Overcoming Offense
Part
of our
"Walking Supernaturally"
Series.
Walking Supernaturally
in a
Fallen World
This page deals with...
How to
overcome
Offense toward people
Devotionals
by
Beth McLendon
Also consider our related page - Capturing Thoughts
Monday
Let's talk about People...
People can be difficult to be around.
People get in moods.
People can be inconsiderate.
People sometimes do dastardly things.
But God tells us to let it go and forgive anyway.
God wants us to be hard to offend.
The Truth is
Being offended at one person
affects us with every person.
Are you
Holding A Fence?
Holding A Fence means Holding Offense
Introducing the Video...
As this man
navigates his day to day routine,
he is holding offenses that others can see, but he can't.
Overcoming Offense is difficult.
This page has Awesome tips to help YOU!
This page
is written to
inspire and help you.
If you yield to God,
he will help you take your difficult things
and
make
YOU AMAZING!
God is refining you
to take out the impurities.
Tuesday
Inspiring Music
and
Prayer
are two of the ways
that
God gets you ready
to
give up offenses.
Prayer for Victory
Lord,
I may be struggling with offense -
BUT
IF
I yield to you
I can say...
You Raise me Up - so I can stand on mountains.
You Raise me Up - to walk on stormy seas.
I am STRONG when I am on your shoulders.
You Raise me Up - to more than I can be.
Music to Awaken
the
CHAMPION
inside of US!
~ ~ ~ VICTORY MUSIC! ~ ~ ~
Motivational Music
For every
Attack against me!
I will be a
Mighty Follower of Jesus!
I invite you to visit our page
Give God a chance to help you by
Listening
to inspiring Music
and
Praying
Power Prayers to God.
Consider these Prayer pages:
Full Armor of God Prayer against strife
Prayers to Conquer unforgiveness
Wednesday
Right Thoughts
are
a major key
to enable you
to let go of offenses.
Give God a chance to help you.
Allow God
to give you thoughts
that
move you
toward
OVERCOMING Offense.
Thoughts are Key
-
God will teach you to
capture your thoughts and overcome offense!
We begin with some thoughts from our page:
How to Capture Your Thoughts as 2 Corinthians teaches
Catch Your Thoughts |
The Bible tells us
that we can
capture our thoughts
and then
turn them in the right direction.
2 Corinthians 10:5
tells us to
Take every thought captive
and
BRING our thoughts
into obedience to Christ."
This takes practice!
Look at the dog below.
The dog captured the ball - which will stand for a bad thought.
Are you like that dog?
Do you keep company with your bad thoughts?
Do you let them "hang around" with you?
If you will
inch
forward with God
in taking your thoughts captive
God will help you.
It
IS
possible to take thoughts captive!
The miracle is there for you
if
you move forward.
Look
at the boy above.
The boy is ready to catch a ball.
Are YOU ready
to catch your thoughts?
Let's take an example of
offense with someone you
don't know well.
That will make it easier to overcome.
After thinking a thought
of offense
against someone...
Capture that thought!
Capture it!
Grocery Store cashier example
Step One
Capture your Thoughts
You are at the grocery store and you think...
"There is that idiotic grocery store cashier.
She is so irritating. I can't stand her!"
Step Two
Evaluate your thoughts...
"Do those words and that attitude
agree with Bible principles?"
The answer is
> No <
So
then
in step three
intentionally
replace those thoughts with godly thoughts.
Step Three
Replace wrong thoughts with...
"I am going to choose to act like Jesus
and
think kindly and act kindly
toward that cashier."
Step Four
Sometimes > Prayer for Strength < is needed:
Lord of my Life,
Being kind to this cashier is going to be hard.
Strengthen me.
I want to choose to be a
Mighty Follower of Jesus Christ.
I proclaim that
I WILL
do hard things for you, my Lord.
Amen
Step Five
Then take action
based on God's Word.
I am growing stronger! |
Adding Scripture
can help
strengthen your resolve to make right decisions.
Consider Step 3 in the above example.
Instead of - just - saying,
"I am going to choose to act like Jesus
and think kindly and act kindly
toward that cashier"
let's add Scripture.
Adding Scripture
looks like this...
