Love Will Not Get Offended
Believing the power that raised Jesus from the dead has done many tremendous things in my heart over the past several years. There has been a continual purging in my heart and soul because of that power, and those changes that have, and still are taking place are for the purpose of conforming me to the image of Jesus.
One big victory in my life has been overcoming being easily offended. In Psalm 119:165 it states, "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." To walk in this earth and have nothing ever offend you was certainly something that seemed an impossibility to my mind - but to my spirit, something I definitely knew would have to take place in me if I was going to walk as Jesus walked in this earth. Of all people that had an opportunity to become offended, Jesus for sure did, and especially when He went to hell for you and me. But not once did that man ever become offended at anyone or anything. And that is the Spirit that is in you and me, if we are joined to the Lord (I Corinthians 6:17). If you are not praying and guarding your heart and walking in love, you will have many opportunities to become offended. And to be offended is to stumble. When you stumble, you quit believing. That is Satan's purpose - to get you to stumble at anything he can, even at the Word of God, and get you in unbelief so your prayers will not get answered. And I will add right here, that pride is what gets offended. And I have had my share of pride, no question about it, and may still have. But God in His great mercy has delivered my heart from many spirits, and as I have humbled myself to walk with Him, He has granted me much grace so that I could overcome these hindrances in my life.
I do not think walking in the flesh I had near the problem of being offended over things as I did when I started attempting to walk in this gospel. When Jesus started leading me to lay down my life and pick up His life, my soul absolutely hated it. The paths He started leading me down exposed every feeling and emotion in me that I ever had, and when they would all surface at the same time is when I thought I was loosing it! What was happening is the light of the glorious gospel was shining in my heart and exposing all that darkness so God could set my heart and soul free - and He is the only One who knows the exact path to lead you down to do it. The pressures that came for the Word's sake would offend me because I had no root in me (as it states in Matthew 13:21) because of my stony heart.
I remember when Doyle was teaching in the bible training school at Water of Life back in the mid to late 80's. My heart was so stony and hard that there were things he would teach and talk on by the Spirit that would absolutely make the things inside of me mad and angry and quite frankly, offend me. Jesus said He was a a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to those that stumble at the Word and are disobedient (or in unbelief - I Peter 2:8). If you are in unbelief, you are disobedient, and vice versa. And unbelief is evil - Hebrews 3:12. I am just being honest with you. But if there are any of you out there who are experiencing this - there is hope for you! Do all you can to be honest with the Lord, and ask Him to have mercy upon your stony heart and take it out and give you a heart of flesh that can obey Him. And watch Him do it. I have seen what this gospel has done in my heart over being offended, and as I would humble myself and say, "Jesus, forgive me and have mercy upon my hard, stony heart," He always would - and always will. Thank God.
Walking in the flesh, I was a person who pretty much did my own thing and did things the way I wanted to do them. But when Jesus becomes Lord of your life that means you are no longer lord over your own life and you do not get your own way any longer. And I will tell you right off the bat, you will not like how He leads you and what He will tell you to do. It will offend your soul - until you overcome your soul with faith and by believing the gospel. Not until I finally came to the place where I could pray in faith, believing the death, burial and resurrection power, did I overcome my offences. Jesus did say to pray so that you would not enter into temptation. And it has taken hours and hours of continually praying to get to where things would not affect me as they once did. Even the pressures that I would get from praying and reading the Word of God out loud did not bother me as they once had. And there was a long stretch where the pressure I was under because of the Jezebel spirit and people's hearts set against me, that I fought day and night in prayer just so I would not be offended. In Acts 24:16 Paul says, "And herein (and herein refers to the previous verse which is talking about the gospel - the resurrection of the dead) do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and men." And this is where patience entered in. I came to the place where I could continue in my believing under all kinds of evil that was against me, and pray through without being offended at the situation God had placed me in and at how hard it was. And Jesus knew it was hard because He spoke to me (in Dec. '91) and told me to "endure this hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Walk through it - and I did and have - by the grace of God.
