Offenses

[kwikphilly]

Blessings Hmbld

         

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........................my main interest is should I be offended, or easily offended, or can I simply choose not to be offended?  Should I choose not to be offended?  After all, if I am offended, what is it that is actually hurt by the offense?

PRIDE is the answer.....What would be the opposite of "pride" Brother?Humility is the complete opposite   We have a personal,intimate Relationship with God Most High in Christ Jesus...When we begin our walk with Christ the most important thing to Understand is how much we are LOVED,our Understanding comes by the Power of the Holy Spirit because Christ Abides in us,,,,,,with this Understanding we are truly RECEPTIVE to the Love of Christ....the only thing that hinders this is "self"...thats right,& so many will ask"how"?

    Pride is a spirit,this spirit tempts the hearts & minds of men because the sin nature is proud........our own hearts & minds have proven to be unreliable & undependable....by submission we relinquish "self"......we are "willing" to die ,turning our hearts & minds over to Christs Lordship..but unless we fully surrender we will hinder our access to the heart & mind of Christ.....you see,most babes in Christ do not start with the right foundation,the humility is not there    WE have to literally empty out our minds of everything we have ever learned & be willing to "renew our minds"  The focus is always I,I,I,me,me,me    The "Im depressed,sad,lonely,worried,fearful,anxious" is as much PRIDE as is "I'm a scholar,theologian,super Christian"......

    Understanding,WHO we are in Christ comes from being firmly established in Gods Word......everyone wants to know how to operate in  the Power of the Holy Spirit,there is no access to His Power until you know the Authority.......when we LOVE the Lord with ALL our heart,ALL our mind & ALL our soul and we Understand HIs Love for each of us as His Own......then you are walking in Spirit & in Truth because you are Filled with the Love of Christ and you know what you know(His Word).....not know what you "feel" or what you "think"     So,when you know WHO you are in Christ,offense is not an issue......Can you "choose"?..ABSOLUTELY!.The truly Humble man has the Heart & Mind of Christ.

    Anger,hurt,sadness?....Sure ...things will spark the emotions because we are still in these tents of flesh & blood but the moment those emotions come to mind the Holy Spirit Will bring Remembrance of His Word that is written on your Heart,His Heart     Someone says something awful & with the Eyes of your heart you see the 6th Chapter of Ephesians...it becomes so so easy to pray for & love your enemy(or the offender who may be a Brother or a Sister in Christ)     Understand the 6th Chapter of the Book of Ephesians and you will know why you are offended & why someone has tried to offend you......the spirit of "pride" is the leader of the pack

    Everyone says "Cast your cares on Jesus."   .....but this is the entire Verse of Scripture

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1 Peter 5:6-7King James Version (KJV)

⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

⁷ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

   There is no "I' in a humble heart....        I think I might have got to rambling a bit but it is my favorite subject,we do not struggle with flesh & blood.......The enemy will always seek who he CAN devour,put on the Impenitrable Armor of God & stand on your Position of Victory,the spirit of pride has no legal right to mess with a child of God Most High.....thats WHO you are in Christ                                                                                                 With love-in Christ,Kwik

                                                                                                                   

[frienduff thaylorde]

On ‎7‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 3:34 PM, Willa said:

Greater is He that is within me that he that is in the world.  Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.  

Greater is Christ's love in me than the evil that is in them.  Overcome evil with good, and do it from a position of God's power.  

Forgiveness is a choice and love in a choice.  I choose to allow Christ to live in me and say Father forgive them, they don't realize what they are doing.

And I remember that they may not be reacting to them at all.  They may be reacting to Christ in me.  So I choose not to take it personally.

But should they be reacting to me and the fault lies with me, then I should apologize quickly and continue to pray that I might die so that Christ may be seen in me.

Beautiful answer willa , wonderful truth.  Praise the LORD.

[hmbld]

On July 9, 2017 at 7:28 AM, 1to3 said:

Thank you for your reply back hmbld

The passage I have quoted that you wrote, puzzles me,  because

When I was young, I used to trust to easily . I had to learn through the school of hard knocks, that we must be discerning in this world.

 

ok, so when I thought of not protecting ones heart, I thought it meant we need to stop putting up walls, trying to protect ourselves, God will protect us, and you thought of it as trusting man, yet the passage you included seemed to me to be more about loving, and loving without fear, for God's perfect love takes away fear.  

Matthew 5:38-40  

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well."

