Offense: The Connection Breaker : Bishop Tony Samuels
One of the ways the Lord Blesses our lives is through divine connections. These connections are relationships and opportunities. The Lord brings great favor and blessing into our lives through these connections. Sometimes, the enemy understands the value of these divine connections better than we do ourselves, and his objective is to break the connection, to try to stop the flow of favor and blessing into our lives.
One of the greatest weapons the enemy uses to break these divine connections is offense. Look at what Jesus said about offense in Luke 17:1: Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!” This is amazing, because Jesus is saying that there is no way around it; offense will come.
So what is an offense? It means: a state of being; insulted or morally outraged by the words or actions of another, real or imagined. These offenses come right in the middle of what God is doing in our lives. Mark 4:17 says, …And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. So right in the middle of the process of the Word of God working in our lives, the enemy will send affliction and persecutions to try to get us offended, to stop the word from working in our lives. This is powerful, that an offense has the ability to stop the Word from working in our lives!
The other objective the enemy has with offense is to destroy relationships. Look at what Proverbs 18:19 says: It is easier to conquer a strong city than to win backa friend whom you’ve offended. Their walls go up, making it nearly impossible to win them back. So offense has the ability to destroy friendships, and it says it’s hard to get it back. Offense destroys unity, and through unity the blessings of God flow. We need unity to be successful…in our marriages, with our children, in our church, and on our assignments. Psalms 133:1,3 says, Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! …for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.
So because offenses will come, the thing we must master is how to handle offense. What should my response be when the opportunity comes to be offended? First, you must ask: is this issue really worth me allowing the enemy to destroy what God is doing in my life? Is this really worth letting the enemy destroy my marriage; is this really worth me leaving my church family, and walking away from all the amazing relationships that the Lord has blessed me with? And is this really worth stopping the flow of favor and blessing into my life?
Proverbs 19:11 says, Good sense and discretion make a man slow to anger, and it is his honor and glory to overlook a transgression or an offense without seeking revenge and harboring resentment. Let’s look at this same verse in another translation: An understanding person demonstrates patience, for mercy means holding your tongue. When you are insulted, be quick to forgive and forget it, for you are virtuous when you overlook an offense. So operating in the attributes of God destroys the power of offense in our lives. Instead of being insulted, choosing to forgive and forget and show mercy breaks the power of offense.
Look at what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11: If you freely forgive anyone for anything, then I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I did so for you before the face of Christ, so that we would not be exploited by the adversary, Satan, for we know his clever schemes. We talk a lot about spiritual warfare, but one of the greatest weapons is to walk in the character of Christ, for this protects divine connections.
Finally, let’s look at Proverbs 17:9: He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or gossips about a matter separates intimate friends. Don’t let the enemy break the connections in your life. Stay in love…it’s the glue that keeps it all together.
