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In Ezekiel 28, we have a picture of how Lucifer became offended at God because he wanted to get all the praise. He felt like God had been given enough praise and that he had served God long enough - it was time to receive praise himself. He wanted worship and recognition for who he was and what he had done. Have you ever had those thoughts?

Lucifer became dissatisfied and offended at God. What did he do? Because of pride and because he felt he should be adored, he began to spread his offense. I'm sure he went to the entire angelic hosts and began to voice his displeasure. He expressed that he should be like God and be exalted above the Most High God.

He began to voice his complaint to the point that he convinced one-third of the angelic hosts that he should be praised, worshipped and exalted. There was war in heaven and a third of the angels were cast out of heaven and fell with Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:14-19).

This is a classic example of how one offended person can spread his/her offense to other people in the church, fellow employees, family members, or neighbors and cause division. Many times, people begin to complain against the leader and feel like the leader is not doing what he should do, and it causes the offense to be spread to everyone around.

I want you to be aware of the traps that Satan is using to catch you. Since you are already knowledgeable of his devices, then get a step ahead of him. Don't allow the spirit of offense to trap you. Don't spread that spirit to others. Release it and move on.

Learn to Guard Your Mouth
We have to be so careful with our mouths. We've got to learn to put a guard over our mouths and keep our opinions to ourselves. Trafficking an offense or voicing what you think ought to be changed is the very spirit that caused Satan to be cast out of heaven. We have to put a guard and a watch over our mouth so that we are not taking that offense from one person to another.

When we are offended, we generally want to take that offense to someone else. Why? So we can get sympathy. "Do you know what they did to me? Do you know what they said about me? Do you know how they hurt me? Do you know how they offended me?"

We tend to go to other people for sympathy rather than going to the person who offended us and settling it once and for all. My husband says that when you talk about your problem, it only magnifies it.

Cain went to his brother, instead of seeking God, and began to voice his offense. He began to voice his hurt, and talk about how he felt treated unfairly.

Don't you know I labored with my hands? Don't you know the hours, days and months that I was out there working in the fields? I labored with my hands to cause this fruit to come so that I could present it to God, and then God rejected my offering! (Author's paraphrase)

This was God's response through his brother to Cain: "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, and you must master it" (Gen. 4:7 AMP).

Abel was trying to tell Cain that if he had done what God required, God would have accepted his offering…. And if you do not well, sin crouches at your door.

In other words, Satan is waiting to have you…. It's desire is for you but you must master it. The picture here is this: when we get offended and don't immediately get rid of that offense, as soon as we walk out the door, Satan has captured us.

It's like a lion waiting to pounce on you as you walk out the door, if you continue to harbor an offense in your heart. Sin (or Satan) is waiting at the door to see if you did or didn't forgive. If you didn't, the second you come out of the door, he has captured you. You have fallen into his pit.

Genesis says, "Cain talked to his brother." But it doesn't say what his brother said. I'm going to suppose that Abel didn't sympathize with Cain one bit. And perhaps Abel told his brother just exactly how it was.

When people are offended, they often don't want to hear the truth. Consequently, Cain became offended at his own brother because he didn't like the answer. He didn't like the response.

That's how human nature is. If you went to someone saying, "Do you know what she said about me? She really insulted me." And that person responded to you saying, "You need to forgive them. They didn't mean it like that when they said it." I want you to know, nine times out of ten, we would get offended at them too. That's not what we want to hear! Now, we're offended at two people. It's multiplying. It doesn't just affect one person, one offense can affect a multitude of people.

When Abel told Cain, "Just do what God required and it will be all right." He became so offended at his brother that he premeditated murder. He took him out in the field and killed him.

Obviously, Abel didn't agree with him and say, "Well, you poor darling. It's God's fault. It's God who should be ashamed for treating you this way." No, he rebuked him and told him the truth.

The next time someone says something to you that insults you or hurts your feelings, purposely strive to resist that spirit of offense from coming into your heart. Don't say a word to anyone else about your "opportunity" to be offended, and immediately pray for that person. Just see how differently you'll feel. Think about how proud your Heavenly Father is when you resist the opportunity to be offended and how upset and disappointed the devil is that you didn't fall for his trap!

Source: Conquering The Spirit Of Offense by Carolyn Savelle.
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Publications

Author Biography

Carolyn Savelle
Web site: Jerry Savelle Ministries International
 
Carolyn Savelle has an incredible testimony of growing up her entire life under the power and anointing of Jesus. She was reared in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she heard preachers such as Oral Roberts and William Branham. Throughout her life she has witnessed God's miraculous power.
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