Are you aware that one way the enemy keeps a person in an offended state is to keep the offense hidden and cloaked with pride? Trying to shift blame to other people and trying to justify your actions which are as a result of being offended, only makes you resentful, bitter and angry with a lot of things.When our hearts are polluted from the well of offense, its hard for you as an individual to walk in the freedom Jesus paid the prize for you to walk in. Am talking about the freedom of forgiveness, the freedom of loving other people as Christ Loves them and the freedom of embracing your true identity in Christ.
It’s sad to note, people who are offended end up seeing the worst in some people even though at times they hardly know them on a personal level and that’s where malice, jealousy, anger, gossip, envy, hatred and character assassination becomes there way of trying to justify their pain. We have to learn how to heal without venting to everyone. Healing from the pain you went through means taking an honest look at the role you play in your own suffering.
Being mistreated does not give anyone permission to hold on to an offense. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Being mistreated does not give anyone permission to hold on to an offense. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Pride will keep you from admitting your true condition. Pride causes you to view yourself as a victim. Because you believe you were treated unjustly, you hold back forgiveness. The more our hearts are hardened by pride and sin as we hold on to offenses, the more resistant to God we become. Your heart’s true condition can be hidden from you but it is not hidden from God. Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NLT) The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.
Let’ s look at Job in the Bible, he had an option to be offended at his friends who thought he had sinned against God, he had an option to walk away from his wife who suggested to him to curse God and die and he had an option of being angry at God after the calamity that befell him which reduced him to almost nothing yet he knew in his heart he had not sinned against God. But Job says in Job 23:10 (NLT)- “But He knows where I am going. And when He tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food. But once he has made his decision, who can change his mind? Whatever he wants to do, he does. So, He will do to me whatever He has planned. He controls my destiny. The attitude of Job’s faith was fixed to that which is infallible, which cannot be questioned and that was the character of God and the security of His Word.Job knew in his heart that God knew where He was taking him,he knew God was in the business of bringing out the best in him,he knew God controlled his destiny and whatever God allowed to happen in his life was not a form of punishing him.
My beloved, as you read this post what are the impurities in your heart that are hindering the character of God from growing in your life?
Jesus said that our ability to see correctly is a key to being freed from deception. There are different Keys that God has made available to us to open Big doors and one key I can assure you is the key of FORGIVENESS. It’s my prayer to anyone who might be holding on to offense to get hold of this key. Some doors are locked in your life because you are not willing to use an access key that is already available. The door of your healing, the door of your next breakthrough, the door of destiny relationships or whatever door is closed because of the hardness of your heart, I want to let you know the Key is available to unlock those doors.
Parting Shot:- Be honest with yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to open your inner eyes to see the condition of your heart. Allow Him to help you in unearthing that which is hidden in your heart and watch Him surprise you with the abundance of God’s healing that is already available. God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way the path that brings me back to you. Psalm 139:23-24 (TPT)
I have penned down Higher Levels of maturity, What is your cause towards that Alliance , Is Bitterness hindering you? and Do the unthinkable which are good reads to connect with this particular post.
Love ReinaBeaty.
