Luke 17:1 – Then said He (Jesus) unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
A fact: It is impossible to live as a Christian and not be offended. The purpose for offences, is to stop God’s purpose.
People don’t mean to offend us; but sometimes they do so because they don’t understand what God is doing in our lives. Sometimes they offend us because they are jealous.
Different reasoning brings offences, but the purpose is to destroy God’s purpose.
Matthew 16:13-18 – When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Phillipi, He asked His disciples, saying,whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven.
Peter received divine revelation of who Jesus was, but did not understand the purpose of Jesus.
When Jesus began to explain the purpose of God for His human life, Peter did not understand, which offended Jesus.
Peter, unknowingly, tried to stop the the purpose of the Father through Jesus.
Matthew 16:21-23 – From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee. But He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Personally, I believe that all offences come from the forces of the enemy to stop the purpose of God. People who understand who God is, don’t understand how God is working-out his purpose.
Children of God don’t get offended by lost people. Offences come from other Christians.
We loose the mind-set of God because we are not seeking God, and we get the mind-set of the flesh.
When we have been hurt, we want to retaliate. We get a mind-set (or savourest) the things of men and fall into the purposes of Satan. Then we become the offender, and our actions offend the other little sheep; and in the middle of our crusade to get revenge, we stop or hinder God’s purpose.
His kingdom must be more important than our pride.
I have been an offender, and I have been offended.
There is a cross I must pick up.
Peter wanted Jesus to be the Christ, but he did not want the suffering Christ. He wanted salvation without suffering.
We want salvation without suffering. We want salvation without denying our flesh.
For God’s purpose to come, we must sometimes suffer; and even though we have been offended, we must forgive the offender. If we don’t, we will stop or hinder God’s kingdom purpose and hurt innocent Christians who are bystanders.
Luke 17:1-5 – Then said He unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: bur woe unto him, through whom they come! It was better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him: and if he repent thou shalt forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and turn again to thee sayng, I repent: thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
Faith produces obedience, when we choose to obey, the grace of God comes and we can pray with power. Forgiveness is a choice. We make a mental deicision to forgive hurts, trespasses. Jesus is teaching us in the next verse to speak to the very root of the problem, again forgiveness is not a feeling but a decision.
If we hold on to offences we either hinder or stop God’s purpose in our lives . We must speak to the tree of unforgiveness, this thing that is trying to grow in our lives.
Praying , and saying, Lord I choose not to receive this offence in my life, I Choose to forgive. I choose blessing and not curses. I refuse to loose my victory. I will not allow unforgiveness to hinder that powerful anointing for His purpose on by life. I will forgive them even if they never ask me to. I speak to every mountain of bitterness that has tried to attach itself to me, Go and be cast into the ocean of forgetfulness, I am free and blessed. Peace and joy will fill my life and the heavens are open to my prayers. Glory to God!
Child of God, please don’t take this as that I am judging, but as I am trying to help someone because I have fallen in this trap before myself.
