Book 4 By Working Through All Offense

Understanding And Overcoming Homosexuality

By Working Through All Offense

Book 4

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Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptural quotations are from New American Standard Bible – Updated Edition Zondervan Publishing House Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530, U.S.A. 1999 Book 4 Understanding and Overcoming Homosexuality

By Working Through All Offense Triumphant Ministries Toowoomba Toowoomba Queensland 4350 © Copyright 2014 by Kathleen Malligan © 2014 Triumphant Ministries Toowoomba All Rights Reserved on teaching material Kathleen Malligan

Apart from any fair dealings for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the copyright act reproduction of text in whole or in part without the express written consent by the author is not permitted and is unlawful according to the Australia Copyright Act.

Cover Design by Kathleen Malligan

Printed and published by Triumphant Ministries Toowoomba PDF file transfer by Triumphant Ministries Toowoomba EBook transfer by Triumphant Ministries Toowoomba

www.facebook.com/departtotheotherside www.overcomingandunderstandinghomosexuality.com www.understandingandovercominghomosexuality.com triumphantministriestoowoomba@yahoo.com.au 3

Contents

Introduction

5

Counsel

7

Conclusion

54

End Notes

56

Bibliography and Acknowledgments

56

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___________________________________________________________ Introduction

Truth is those of us who have come out of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Scene we are a struggling people because we are between two identities. We have the law of sin at work in our members and it can be screaming at us to will its desires yet we know we cannot yield to its whims for we have been chosen and chosen to be a Peter and no more a Simon.

Simon is there he is fleshly and flakey but Peter the rock has to come forth to live and learn to rule; for we are departing to the other side. This is why sometimes we will be so fragile that anyone just has to look sideways at us and back our hands go on our hip and we say “well if this is what God and Jesus and the church people are all about I am going back to the Mardi Gras!”

Offense will come and come against us all the time! We will be offended at God the Father, Jesus and Holy Ghost and at ourselves for even contemplating change, transition to depart from the old self into the new self.

There will be times when Simon or the screaming flesh and or the old man/woman will be unrestrained because it is a long journey of change a long journey of rebirthing renewing and healing. So there will be many a time we will put ourselves on a pedestal “Well what about me” or “I just have to have someone tonight to love” or “How am I going to make it through the night let alone a lifetime without the love of a samesex partner?” Or “How am I supposed to change when I’ve been like this for so long”?

I’ve been in this boat for eighteen years and I want to encourage you to remain in the boat and read these books when you are struggling, especially when you are offended. When you are angrily offended or filled with desire or you are on the “what about me” pedestal.

I have written this books in simplicity of counsel so The Spirit of Christ can bring you forth; this way you can remain in the boat for there will be many, many, many storms; many times when you are going to need your survival kit.

It is my desire that the books be used as a reference tool, hand in hand with the enlightenment of The Holy Spirit. It is not my intention to teach theology or doctrine, but just guidance with Scriptural overtones to ease those waves and to still those storms. From this book it is my desire 5

that you receive counsel to gain keys and understanding so you will survive to know: That we do and it is ok to take offense The importance of expressing the feelings to Jesus immediately To discern what is unrighteous offense To discern what is righteous offense To discern if any boundaries are violated To understand and allow for people’s differences To deal with sinners saved by grace To discern when pride is at work To overcome offense for it will most assuredly come many a time to the other side.

Therefore, this book’s platform is guidance so the Spirit of Jesus Christ can speak to us as we prayerfully seek Jesus for discernment on what to do when offense is given and taken or when we just do not want to shake it off.

I have found in all offense it is important to prayerfully evaluate why I have taken offense and what to do with the natural feelings associated with my perception. By this I have been able to process it then it eats away at me like rust; sometimes I have let the offenses eat like rust, but He always brings it to closure.

In my early years I personally had taken a lot of offense from those in the church who were fearful, cold, downright rude or rejecting me because I have come out of a homosexual lifestyle. I did not know before God what to do when I was so offended so I set out to be taught and gather information to store for personal use. Then with the gathering of information I decided to write it for the renewal of the mind and the counsel of The Holy Spirit and now I have rewritten it for the building up of the saints for the Depart to The Other Side series.

I pray the reading and The Holy Spirits enlightening will enable you to see offense through the eyes and heart of Jesus and our fallen nature as you continue to remain faithful to Jesus in your restoration, healing and transformation from the homosexual lifestyle.

Stay in the boat Agape

Kathleen Malligan 6

Counsel

Is The Feeling Of Offense Rising Up In Me Because?

When we evaluate why we are offended with the discernment from The Spirit of Jesus this will enable us to pin point why we are offended.

Only then can we be led to the keys needed to work through and overcome the offense.

Why? Because when the feelings of offense come up in us we often do not know where it is coming from. So the only way to know the “what when where and how” is to ask for revelation and the enlightenment of The Spirit of Christ Jesus to bring closure.

So when you are offended ask Jesus to minister to you as you ask yourself the following question: Is the feeling of offense rising up in me because? ❑

My unsanctified self with its character defects are operating?

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My ego needs to be pampered, boosted or appeased?

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I am being treated as if I am beneath them.

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They are exalting themselves above me treating me as if I’m a ‘dummy’ an ‘idiot’ an ‘imbecile.’

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I’m in self-pity as I have resigned to a victim mentality?

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I have false expectations of a place or thing or some circumstance?

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I have false expectations of how I should be treated?

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Of false expectations of inheritance, and the promises given to me?

“Well I’m the head and not the tail.”

“I should be in a place where I am edified.”

“Well I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

“I should be celebrated not tolerated.”

“I don’t know why God has to Lord it over me like that.”

“I don’t have to take that kind of treatment.”

“I should be being blessed!”

“I have a right to be individual apart from the Holy Ghost” 7

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I am a people pleaser?

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I cannot say no, I cannot let my no be no?

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I cannot say yes; I cannot let my yes be yes?

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I have been violated?

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I believe I have been betrayed.

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I believe I have been deceived to open up my heart?

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I trusted that person and told them things I believed they would keep to themselves?

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My boundaries have been crossed.

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I’m justified because I’ve been sinned against?

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I’m having a righteous reaction?

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It is the emotion of the Holy Spirit?

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I feel manipulated into doing something I don’t want to do and won’t speak up for myself again.

I am over sensitive?

I know I am justified in my offense and I think God you think otherwise?