Replace the wrong thought with -
"I am going to choose to act like Jesus
and think kindly and act kindly
toward that cashier,
because
Ephesians 4:32 ESV says,
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another,
as God in Christ forgave you."
Another Scripture choice might be....
Galatians 6:10 NKJV
Therefore,
as we have
opportunity,
let us do good to all,
especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Thursday
Being more
understanding toward others
helps to protect us against offense.
After the death of a close loved one,
I was an emotional mess, and
I was tempted to be very irritable.
As God was walking me through it,
he also made me more keenly aware
of the pains of other people.
One day I was in the grocery check-out line.
As the cashier was ringing me up,
I thought,
"If I had to work today, I would be so grumpy.
I don't know if I could help myself from being grumpy.
And I am a Christian!
I'm supposed to have the power of God!"
Prayer changes things.
Prayer changes us.
Heavenly Father,
Help me to overlook
the unkindness of other people
from
now on.
I have no idea
what other people have lived through
and
what they are currently living through.
I pray in the Overcoming Name of Jesus!
Amen
When dealing with people,
it is helpful
to remember...
God wants us
to choose
to think the best of others.
~
God
wants us to
intentionally practice
thinking godly thoughts concerning others.
Doing That
will make it easier
to take thoughts
of offense
and replace them with godly thoughts.
I'll show you how.
When someone does something unkind to me
or my loved ones,
I can choose to
frame the event
with godly thoughts.
When people do something unkind to me,
I can choose to think,
"Maybe they are having a hard day."
OR
"Maybe they are just blowing off steam from a
recent rejection or injustice."
OR
"Maybe they have a concerning issue in their body
or a
hard challenge in their life."
"Maybe something awful
has recently happened in their life."
OR
"Maybe
he or she IS a jerk -
- but -
that jerk needs to know Jesus better
in order to
become
a nice member of society!"
Jerks NEED our prayers.
We who know Christ
are supposed to pray for jerks.
Examples of
godly thoughts for after a confrontation...
I can choose to say,
"God, I didn't deserve what that person just did to me,
but
I am going to choose to pray for that person right now
and let go of offense."
And
I can choose to Pray...
Lord of my Life,
Whatever is causing that person
to reach out
with those
actions, words, and attitudes,
I pray that you will
minister to that person.
I pray that you will rescue that person
from the hardness in his heart
and
move that person
toward you and toward kindness.
Amen
Be Strong Against Offense |
Step Five
Then take action
based on God's Word.
So I will....
Give out
kind words and actions.
Showing kindness
to difficult people takes practice.
-
Let's practice being
instruments
of
Righteousness!
I can practice godliness like those musicians practice with their trumpet. |
I can practice and get
Better and Better!
Friday
When we have
offense
with a friend,
it will damage our friendship
and greatly affect our Christian walk.
A Fictional Story
I get in my car and drive an hour
to a friend's office to meet her
for a
planned lunch together.
When I get there,
her secretary says,
"She decided to take the day off today."
! ! ! ! ! ! !
Anger rises...
Step One
Capture Thoughts that say,
"I just drove for an hour to get here!
I am wasting
2 hours of my day!
She could have called to let me know!
How dare she forget about me!
I would never do such a thing.
Wait till sh
asks me again to have lunch!
!
I should give her a piece of my mind."
Step two
Evaluate the thought...
"Does that thought and attitude agree with the Bible?"
Answer:
"No."
Step Three
Replace the thoughts with...
"I feel angry. She should have called me.
But - I am going to choose to act like Jesus
and
think kindly and act kindly
toward my friend."
Adding Scripture helps.
"I feel angry. She should have called me.
But -
in Ephesians 4:32 ESV
you told me to
'Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
as God in Christ forgave me.'
So I am going to be kind and tenderhearted.
I am going to shake it off.
I am going to forgive "
Prayer will be needed to help me with this situation.
Step Four
Sometimes - Prayer for Strength - is needed:
"God I feel angry. She should have called me.
Yet, I hate to admit it but
I do not have a perfect memory either.
In Ephesians 4:32 ESV
you told me to
'Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave me."
So, I am going to be kind and tenderhearted.
I am going to shake it off.
I am going to forgive.
I could have called before I left just
to make sure
everything was set.
Next time,
I'll put the burden on me
to call and make sure before I leave my house.