Now, I've always thought turning the other cheek meant literally letting the other person hit or disparage you again!  Yet, the next verse states to give more to someone who wants to sue you than they are asking for!  What if, instead of picking up an offense, turning the other cheek is not waiting for them to strike your other cheek, or offend you again, since the offenses have no power over you if you refuse to be offended.  So what if I actually tear down these walls I think are protecting me, show love to all with no regard to my heart, give freely even when I don't receive, and truly trust God will protect me?

The school of hard knocks tells us to harden our hearts, but that seems to disagree with scripture.  

 

[1to3]

4 hours ago, hmbld said:

 So what if I actually tear down these walls I think are protecting me, show love to all with no regard to my heart, give freely even when I don't receive, and truly trust God will protect me?

 

4 hours ago, hmbld said:

Now, I've always thought turning the other cheek meant literally letting the other person hit or disparage you again!  Yet, the next verse states to give more to someone who wants to sue you than they are asking for!

Hi hmbld;

No I don't think Christ Jesus intended for us His children to become walking doormats for anybody to just abuse and trample over.

I think Christ Jesus meant that we are to not allow  a hostile action to internalize in us so that the perpetrator of wrong doing comes and makes a home in our heart and by this we become also as bad as the perpetrator as we have internalize the blow. No I think Christ Jesus was trying to tell  by turning the other cheek  us to not get affected and internalize the hostile action  but rather to overlook the offense with reason and objectively and not react to it with the same hostility that the blow was given.

 

4 hours ago, hmbld said:

The school of hard knocks tells us to harden our hearts, but that seems to disagree with scripture.  

I don't think so, not the way I meant to use the term the "school of hard knock".  Perhaps I am not using the correct terminology to convey my thoughts.

What I was meaning to say when i used the term "school of hard knocks"

 When i used the school of "hard knocks" I meant that ( in my own spiritual development and recovery from past trauma) in my teenage to young adult years even to adult years I have had to learn most everything the hard way ie through -trial and error-. lol I hope as I keep learning and developing in Christ Jesus that I am becoming a little wiser to fist stop, think and reason with Gods Word as my guide before spontaneously, impulsively, jumping into uncharted waters and getting hurt physically mentally and spiritually  and then later having to clean up the mess and tend to the scrapes and wounds and heal the injuries)  the hard way has brought me to my knees to quiet down, be more reflective and seek Gods way. That's what I meant when i sad the :school of hard knocks" I have learnt things the painful way instead of first listening to wisdom , reason and sensibility first before reacting.

I did not mean to imply we are to harden our hearts. I have not hardened mine, no, not at all.

but seeing that I am a child of God redeemed by His loving Grace and that temple of the Holy Spirit of God now resides in me, and as far as I have come to this point in my life, to know this and understand this, I  am now more caring of myself and care who I am through Christ Jesus to not just give myself over to any whims that come by or just open my self up letting , letting all guards down to just anybody to abuse and walk all over me. That is not being hard of heart, that is being wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove, self assured in Christ Jesus to not so easily let the enemy penetrate and try to steal what precious it can try and steal from me.

You know the story of the child who was crossing the river and a scorpion asked the little child to carry him across the river?

The child said scorpion, my parents warned me that your kind are dangerous and deadly and if I pick you up and carry you across you will hurt me.

The scorpion answered: oh child please help me, I promise I won't harm you, please carry me across the water.

So the child feeling sorry for the scorpion and wanting to be kind picked up the scorpion and walked across the water, And then just before coming to dry land the scorpion bit the child and gave it a mortal wound.

The child said: oh scorpion you promised, you promised you would not hurt me and the scorpion answered well child I am a scorpion, even if I did not intend to hurt you , it is in my nature to do so, I could not help myself. 

And sadly through the "school of hard knocks" the child learned their lesson.

By the Grace of God I ham still hear, Thank You Christ Jesus. !

And by His Grace , His Mercy and His Word I am learning to understand and apply correctly His Word to work in my life.

A open welcoming heart we should always have, but like a computer needs protection, we also need to keep our firewall up for protection against viruses, nasty invaders (so to speak).  We need Gods armor of protection on every day Ephesians ch6 to protect us against the viles of the the devil and his minions.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by 1to3

[hmbld]

54 minutes ago, 1to3 said:

 

No I don't think Christ Jesus intended for us His children to become walking doormats for anybody to just abuse and trample over.

I think Christ Jesus meant that we are to not allow  a hostile action to internalize in us so that the perpetrator of wrong doing comes and makes a home in our heart and by this we become also as bad as the perpetrator as we have internalize the blow. No I think Christ Jesus was trying to tell  by turning the other cheek  us to not get affected and internalize the hostile action  but rather to overlook the offense with reason and objectively and not react to it with the same hostility that the blow was given.