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I have to forgive them again and they keep just doing me wrong?

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I just have to walk in love?

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I just have to walk in the Spirit and forget about myself!

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I just can’t stand these hypocrites, Sunday Christians.

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I have a false belief I have to defend God’s heart.

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I am taking God’s throne of judgment from Him and sitting in it?

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I am coming from my critical judgmental character defects?

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I am expecting everyone in the church to be as perfect as Jesus?

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I am accusing the brethren?

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I’m may be under a lying spirit and running with its opinions?

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I’m under a stronghold of a network of reactions both fleshly and demonic?

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I have a stronghold of pride/stubbornness/rebellion?

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……………………………

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Whatever the reason why offense is rising up in us we need the knowledge of when it is ok to respond to the offense as opposed to when it is not ok to respond to the offense in offense.

Feeling offended becomes less and less of an impact as we become familiar with knowledge and revelation, but we have to apply knowledge and revelation and walk out of it or we will row the boat ourselves in the storm with no shelter of His wings!

Father you said offense will come, I confess I have taken offense and I ask you to guide me through whatever chapter in this book I need to be in until I work through and or overcome my offense(s).

Help me to forgive and to accept if the offense I have taken is not ok. Open the eyes of my heart and open my ears to be led by the Spirit of Christ Jesus.

In Jesus name Amen ___________________________________________________________ Know That We Do and It Is Ok To Take Offense

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin so it’s all good we will get forgiven. We get forgiven so we know we have to offer that same forgiveness in return to those in the church who 9

have offended us.

Truth is they have never walked in our shoes never been or seen or done what we have? They may never understand why we are like we are or how we became twisted. It can be said we are both no different for we both believe we are justified in our own rights for giving or receiving offense; so cut them and yourself some slack and look within at yourself so you can move beyond your circumstance, its ok to be offended.

His mercy reaches out to do the difficult in our lives, to change our hearts, to change the attitudes, to change our responses, to change our sin structures so we need not be hard on ourselves for being offended.

Jesus loves us we are acceptable in His sight; His searching eyes looks on our hearts with burning Love for us; yes, He loves you even if you nurture your offense until it’s overfed!

We are truly blessed, so blessed we have Love, counsel, might, skill to rule and a God who understands offense and the carnal man/woman.

Offenses will come and they will be justified many a time yet they have to be sanctified and surrendered to Him to be outworked and overcome according to His way of life, His Kingdom way of living; and believe me it is such a better way of life and once you get accustomed to His ways you will not want to return back to where you departed from, the old life the old you under the kingdom of darkness’s rule.

Father I surrender this offense to You. Lord Jesus I thank you for understanding my circumstance. I acknowledge I have been offended and I am justified (or not justified) in this offense. But I choose to release this offense and the person who has offended me to You. I choose for my own sake and to honor Your Word to forgive ______________ for sinning against me. I thank You for being my vindicator and defense and that I have right standing before You in this offense.

In Jesus name Amen

The Importance Of Expressing The Feelings To Jesus

Express your real true self is a must, yes a must. He has seen it all before and heard it all before and as it has been coined before, “He is not going to fall off the throne” because you have said something ‘gross’ in His presence or acted out with curse words or thrown something through the window – yes you did it again!

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When you are offended tell Him you are hurt, angry and be hurt and angry, express the feelings to Him whatever they are. Tell Him you feel sinned against; tell Him in the expression of that feeling. Tell Him yes you are willing to forgive, and willing to be made willing to totally forgive their offensive behavior, just tell Him where you are at in your way in your character.

If you are one of the strong ones, or one of the timid ones, or one of the soft ones, or one of the straight forward ones, or one of the ones who tells people about your life’s sins, or one of the funny ones, or one of the people pleasers, or one of the ones who don’t take offence but bury it, or one of the one’s who are not the popular one, or someone who is like a bull at the gate in your expressions or the angry woman or angry man or if you are one of .................. put your own in there just tell it how you see it.

You are accepted in the beloved; firstly, you are who you are in the blueprint of your personality, not the fragmented spirit infested or the counterfeit false personality the real you that Jesus is bringing forth out of bondage. Secondly you are the sum total of your past and present a work in progress. Therefore, when Jesus wants you different He will change your heart as you come to surrender it and into agreement in such a way, then it will be natural to act it out.

Don’t go getting into works for changing yourself and or being someone else. And don’t go pretending you’re not offended, or staying sweet in the name of religion or Jesus as the offense will eat you slowly like rust.

Father, I am accepted in the beloved, thank You. Help me not to pretend I am not offended; help me not to pretend to You about anything.

Bring down the walls around my heart that I may be honest in all my offenses. Thank You for You are at work in my heart to change my who and my do. Today I agree with You that You are the Lord of my heart and I surrender my stony heart and the walls of protection around my heart for change to bring forth the real me and that I may go from glory to glory.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Give the Feelings and Emotions to Jesus at Impact

Give the feelings and emotions to Jesus at impact and express them to Him. He knows our weakness. Talk to Him about every aspect of the offense, and talk to Him in those feelings and in time He will teach you 11

and you will be able to show respect and honor towards Him as He changes you from the inside out.

He knows us; we don’t have to hide our self from Him, we are fallen with a bias to the sin nature. Simon the flesh is there and for most of us the homosexual lust of the flesh will be something we will have to guard our heart against all the days of our lives.

It is ok to feel, it is ok to get angry, and it is ok to express your emotions. The Father in the prodigal felt compassion, that’s feelings, that’s emotions.

Jesus got angry in the temple at the moneychanger, that’s feelings that’s emotions, its ok.

In offense try not to suppress it or control your emotional response, or repress it pretending you’re not offended or you cannot respond because you’re a Christian or you just can’t its sin! However, on the other hand when we express it by yelling back, or violence, or control with manipulation to that person or don’t go shopping or go shopping or go and binge eat, now that’s sin.

It is just as true for striving not to take offense it causes us to bury our emotions, then somewhere down the track up comes the buried emotions in rage, depression, anger, cynicism, inner vows or whatever you are familiar with doing will come up and is acted out thus that will be sin!

If you are bonded to these actions ask for the bringing to death of the sin structures and a change of heart, He understands humanity. Jesus understands them in their offense and us in our offense, but He so wills to bring about change that we mature in His ways and yes leave them to Jesus no god playing!