I am a Mighty Woman of God.
I will quickly Overcome This."
I pray in the Powerful Name of Jesus!
Amen
A Second Prayer example.....
Lord of my Life,
My feelings are going wild.
My thoughts are trying to take me down.
Help me, Lord.
I want my attitude and actions
to be pleasing unto you.
You have greatly blessed me
and
I will follow you by
showing my friend
love and kindness.
As Philippians 4:13 says,
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
I pray,
in the Powerful Name of my Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen!
Step Five
Then take action
based on God's Word.
Take Note
Godly Music
can help
soften our heart to God's Word.
Help with Difficult Forgiveness
Saturday
Dealing with our Family
When we have
offense
with a family member,
it is more difficult to handle.
It is more complicated.
This is especially true when it is an ongoing situation.
So...
Let's start with an easier offense situation.
The rest of the examples
on this page
pertain to
Married Couples
A True Story
I am in the kitchen waiting for my husband to come home.
There is no offense
currently present in my heart.
I am beginning to prepare supper,
when all of a sudden
irritation
jumps on me.
I start to get very upset
with my husband for being late.
The feelings
get so strong
that
it caused me to mentally step back and ask myself -
"WHY am I THIS irritated?"
This should be no big deal.
Just because he usually gets home at a certain time
does not mean
I need to
get all bent out of shape
when he is home a little late.
What is wrong with me?
Then I thought,
"Could it be that
my husband is doing something nice for me
and the
demonic kingdom
is trying to get me upset and ruin it?
Even if that is not the case,
I recognize
that the
demonic kingdom DOES want to create conflict -
AND I am going to refuse to participate!
Even if
my husband is not getting me something,
I am going to be
uplifting and happy when he gets home!
AND
Guess what?
Actually
my guess
was exactly what had happened.
My husband had stopped to get me a card
and
it was taking him a long time to decide which card.
What if?
What if - When he came home -
I had angrily
jumped all over him?
I imagine
he would not have given me the card.
I imagine
he would have been really mad at me.
I imagine
he would think...
"Here I was doing something really nice for her
and she is all upset with me!
That is the last time
I'll stop and do something nice for her!!"
Do you see how
conflict gets started by the demonic kingdom??
Can you see
why
it is VERY important
that we think the best of our beloved family members?
Offense is the
GREAT DESTROYER
of
Family Relationships.
God
wants us to
intentionally THINK godly thoughts.
Sunday
Walking with Jesus
Learning to walk supernaturally!
Anyone can walk naturally.
God wants to teach YOU to walk
SUPER - NATURALLY!
Another
Specific Example
of
How
to take thoughts
Captive
Think back to Saturday.
We will
take the
Husband - Wife Story
as an example...
Step One
The wife
(me)
Captures Thoughts that say,
"He is late getting home. What is he doing?
Here I am cooking a nice dinner and doing all this work
to make his evening relaxing
and where in the world is he?
He didn't even call.
He is probably talking to someone
and
losing track of time....
He's not even thinking about ME
and thinking about
getting home to ME!"
Step two
Evaluate the thought...
"Does that thought and attitude agree with the Bible?"
Answer:
"No."
Step Three
Replace the thoughts with...
"I have a wonderful husband
and
I will
intentionally keep a great attitude.
Instead of getting mad,
I will be especially happy and joyful
when he comes home.
I am a Mighty Woman of God.
I will please the Lord as I praise the Lord."
Step Four
Sometimes Prayer for Strength is needed:
Lord of my Life,
I don't know why
my feelings are going in the wrong direction.
Help me, Lord.
I want my attitude and actions
to be pleasing unto you.
You have greatly blessed me,
and
I will show my husband
love and kindness when he gets home.
I am a Mighty Woman of God.
As Philippians 4:13 says,
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
I pray these things
in the Powerful Name of my Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen!
Step Five
Then take action
based on God's Word.
If
you want information about
Dealing with
Difficult offenses - in marriage
I plan to
be doing a page on that topic.
Also note that I have a page - Offense with God
And for more understanding - Capturing our thoughts
Jump to the top of Overcoming Offense
Overcoming Offense was posted in July 2024.
Christmas
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Bible Devotions
and
Making Life Better Articles
Explaining How to Get to Heaven
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an audio presentation
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