 

54 minutes ago, 1to3 said:

A open welcoming heart we should always have, but like a computer needs protection, we also need to keep our firewall up for protection against viruses, nasty invaders (so to speak).  We need Gods armor of protection on every day Ephesians ch6 to protect us against the viles of the the devil and his minions.

 

 

 

 

 

While I like the scorpion example, and have heard it told several times, I think back to reading about Paul, bondservant to Jesus Christ, out preaching, being beaten, left for dead, yet ever preaching more.  If anyone was trampled over, it would be Paul, with stones, fists, etc.  His only protection was to trust God.  I could be wrong about what I am saying, but something has been going on in me these last few weeks and am trying to find the way. 

[1to3]

1 hour ago, hmbld said:

 His only protection was to trust God.

Yes we need to trust God but we also have to use wisdom and diligence in our interaction is this very tricky world.

Everyday we are placed with new tests of faith.

This is important, because if we remain to complacent without any challenges before us, we can be more prone to get tricked by the enemy.

We need to stand on guard with the full armor of God on us everyday in all our interactions with people, places and things.

virtue that is not tested is not virtue.

Sometimes we may think we are virtuous until God allows a test of faith to come our way.

How we deal with the challenge/test of faith determines weather we have learnt completely a particular lesson/test of vertue/ faith or if we still need to learn further the lesson of virtue/faith that is placed our way.

If we place ourselves or get ourselves into a place of peril or lack of safety that is threatening our safety/ well being and that of our family, we need to get out of that situation and protect first ourselves and our family.  You can't help somebody else if you can't even help yourself.

There are many ways to be the good seminarian be of help to others, but to go out and compromised the safety of your life or that of your family is not Gods plan for you to do.

Keeping you in prayer over your situation

In Christ Jesus

1to3

 

 

 

 

[hmbld]

30 minutes ago, 1to3 said:

Yes we need to trust God but we also have to use wisdom and diligence in our interaction is this very tricky world.

We need to stand on guard with the full armor of God on us everyday in all our interactions with people, places and things.

 

 

 

 

I can't argue that this is not good advice, for scripture does tell us to ask for wisdom, and use wisdom, and stand guard.  

I think the overriding thought is I stand guarded too much, and that is trusting in myself to protect me, not trusting God to protect me.  If God is for us, why do so many put walls up to protect themselves, when these walls are actually destructive.  I believe I can and should choose not to be offended, only I have not accomplished it yet, and even though I have failed, God works in us.

[1to3]

55 minutes ago, hmbld said:

 I believe I can and should choose not to be offended, only I have not accomplished it yet, and even though I have failed, God works in us.

lol, i am also not yet perfected in this area fully either but i have seen Gods improvement working in me. progress moving forward in the Lord.

Once we are given the Grace to finally see our shortcoming then we become able to acknowledged them to have them removed By Gods Grace working in our hearts.

I must place forth forgiveness towards the one who offended me as I myself am a sinner redeemed by His Grace.

Also unless it may be harmful to you the other person or someone  else, we should go to the other person we feel offended us and try and sort things out,  talk with them personalty, and try to settle the matter for mutual peaceful resolution . If they are not responsive or decline a peaceful resolution, than  you know that you did your part in seeking peace and to dust yourself off and walk away from the situation with a clean conscience that you did you part in your side of trying to settle things /differences..

I think harboring grudges over a person who has offended us is the most damaging to our well being. It may not even be a thought in the head space of the one who offended but is can be so damaging for the one holding the grudge.

This holding unto anger/  resentments, harboring unforgiveness is what can bring on sickness, depression, anxiety.

These things are not Gods will for us to be manifest in our lives.

Yes I do believe God still continues His work of redemption in us even though we have not yet been perfected. But the fact that you recognize it "and even though I have failed" is a step closer to overcoming it through God working in us.

Also, sometimes after doing ones part in forgiving the one who has offended us, it may be wisest to stay away from that person if that person nature remains the same by continuing to offend regardless.

Of course if the person is not able to recognize, or is not cognizant of their offense because of mental incapacities, like a crippled child , sick relative, someone held under your responsibility of care, it goes that we as Christians are then called to carry and bear the cross of those indignities thrown to us leaning on God for strength and good courage to bear through it. "forgive them Father for they no not what they do" The same should also apply towards a spouse, unless of course they are playing you for a complete fool."

And in good faith hold unto the promise that God will never give us more than we can bear.

1 Corinthians 10:13

12So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall. 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

 

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by 1to3