Father, where I suppress or control my emotions in offense enable me to move beyond this. Bring me counsel that I able to express my real self before You. Where I am bonded to sinful responses in offense I repent, renounce and ask forgiveness and invite You into this ___________ to bring these sin structures to death that I no longer act out these ways.

In Jesus Name Amen

In False Reverence You Are Robbing Yourself Of Being Real

I’m not saying you can be brutally or blatantly rude or rude, rude or with swearing or cursing at Jesus or The Father, just to express your own 12

feelings where you are at in your spiritual maturity. The Spirit of Christ Jesus has taught me to tell Jesus just how it is; to express myself just as I am feeling at the point of offense. If angry, tell him in an angry way, if hate tell him in a hating way, express it to Him as it was ok to do so.

“I feel offended; I feel angry; I feel rage; I feel hate; I feel like crying; I feel exploited; I feel abused; I feel betrayed; I feel that was unfair; I feel depressed; I feel like eating; I feel ….

Whatever you feel express it to the Lord; we don’t have to do it in controlled reverence or thinking we are walking in fear of the Lord. For if we do not express how we are truly feeling and feel that before Jesus, then both are just false reverence and fear. Then we are robbing ourselves of our true self and our inheritance to express ourselves and to be changed.

Truth is it is not towards Him, but an expression of our emotions of the circumstance. If there is any response that needs a heart change I have so learnt that He will bring you to conviction one day and change your heart so you don’t respond that way in explaining your emotions.

So for now just be your true self before Him, express your hurt of the offense against you. Keep it in, it will be like the venom of a serpent or scorpion, it will travel in the blood stream and cause illness, sickness, a form of death to your life.

He knows our weakness and that we were made from dust, He accepts us and we are sinful, and emotional. Therefore, we are able to express our hurts and emotions and not be afraid to be honest in fear of being judged for being contemptuous.

Father I receive my release to be my true self before You. I take You today as my God who sanctifies me and I invite You into where I contemptuously speak to You when I am offended. Thank you that You understand my faults and flaws and You will continue to cause my heart to fear and reverence You as I walk the pathway of restoration and transformation.

In Jesus Name Amen

The Flesh Cannot Receive from The Spirit

If I don’t surrender my offense, then and there I become critical and judgmental. Therefore, I’ve become carnally minded and come out from under the Spirit then I’m not teachable for I have put up a wall 13

around my heart so the anointing gets blocked.

Truth is the flesh cannot receive of the Spirit so you and I have to surrender offense inviting Jesus into the offense. Why? We cannot discern the work of the Holy Spirit for our own growth, our sanctifying, and our refining or at that our comfort counsel or justification.

We are answerable to God for our own reactions, our sins and iniquities, not others sins and iniquities, leave them to Jesus. He is their God and He knows how to lead one to repentance and change their hearts and if so judge as The Just Judge.

Even when we act out against them in telling others for support by wanting them to come into agreement and criticize and judge them this is sin as well maybe bigger than the offense they did to us? Your behavior then is no different than their sins and iniquities you perceived against yourself.

Our reaction of their sins to slander, gossip, backbiting, anger, pride, arrogance, criticism, judgmentalism, unloving, unforgiveness or even leaving the church in offense is sin and iniquity as well.

Regardless if their offense is a flat out dig at our past from the pulpit like I get or a wrong decision in ministry affecting our restoration or some sin against our family or whatever sin you perceive, reacting sinfully is not going to process the offense.

Sin is sin iniquity is iniquity.

Father bring to my remembrance to yield all offenses to You so that You are invited into my reactions. I want to grow in the knowledge of You and Your will and ways.

You are my Comfort my Counsel and my Justification and Judge and today I take You as these for I am accepted in The Beloved.

In Jesus Name Amen

The Rewards Of The Flesh

Out of all the counsel I have grappled with from The Spirit of Christ Jesus and authors have to be this: True gratification comes from obedience to His teachings, not in seeing a beloved or the unbeliever the uncircumcised Philistine corrected, 14

but seeing the love, grace, mercy and compassion of God extended to them.

Yes, God is not mocked and they and we sow what we reap, mercy for mercy, grace for grace and compassion for compassion, abuse for abuse, ‘rip off’ for ‘rip off’ deceit for deceit. But I have found that my insensitivity to others and God is a reward of the flesh not the Spirit. My unhappiness lengthened because I had assumed and sentenced judgment against them instead of a mind wanting His love grace mercy and compassion extended to them.

We all know the adversary wills for us to come in agreement with him by agreeing with an unrighteous response to retaliate. Wanting us to do the opposite of what we are to do and wanting to accuse and sentence the offender.

As difficult as it is, unless we mature our response will be judgment aimed at our ways and not God’s ways to His commandments, His instructions in Kingdom ways.

You and I learn to yield in each circumstance not the devils or the flesh but to Him, so until we mature keep processing keep being honest keep Jesus first in offense keep Him the center.

Father, enable me to keep my mind renewed with Your Counsel.

Cause my heart to continue in Your Understanding of other people’s offenses.

Let my heart know if my unhappiness is my reward of the flesh for my perceived judgment against them. I surrender being judge and juror of offense.

In Jesus Name Amen

If You Have To Keep Going Back To Yield It To Jesus - Go Back

What a truth! What we feed our minds, we become! Yes, it is a Scriptural truth for as a woman or man thinks in their heart so they are.

Therefore, when we listen to the activity of demons in offense and digest them that will be our emotional and circumstantial response, thus so we are.

We have to train and are trained to yield to listen to our Jesus, The Knowing One, The Counselor and believe what He says we are and what our circumstance truly are than our feelings.

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Taking the choice here is choice to either run with devils or old hard wiring or run with counsel from The Spirit of Jesus.

Keep going back to yield to Jesus, and if up it comes again keep going back to yield to Jesus.

Submit to God this resists the devil and He will cause the devils to flee and if they have triggered a subconscious message Counsel will come to our heart. It is as simple as taking the thoughts captive in prayer, then He bows them down and shuts them up. “Jesus I take my thoughts captive to your obedience” so they get bowed down.

We then put our focus somewhere else for in the spirit realm He is causing them to flee – “the battle belongs to the Lord” and He will bring counsel, this is a form of submitting to God. If you have to keep submitting, keep submitting until you become rational enough to receive the light of The Spirit then continue to keep submitting until peace rules.

Father I have taken offense and my thoughts are not letting up so I take my thoughts captive to Your obedience. I feel justified and hurt in this offense yet I choose to surrender it to You for Counsel and direction.

