided the trap of offense. She couldn't afford the high cost of offense and neither can we!
by Cathy Duplantis
This article was retrieved from:
The Voice of the Covenant, pages 18 and 19 April 2002 issue.
Dedicated to our country and the soldiers protecting it.