Romans 4 talks about Abraham and how he believed the gospel and was fully persuaded that what God had promised him, He was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. It goes on to say that it shall be imputed to us also, if we believe on the One raised from the dead, who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Jesus took all of our offences on Him, so that we might walk in this earth free from every offence. We are justified, just as though we had never committed any sin, by faith in the blood of Jesus. You will know that you have overcome to a point in your walk with the Lord when things that once used to bother you and trouble you - now no longer affect you in the wrong way. And that is not to say that Satan could not put you in a position to get you offended, because he sure could. But if you are praying and reading the Word of God out loud in faith, and believing the gospel - walking in love, the offence will pass right by you. And that is what the power that raised Jesus from dead will do for anyone who will dare to believe it (trust in it, rely on it and adhere to it) daily.
I have had to use my will to believe this gospel to overcome the things in my soul that would get easily offended at certain situations and with certain people, and with the pressures that would come down my path. But as my faith and love have been perfected, the offences have become fewer and fewer. And I am here to tell you that this works, and it works every single time when you believe and mix faith with the death, burial and resurrection power of the Lord Jesus. And if you get offended, all you have to do is ask the Lord to forgive you, and get right back to believing the power that raised Jesus from the dead. Thank God for His mercy and grace, because He has had much on me for sure. He is no respecter of person's, and if we will humble ourselves (and humility is submitting to the will of God), He will grant us the grace we need to overcome whatever it is we need to overcome at that particular time.
Probably one of the biggest tests, or trials in my life, was what I went through on my face for those 3-4 years (from '91-'94). You can read my testimony on 'Determined'. I just re-read it and it was incredible what the power of God brought me through. I appreciate Doyle and his willingness to believe God with me and spend the hours praying with me that he did. It was the will of God, and I will always be thankful for it.
The pressure that the Jezebel spirit put on me from the very outset of that attack was incredible. People that were yielded to that spirit against me during that time and the tremendous amount of pressure from powers and principalities that came on my body still amazes me to this day. And only because of the bondage's in my soul was the reason all this was able to take place. And there were days that if I had not prayed and believed the power of God for my life during that time, I would have been one bitter and offended person.
As I stated in that testimony, I would meditate on Isaiah 52 and 53 and how Jesus was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. He had no form nor comeliness and no beauty that we should desire Him. And I was surely not in that kind of condition, but I was in far worse shape than I had ever been in my entire life. But the power of God made the body of Jesus completely sound and whole, and that same power is what brought me through that ordeal in victory. I am convinced that the Jezebel spirit wanted to destroy my life and my appearance for good, but by the grace of God that spirit did not get it done.
In I Peter 2:6-7 it says, "Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded (or ashamed). Unto you therefore which believe He is precious (or an honour): but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,...." When I finally got past, or maybe I should say overcame a lot of my unbelief, Jesus became precious to me - an honour to me. And I am so thankful to Him for being longsuffering with me, not wanting me to perish, but to come to repentance - II Peter 3:9. And repentance is changing your will - of not believing and of being offended; to His will - of believing what He did for us on the cross. All things are possible if we can believe. Such a simple thing that seems so hard to a stony, unbelieving heart. But if we will come to Jesus in faith, He can take that stony, unbelieving heart and turn it into a heart that will worship and praise Him and believe and obey Him in all things. And that truly is an honour to be able to do.
When you come up against something that does not suit your soul - pray until you overcome that part of your soul that is bothered. There is nothing too hard for the Lord - including dealing with our wicked hearts of unbelief. Jesus died, was buried and rose again for all of our wickedness, that we might walk in this earth in total victory over the sin which doth so easily beset us - looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. And when we do this, we will never be ashamed! What a promise...
Be encouraged - God is for us, He is not against us. God bless you, and I will be back next time!