I yield once again so that You bring my mind into peace that I may make sense of my offended heart.

In Jesus Name Amen

Take The Log Out Of Your Own Eye First

How many times have we held responsible other people for our sinful response to their offensive behavior?

Truth is they are not responsible for our choice of sinful reactions. When we behave in retaliating with sin or choosing to sin against them it is our accountability before Jesus.

Denial plays a part in offense for it is as Jesus said, “the heart is deceitful above all things.” “Well I am justified look what she did to me!”

“That Pastor aught of known better.”

Their behavior to us does not give us an excuse to sin against them on purpose. Or to sin against God, causing a chain reaction of us sinning to our family, our church, our work friends, those at school, or whomever we are in contact with.

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Their behavior also does not give us an excuse to ignore them or leave offended or to no longer be their friend or be in their company, church, ministry or group anymore or to return back to the gay scene.

We are now sons and daughters of The King we are to be led so if The King wills for us to leave anywhere we will go out with joy and peace knowing He has led us out.

Allow The Spirit of Jesus to enable us to take the log out of our own eye than the splinter out of theirs.

Father, I acknowledge I have sinned against _____________ in my reaction I have judged him/her and I have sentenced him/her forgive me.

I release them to You and pray all seed sown would wither and die and not bring life especially rotten fruit.

I surrender my iniquity my sinful response and repent and ask for Your forgiveness and I release that hurt and the person to You. Thank you for Your kindness and forgiveness In Jesus Name Amen

God’s Perspective Or Man’s?

On our journey to the other side we will act out of our unhealed wounds and our deep hurts that can be so sub-conscious only the light of The Holy Spirit can bring them to our conscious.

Out of these deep hurts I reacted in anger because someone has knowingly or unknowingly ignored us when the reality is this is of the carnal nature. No matter how Christ-like people are they will ignore us and be ‘bad mannered’ and the truth is I find Christians overall to be bad mannered.

People will dishonor us regardless of their spiritual stature, church size, age and so on. There has not been one year to date that I have been remembered for my birthday at a church I have been going to. I am on their address book so is my birthday. Yet for whatever reason I have never been written up in the newsletter or the notices on screen for my birthday.

Does this offend me? Yes, but I process it and yes I could express my response to the Pastors for it is offensive behavior especially when it has happened three years in a row, but I talk about it to Jesus.

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In circumstances like this where we have taken offense from those who are in authority over us is it worth confronting them? I know it is the devil, he hates me and gives me a mortal wound but it is a weapon I use to grow my defenses.

Then how do we mature in our perception of people’s circumstances? Or how do we see God’s perspective if we scream “well what about me?” We cannot see the bigger picture or His heart at that moment, especially when we want recompense in our offense. What does it amount to your not important Kath or I have no need of you Kath or what can you do for me?

Christians are moreover carnal than spiritual, so process your offenses on this journey for darkness wants you back and they want you to turn that boat around and believe you can never change.

Father, allow me to see Your perspective in all my offenses than running with the devils and my hurt feelings. Teach me dear Lord that I am precious in Your sight regardless how other see or treat me.

In Jesus Name Amen

A Reality Check

The Church is not full of perfect people and never will be; this expectation has to die for your own hearts protection.

Man will let you down always, so look to Jesus and our Father always. There are people who are not willing to walk in The Spirit, those who are not laying down their lives to pick up their cross of suffering by walking the way of the spirit/Spirit than the flesh.

There will be people who are willing to be deceived, coerced and led by those who are stronger or anointed; there will be those others who have made idols of man and agree with their sin structures.

There are those who will move out a Pastor when he goes against tradition thinking they are under the movements of The Holy Spirit.

There will be Pastors who will be manipulative and controlling and demand you bow down and obey their commanding demeanor.

There will be both men and women Pastors who are adulterers, those who will be fathers to several women in the congregation.

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There will be Pastors who spend the church’s money on themselves.

Who buy five cars in three years at the Churches expense.

Who talk on the churches telephone long distance to a personal or family friend.

Who mismanages the churches monies on themselves.

Who borrow money from the bank because the Lord did not come through on one of his/her deceived idea’s from the devil and the corruption of his/her heart that married up with the deception; Who has not paid the mortgage payment on the church building for three months.

Who accuses everyone else including God than himself when he is caught out.

Who abuse their power and position.

Who has an ego to boost that blocks God out or who are unapproachable.

Who have bad tempers and control the prayer meeting and play center stage than The Holy Spirit.

Who will put you down in the presence of others to exalt themselves above you.

Who will accuse and label anyone as the devil or Jezebel who confronts them or disagrees with their ‘wicked ways.’

Who would question and point out sin structures.

Who sees themselves as the chief executive officer of a company rather than a Shepard who is to lay down his life for the sheep.

Who runs the church as if he is Gestapo or who runs the church as a business rather than the way the Kingdom wills for him to run the church.

Who has a harem mentality towards the women of the fellowship.

Who say they are his people not Gods.

The list could go on but allow Him to move you on to break through and recall to God they will answer, so to prayer you commit yourself, get into the Spirit to warfare, supplicate and petition The Father for them. We 19

will always know how we are walking by the sting of their offenses for this means we are not praying for them!

Renounce all sins of the Pastor and or leadership before The Lord Jesus and take no accountability for them. Ask for a binding and forbidding of function on each and every spirit that may have influence because of his or her or their transgressions in church leadership. Then pray for His will for you at that time and if it is His will for you to leave that fellowship or congregation to let it be so.

If you are an anointed Spirit warrior of purity of Holy Spirit Warfare He may keep you on as an assignment to demolish some works of darkness or for a sovereign purpose.

But if you are not humble or very much circumcised of the heart, meaning you are living in rebellion to His Word and not putting off the lusts of the flesh your offense is leading you with an evil heart.

If He wants you to take Jericho, there is preparing and planning in The Spirit first and a discerning of the mind and strategy of The Spirit on how to take down the walls.

Remember if you step out in the flesh one (1) you are in sin and two (2) demons have a right to harm you and or counter attack you for you have stepped out of anointed authority as He has not given you the strategy to bring down the walls.

The ark must always go before lesser warfare and any major warfare that is to be prayed (Joshua 3:1-5) “let the ark go before you” “you go after it.” To go without Him leading His Strategy His direct command and utterance for then and there is pure emotion and impulsive flesh.

