The Root of Offense

Welcome back to the bitterness course. Today we are going to go over part two the root of offense. How the enemy engineers the wound. In part one we talked about what bitterness actually is a root that grows underground from unresolved hurt long before it ever shows on the surface. If you haven't caught part one I highly suggest that you do so. It's very important that you understand what bitterness is before we get into what offense is because bitterness is caused by offense and now we're gonna go over what offense is. Today I want to show you where the root of bitterness comes from. It comes from offense because understanding how offense works is what helps you stop it before it takes hold. Most of us think the enemy's work was in what the person did to us but they didn't realize that was just the beginning right. The enemy didn't just allow another person or cause the other person to do something wrong to you and that was how far that he went. No what he did was actually the beginning. It was only the beginning of the assignment not the assignment itself. Let me show you how this works with two people. Let's call them Rachel and Miriam. Rachel and Miriam were close very close. They were in the same community maybe the same church maybe the same circle of trust and at some point Miriam said something that wounded Rachel deeply. Maybe it was a betrayal of confidence. Maybe it was a careless word at the wrong moment. Maybe it was rejection dressed up as distance. The wound was real. Rachel did not imagine it. It actually happened but here is what we need to see. The spirit operating through Miriam was never primarily after Miriam. Miriam was the instrument. Rachel was the real target. The spirit provoked the offense through Miriam. Rachel received the wound and then completely understandably and completely humanly Rachel responded with judgment because she was upset with what Miriam did and bitterness and unforgiveness was the effect of everything that Miriam caused on Rachel and at the moment she did that the very same spirit that used Miriam to wound Rachel turned around and said Rachel judged Miriam the wrong way. So think about it. Someone that you are very close to offended you, did something really bad to you, maybe spoke wrongly about you and

you have all the right for you to be upset right and so you're upset at what they did and you become bitter. You become bitter at them. You hold on forgiveness for them. You become bitter and the enemy turns around and takes exactly how you responded even though you were right and turns around and accuses you for judging the other person right. Now Rachel holds bitterness. Rachel has unforgiveness and now it had legal grounds to access Rachel's life in a way it never had before the offense even happened. The enemy engineered the offense through Miriam specifically to produce bitterness in Rachel. I want to say that again. The enemy literally used Miriam to produce bitterness in Rachel. Miriam was used as a vessel to produce bitterness in Rachel. This is what the enemy does to us God's children. To us who are dealing with bitterness and unforgiveness is the enemy will use another person to cause the bitterness to turn around start claiming that you are judging the person who hurt you the wrong way because you're bitter towards them and because the bitterness was what he wanted all along the offense was just the door he used to get there. We see this same pattern in the life of Joseph. Joseph's brothers his own family threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery. The wound was real. The betrayal was deep. The injustice was undeniable but the spirit behind that betrayal was never after the brothers. It was after Joseph's destiny. If Joseph had picked up bitterness toward his brothers it would have rotted the very gift God had placed in him. It would have closed the door to every room God was about to open but Joseph held on to God instead of holding on to the wound and what the enemy met as a door of destruction became a door of elevation. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 19 says a brother offended is harder to win than a strong city and contentions are like the bars of a castle. This tells us that a person who has been offended is harder to win than a strong city. Once offense takes hold once the seed is planted and it begins to grow it builds walls. It creates bars like a castle. It separates. It isolates. It hardens the heart to the very people God may be trying to use to bless you and here is the subtle part. Offense almost always comes wrapped in something that feels completely reasonable. Unmet, unmet expectations and

betrayal and unmet expectations and betrayal being overlooked dismissed or wounded by someone you trusted is what causes all of these things that the enemy can use against you and none of those feelings are wrong. wound was real you got hurt and it was real what they did was real your feelings are real the danger is nurturing it every time you rehearse what they did every time you replay the moment every time you let it feel how you see that person you are watering the seed the enemy planted what was meant to become a wound now becomes a wall the enemy sent Miriam to wound Rachel but what he actually handed Rachel was a choice a choice to become like Joseph and let God turn the wound into a doorway or to become like a walled city locked off and harder and harder to reach I want you guys to think about this Rachel was right to be angry because of all of the things that Miriam did but the enemy wanted Rachel to choose the wrong thing to become that wall like Proverbs talks about to be offended and once you allow offense to come in that is how bitterness takes root so in part one we talk about what bitterness is and it's root that the enemy uses and the root is not only to affect you the root is to affect everybody around you to affect ministry to affect your future to affect your marriage to affect everything that God has planned for you but we have to now we're talking about what caused the root in the first place and that is where the offense comes in but when you are offended the person that offended you is not the target you are the target the enemy was using the person as just the vessel but you are the target because the enemy sees the things that God has in you just like he saw the gifts that he had in Joseph and the plans God had for Joseph and so he attacked Joseph through Joseph's brothers but Joseph chose not to be like that fortified city not to build up that wall Joseph released it to the Lord Joseph let the Lord do all of the healing for him and he did not grow bitter and I want to leave you with this reflective question are there areas in my heart where offense is still hidden places I have been protecting and calling something other than what it really is I want you guys to think about that is there anything anything that has happened is there any hidden areas in your heart any any offenses any hidden places in your heart that you've been protecting that you've been calling something else other than what it really is which is offense and I want to pray for you as you are finishing this course Lord I ask you to show every single person that's taking this course every place where offense has taken root in their heart Lord I think that they're going to renounce every wall that they've built to protect a wound instead of bringing it to you Jesus Lord I thank

you that now they see what the enemy sent to another person was just a trap and they refuse to stay in it I thank you Lord God that no matter what the enemy has planted just like Joseph they choose to hold on to you instead of holding on to the wound and I thank you that they're going to bring it to you even though the wound was real even though the truth is that they were hurt father I thank you that you are the one that's going to heal them and redeem them in Jesus name amen I will catch you in part three of the bitterness course