Contrary to belief the rulership of the earth was handed to Jesus Christ the second Adam not to Kath the Christian or Pete the Pastor. We go in the name of Jesus Christ, meaning we go in the anointing that is under the directive of the second Adam’s Spirit. The Spirit of Christ Jesus’ goes first we yield for Him to go forth to rule and reign.

Abuse in the house of God may take a considerable amount of time before it is demolished, so don’t go thinking you can take down this man or his church because you are offended by his sin structures or trying to disguise it in “look at how many demons he imparts to his flock.” The Holy Spirit will not anoint or pray to divide His Own Kingdom and He will not pray because we have been offended in our fleshly understanding.

If you choose to stay angry, disappointed and frustrated you will 20

not be able to soar above these circumstances or receive His will. Get into The Spirit, let Him teach you a new level of faith, let Him teach you from His perspective, choose to trust Him. Pride within the natural man always wants to shut down a church, demand just punishment on the elect and make judgment above the ways and thoughts of The Lord, so go higher than flesh and go into The Spirit and learn something fresh and new from His perspective.

Am I justified And Is This Righteous?

When we perceive someone or those of the family of God have sinned against us, take it to Jesus first in prayer, not to them. Sometimes we can perceive a situation that is not the truth at all.

We have to consider are we seeing through wounded eyes?

Have we taken this as a personal attack against our mothering, fathering or Christian reputation?

Have we got all the facts?

Are we seeing the bigger picture?

Are we discerning the heart speaking to us in why we are taking offense?

Are we discerning our own heart as to why we are getting offended?

If we are going to confront anyone, we invite The Holy Spirit to go with us. But first ask: Do I really need to confront this person or family?

It may do more damage, or damage that will take a long time to heal or patch back up or it may be that never can the friendships be or be the same again. The way we confront is in The Spirit, not the flesh, and or the carnal wounded person.

Confronting someone or persons before you have worked through the offense will always come across aggressive, carnal and offensive. It will always be done in the flesh fueled with demonic activity and the very offense you believe you have received will be given back two fold.

A husband and wife a while ago had harbored feelings of offense about certain things I had said. When I came to pick up a prize my daughter had won in a writing request about a mother, he threw it at my feet and it spilled out all over the ground then he slammed the door in my 21

face.

I knocked on the door saying “what have I done?� Plus, wanting the wife to see how the gift pack was all over the ground. The wife came out and told me off for everything she had perceived where I had offended her and her family over the last three months at the same time she pushed back the husband from coming at me as if he was going to push me around or physically hit me!

This is a classic example of offenses not dealt with and sinful reactions to a perceived or misunderstood reason for offense. All offense, true or false has to be worked through. I had to sit down with this book to bring to my remembrance knowledge so I did not take their offensive behavior to heart.

If you are getting third parties information or a son or daughter's perspective check in your spirit. As said before, children can and do lie and can and most assuredly do exaggerate and can and will protect themselves from getting in trouble!

Sons, daughters and people can only say half the story, or only what they believe they should share with us. It is here we are left to fill in the blanks and if we fill in the blanks with the flesh, our perception is not at all, at all times correct. This is the same when we believe offense is coming at us.

Whatever the reason offense is rising up in us we need to apply knowledge to work through it and most importantly invite Jesus in. He will advocate, He will judge, He will show us both sides of the story.

Discerning You Reaction In Offense

By the grace of God, we are able to regard no one according to the flesh. If we do, we will see that person from the flesh where no good thing dwells and from the wickedness of our own deceitful heart rather than the heart of The Father so we miss a greater picture.

When we look through the eyes of the Kingdom way out and we will miss the Spirit of yielding the offense straight away we can see Jesus rather than their offensive behavior or personality, weaknesses or sin structures rule.

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flesh we will miss the wisdom and counsel. By with the perspective of letting their past their

Allow each offense each circumstance to provide an opportunity to be strengthened in the faith. An opportunity to be refined sanctified and taught the ways of Jesus teachings. Give Jesus opportunity to love as He will give the Love and recall He is Love who offers Love.

In time Jesus will change your heart in discerning how you react to someone’s sin against you, justified or unjustified. He will give the discernment and the action on what to do, how to respond, that is His workings as we give Him the opportunity at the time of offense.

We only confront scripturally to bring correction with other brothers.

We seek Jesus for discernment on how to deal with the circumstance.

Then we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, knowing it is the Holy Spirit’s will to confront someone, not our flesh’s will.

Offense will be taken it just will, and consider it may be we are being led into these given offensive circumstances by the Holy Spirit to bring about training for reigning, restoration and refining and or showing us some area that the time has come to restore and refine.

So take offense as not going against the current but as flowing with the Wind, the Wind of The Spirit of Christ Jesus.

To Discern If Any Boundaries Are Violated

You are allowed to have boundaries. You do not need to accept someone’s behaviors when it is sinful especially when it violates moral and social ethics.

It is ok to be offended, Jesus said to the enemy, “get behind me you are an offense to me”. You cannot own, or take on circumstances, behaviors that are sinful and iniquitous, those are not yours. Nor take it on as your fault when they have sinned against you.

Avoiding conflict is not taking responsibility; sometimes we need to confront their offense behavior. When their behavior violates social and moral and scriptural ethics and sometimes we need to tell them: “I will not accept this behavior of ...……………………………………….…………

If you are going to continue this behavior I am going to................

I do not like it when you ........................................... it hurts me I feel......................................................................................

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The consequence for your behavior is ..................................…...

No, you will not behave towards me like that ........................….….

I love you, but your behavior I will not accept ........................…….

No I will not partake of that behavior of .................................……

No I will not accept those demands of..........................................

No I will not accept that control over me......................................

I would appreciate it if you did not mention that about ……………...…

In some circumstances you may have to remove yourself from offensive circumstances, permanently or temporally. You do not have to permit such behavior against you. Sometimes you may have to leave a church, group, job or ministry if Jesus wills for you to do so, always check into Jesus in prayer first. The Holy Spirit will give you clear witness when He wills you to leave, His peace will be your umpire and or you will go out with peace and joy.

We need to keep the limits of what we will accept and not accept in behavior against us. We need to stay consistent and not in striving and self-will. We need to say consistent in speaking up for ourselves. Of course dependence on God’s power of the Holy Spirit to cause us to speak up and stay consistent by first asking in prayer for this help.

A Discerned And Mature Choice

If you choose not to confront Jesus is a God of justice, a righteous God, and He is able to correct, able to change their hearts Able to deal with them accordingly. It will be in His timing not ours for He sees why they act out like they do. He knows their background, their culture, and their sin and iniquity structures and He is always at work planting seeds of change in their hearts. A little spring can become a river; Jesus can change the heart of them towards us and ours to them and our heart towards Him so maybe you may not need to confront.

God is the one who avenges. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” - if this were His judgment, His will against them, He will avenge somewhere some day His way.

“Vengeance and retribution belong to Him, in due time their feet will slip, for the day of their calamity will be near, and things prepared will 24

be hurring for them.”

Again this will only happen if this were His will and His judgment in that circumstance it is not something He does random or without wisdom and the bottom line is He is Lord and God and will not appease our anger and vengeance wants and wills.

Remind yourself you are responsible when you chose to confront for your tone of voice, your attitude and actions. If you do not confront it does not mean you are walked over, it means you have made the choice and made a wise decision in the knowing of that person and yourself and The Holy Spirit’s wisdom.

To make mention, sometimes we have to make choices that the Spirit of Jesus would not make, but that does not make it an incorrect decision.

By not following it through ‘our way’ which is the way ‘we are at’ or ‘that’s what fits our own hearts conviction’ we can end up very angry. We become then angry with God, resistant to The Spirit, rebellious and distant in the heart; because that is where we are at in our growth understanding maturity and conscience awareness of right and wrong.

In Confronting People Ask Yourself

Will this damage them?

Will it damage the relationship?

Will you lose your job or position or some hours or damage your ministry or your testimony or friendship?

Will it be wise?

Are you secure in who you are in Christ to handle their response?

Are you confronting a person who does not have Jesus and or has an uncircumcised heart or is full of pride?

Will this person take it as a power struggle and a win-lose challenge?

Will and can this person changes anyway?

Has this person a very tight root ball of bad fruit mostly from a dead 25

tree than a tree bearing fruit?

Does their position and authority over you mean they don’t have to change? Do they think you can be replaced with someone else?

Will they be able to see their wrong because they are haughty and prideful, controlling and have a lust for power?

Scripture teaches us that when your brother or sister commits a sin against you, you can go and show him or her, their fault privately just between the two of you. If he or she does not listen, take two others with you so that every accusation can be supported by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he or she does not listen again, tell the congregation, if he or she refuses to listen to the congregation, treat him or her as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

But remember to forgive his/her sin, if necessary, seventy times seven. Also ensure the Holy Spirit has led you to show him or her, their faults.

Separate Yourself

In some circumstances you may be led by the Spirit to emotionally separate yourself until you see change in their behavior. Until you see them produce “fruit in keeping with repentance.”

We can reap what we accept in unacceptable behavior against us.

And continue to be offended if we do not stand up for our self. We can have help; we can stand up for our self in the discernment of the Lord; in His anointing, in His timing if necessary and in the courage and strength of the Lord.

We do forgive them their offenses; however, that does not excuse their behavior. Forgiveness does not and is not the same as excusing someone’s behavior.

To Understand And Allow For People’s Differences

Jesus is in the boat with us so He will change our heart toward His ways, His teachings, and His laws, His instructions in righteousness for us to love them and love and accept each other’s differences.

He will teach us how not to accept people’s offensive behavior.

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Teach us to forgive and understand at the right timing. He will teach us to be wise and discerning in all these circumstances. But we have to be willing to receive and submit ourselves to receive.

We all act out of our differences, and, we all have different personalities, and make different choices, and choose different friends.

Some of us click with one another; some of us don’t, and so don’t tar everyone with the same brush.

We are gifted to love one another and accept one another and especially those that we don’t click with for The Holy Spirit wills us to and can cause us to click with these people in teaching us to be less judgmental and not be partial.

We can love and accept people in the power of The Spirit, but that does not mean we have to accept their sin, their offensive behavior towards others or us or those in our company.

In some circumstances their sin has to be Jesus’ business. But, when the Holy Spirit wills for us to confront we do so, when we have the knowledge of confronting people for their behavior we will know intuitively when to confront, if not leave them to Jesus.

We learn as we grow in the Lord, when to confront and when to leave it to Jesus. Though at all accounts where we have taken offense we express it to Jesus and forgive in the power of The Spirit.

Celebrated or Tolerated – Whatever!!!

Jesus is able to anoint you to regard other people as more important than yourself, and to serve one another in love when and where necessary. When you read “don’t be where you are tolerated and not celebrated” this is not a biblical saying or the will of Jesus.

Recall Samuel, God put him under a Priest Eli who was not that sanctified. His sons were compromising and not at all well behaved. In simplicity, there will be people who cannot be ‘helped’ or told anything or who do not need anything who are selfish sinful, iniquitous and blind to your calling gifting and humanity. Insensitive men and women will always be with us, just like the poor anyway you are celebrated you are applauded you are His. Did Samuel go to another church or dance group, or home group or ministry, or leadership, or job? No. Samuel was not responsible for Eli or his son’s behavior he was responsible to stay where God had placed him, 27

serving Him under Eli; he was there by God to be in submission to Eli. Jesus is able to deal with his own servants just as He did with Eli and his sons. Samuel spoke correction to Eli, in this circumstance it was because Eli came to Samuel and asked what prophecy God had given him that night. This correction was from God not Eli. Samuel’s discernment from God was the timing to confront Eli. Again we don’t need to confront, but to wait on Jesus to give us the discernment when and how to confront.

There will be times we have to stay where we are tolerated and not celebrated. I have spent years to date where I am overlooked and ignored, but I trust in Him Jesus is able to speak to any Eli in my life.

We cannot always leave circumstances that are offensive or run from ourselves to stop us responding. We have to most times face them and ourselves and walk and work through them thus become like Christ.

We have to overcome or the Teacher will train us until we do overcome therefore Eli will keep turning up!

Covenant is putting ourselves on ‘the alter’ and Jesus the changer of all our hearts will change them and us to be more like Him. The good news is we go from glory to glory by being refined and sanctified to His teaching of His Kingdom ways. We have to go from victory to victory over the world the flesh and darkness; it’s the way of the Kingdom so the bottom line is, you are going to have to stand sometimes in the boat while those waves are rocking and it will not be easy.

Pride Punishes The Guilty

When you feel robbed of your honor, value and worth, when you feel someone owes you a debt because of your integrity, value and worth as a person. When you feel you are worthy and worthy of esteem and respect, your character is to be honored and upheld so you want to leave.

When your anger burns within you beyond forgiveness and when you cannot surrender your demand of punishment for their sin. When you demand they pay the debt and your character has to be glorified and restored in your own heart.

Then when your nature demands that you punish them for their guilt, their sin against you.

Recall; you are not God; He is our tower of defense the rock of our refuge; and He turns back on them their own wickedness; they will reap 28

what they sow; the net that they have hid will catch themselves; their mischief will come back upon their own head; God will curse those who curse us; those that are not in Christ are under the condemnation of the law; how the mighty have fallen in days of old; God is a God of recompense, justice, vindication, vengeance and retribution. God is Holy, righteous and who keeps His Word, He who is worthy of veneration and awe, worthy to be revered is able to deal with them.

We are flesh, fearfully and wonderfully made, yes, but who are and live with broken sinful people who will always offend. And recall how often you have treated God or others in the way you have been offended.

Consider, whom have you offended beyond forgiveness?

Recall, you have value and worth and are a child of The King, you are royalty anyway; so put down all perspectives and your expectations, let them go. Hand over your vengeance, feelings, the offense and them to God. Forgive them, and then forgive them again until you have totally forgiven. And let God’s Holiness rule sovereignty. Let Him choose the justice needed against the offense. Let Him covenant you. Then if He say’s to leave, then leave. Or stay if He says’s stay.

Your character, value and self-worth and power are not found in how some brother or sister or some uncircumcised Philistine treats you, or perceives you or in you leaving in your own will. It is the reality of who you are in Christ and His Lordship over your life and circumstances.

Your true value, worth, security, significance and identity is in who you are as a daughter or son of God. And you being in the center of His will for your life and his redemptive plan and purpose for those around you, so take yourself off center stage. The world around you will hate you anyway so lay down your life as He did, lay down your life for your brethren around you and the prodigals, backsliders, those obedient and disobedient, the servants who are hurting, the servant who have hurt you.

There are those who are listening in their heart, waiting for a prophetic word, a word of knowledge, a prayer a gift or a meal. Yield to The Spirit to bring forth these ministries through you for your brothers and sisters.

Recall: You are superior and powerful anyway and have much worth and value, with all of heaven backing you up. So why demand soulish justice, it will be your God who will keep covenant with you. Who will justify, it will be your God who will Lord it over them and the offense, and who is Lord anyway. In His hand is the heart of Kings and He turns it wherever He wills.

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Recall Pharaoh, God hardened his heart. If He can harden such a man He can soften anyone’s heart for you to be restored, if it be His perfect will, trust His sovereignty to it all, you are growing up. Just hand it over, let go and let God, and stop vainly puffing yourself up by a worldly outlook and as it has been said before ‘swallow your pride.’

Remember justice from God is the reward of your inheritance.

Whoever is doing wrong will be paid in kind for their wrong and there will be no favoritism shown. Ask for Him to restrain you from indulging in our old nature and demanding a throne of judgment.

And recall; He sent his Son to satisfy the guilt of all sin; Jesus life was taken for the penalty of sin; the blood of Jesus has made reconciliation and atonement for sin and all sinners; Jesus blood can blot out, cover the guilt of their debt; God can see not their sin or sinfulness but the blood of Jesus and the finished works of Calvary when they ask forgiveness, you forgive and ask Him to forgive them, and that is power; God sees at His right hand His Son with His nail printed hands and feet and sees the mercy seat, the alter sprinkled by the blood of Jesus for them and all sinners. His Word will not return to Him void anyway and He is The ‘All-Wise One,’ and knows when to be merciful opposed to judging, not willing wanting to punish or that anyone would perish but come into eternal life.

Jesus Is Not Going To Be Sitting Next To You

Church is not going to be filled with people who are Jesus; there was only one man who fits this perfection and He is not here in the flesh.

The devil will cause more storms in church in the hearts of people against you than those who do not have Christ in their heart you got to know this and come to terms with this truth to stay afloat.

Why? They are all assigned to cause division and dissension against you, they are under orders and they hate you with a passion. So you may as well have a reality check and stop thinking that “the church people should have known better.”

Your expectations have to die, all your thinking that Christians will be good little boys and girls has to die. Truth is they are and can be no different to the uncircumcised philistine, so extend them grace and understanding for your own healing and peace.

The unregenerated person finds powerlessness when wanting to obey God’s Word. Weakened by the flesh, that will not submit to God or His laws (Romans 8:3-8) because they have themselves on their own 30

throne so if you cannot realize this you will take offense more often.

The reality is many, no heaps no lots of believers’ walk in the mind of the flesh without paying attention to the mind of The Spirit. Many and I say many, walk in the flesh and even thinking they walk in the Spirit, but their life is still all about me not God, me myself and not God; they are still screaming “what about me God” and “I am right anyway!”

This is the reality, therefore people will offend, and people in the church will sin against you and in front of you even when they know better. People in the Church will offend when they should have known better. Simply because they are sinners saved by grace and or they have un-regenerated flesh and cherished sin and cherish the life on their own throne of choice: “I am not surrendering this sin structure, I like it.”

“I know I am not supposed to swear but I want to.”

“I know I should be more other people conscious, but I do not want to put others above myself” “I know I am not supposed to judge with my eyes, or make a decision with what I hear or by their past lifestyle before becoming a Christian or by what I thought about them when I meet them or by what I’ve been told about someone but I do.” (Isaiah 11:3) “I know I am supposed to pursue righteousness faith, love and peace but I don’t want to forget about myself and obey God.” (2 Timothy 2:21-23) “I know I am called to freedom only I take that freedom for an opportunity for the flesh than love and serve others in the body.”

(Galatians 5:13-14) “I know I am to do nothing from selfishness and empty conceit, but with humility and I am to regard others as more important than I but I don’t and I don’t want to.”

“I want to go to church and see what I can get for myself, I want promotion, I want to be seen, I want ministry, I want to show them the gifts on my life, I want them to see just how anointed I how great I can pray.”

“I want to see what I can get out of God and my brothers and sisters today I want to be seen as a church attendee. I demand a blessing, I demand people think about my needs first, and I demand my 31

rights before I will consider others.” (Philippians 2:3-5) Hello this is truth; this is in the hearts of some church members!

Keep your eyes towards the shore, and keep your hand on His hand for without Him we will not get to our destination if we are all carnal people for it will influence our outcomes.

Are You Any Different?

We like others in the church do not pick up our cross in areas of our lives, whether it is out of choice or brokenness or demons or ignorance.

We are sinning or misunderstanding what God’s righteousness instructions are or what is Christian etiquette or your current crisis’s or circumstances beyond our control so truth is we are all sinners and imperfect.

It is moment by moment we all have to die to the flesh. We all have to deny ourselves, surrender the carnal sinful person within and allow the Spirit’s impartations to rule. We know how ugly in behavior we are when there is no anointing, I do.

Remember to intertwine in agreement with His presence and power and capacity to raise us up above the self the spirits of Satan and the lusts of the flesh and the ways of the world this is a must.

This is a lifetime process; a daily process and sometimes the best of them have enough of being dead to sin and alive unto God. Also they have bad days, have a winge and have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and we do not always live around green pastures.

So what does the Spirit say to this offense? Are they one of these people mentioned above? Ask Him. Start birthing a new habit of checking in with Him at all times before you bite the bullet of offense. Let counsel might and skill to rule take preeminence, get mature, and get a new habit. Read over these chapters other than only when you have taken offense.

If demonic activity is coming against you when you ask, learn to hear Him in the midst of your enemies. Discernment will be there to let you know the difference of His impressions to the mindsets of demons or the overtones and or projections of these spirits.

Jesus dealt with the sin of our flesh on the cross; the old self was crucified with Him (Romans 6:6). When we consider this as fact and live 32

out of this consciousness that it is an accomplished fact (Romans 6:11) we will allow the Spirit to empower us to the will of God and deliver us from the power of sin (Romans 6:14).

Now we can walk above other people’s imperfections and sin structures. Now we can keep the truth that we did not all come on the same boat and we are not in their boat.

The Corinthian Church was Spiritually Gifted

When someone sins against us the truth is they are acting contrary to God’s plan for a spiritual life. The reality is even those who ought to know better do and will offend; Pastors offend and are also sinned against, likewise Prophets, Prophetess’s and so on.

Just because they are given positions and gifts of The Spirit to do Kingdom works, that does not mean their walk is the spiritual life and or at all times a spiritual walk. They too have brokenness and ‘stuff’ they are dealing with and fortified sin structures and even insecurities and pride and pain. To add manifestations of devils and doctrines cherished in the heart to uphold and fight for.

The Corinthian churches were Spiritually gifted, but recall this: “But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men?”

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Understanding is letting the offense go, or when we walk in understanding we can let the offense go. We can shake it off to allow ourselves to forgive, and then we can be happy again and intertwine in The Holy Ghost again.

No One Is Perfect

None of us are walking talking Holy Spirits; we all have hang ups, sin structures knowingly and unknowingly, and demonic strongholds, hidden legal rights of demons, fragmentation and un-regenerated flesh and are given choice.

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Some do not discern when demons are manifesting their presence through them, and some have bad days like us and some like us our flesh breaks away and dominates over The Spirit.

Some sin against us out of emotional pain, or physical pain, or they are not well, or they have perceived incorrectly out of unhealed pain. Or they fear and misunderstanding our past or they may want to downright reject us and recall a sin we once confessed to them. They may be weary and still in a bond of iniquity so they cannot shake the mindset of our past person before we were faithful to Christ.

For the Aussies a bit of slang: ‘give em a break mate,’ ‘lighten up,’ ‘see the forest of trees,’ dogs bark and cats meow, we all sin, that’s life mate!

Lower your expectations of people in the church, keep the reality check in your heart it lessens the pain.

This Is All Of Us

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Romans 7:24 “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Romans 7:15 Children sin and don’t realize they are doing it, they can say hurtful things and do not see or know the fullness of their words. When those in the body sin against us, they are like these children being babes.

Sometimes learning, sometimes discerning, sometimes ignorant and sometimes knowingly! But sometimes they too will grow up as we are to growing up.

The Power Of The New Life Is A Process

We go from infancy to fatherhood and or motherhood, yes?

Then we cannot expect those who are babes or those who are carnal and all hung up on themselves to not sin or not sin against us!

They don’t recognize that such acts come out for their flesh or even 34

recognize that such actions are coming forth from the flesh. Just like infants, toddlers and children don’t know they are sinning or know how not to control their behavior.

Knowing the way of The Spirit is not ways most in the body want to live, no matter how old they are and or how long they have sat on the pews.

Some also they have not the teaching on the linguists of it all, or the knowledge of the application on how to live a walk in The Spirit. Then some think they are walking in The Spirit but they have missed the mark by a mile.

Walking out of the will of God in all things is what we are to aim for in becoming the new man, new woman. Being tuned in each moment to the movements of The Spirit, recognizing His voice, searching the Scriptures and being a doer and not a hearer of His righteous instructions in the empowering of The Spirit is living and walking in The Spirit. Are you living out of here? Probably not or maybe not all the time!

We like ‘those’ go beyond the carnal man and live by our feelings and incoming demonic thoughts. Then don’t take it personally when someone acts in the flesh when someone is rude when someone says NO. We don’t know their heart or level of maturity or their reasoning’s or their circumstances.

You May Have To Expect To Be Not Accepted

The church people today are no different from the church people in the days the New Testament was written. Paul thanked God for the Corinthian church for their rich knowledge (1 Corinthians 1:5) but it was all in their mind, not in their actions (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). This is like the church people now just interested in themselves and what could God do for them They operated in the gifts of The Spirit at the House Churches, but I wonder what happened when preaching finished, words of knowledge, interpretations of tongues, prophesying and praying in the service finished. How were they when they fellowshipped after?

Most likely they did not express all that they knew as a way of life.

They either choose the self-life and played church on their day of worship at the house churches or just chose disobedience to The Holy Spirit’s leading or just ignored Him or did not allow Him His ministry work to happen in and after the Church service or just sat down and talked to 35

someone they are going to talk to on Tuesday!

The spiritual life is the life that forgets about the self-life. It’s the life that surrenders the life to The Holy Spirit and goes the way of resurrection life in and out of Church.

Knowledge strengthens the carnality of self but it can deceive the inner person especially if you think the more knowledge you have the more spiritual you are. The old saying is “actions speak louder than words” are seen here.

Unless you are walking in the knowledge we have and under the power of The Spirit we bear little fruit for the plans and purposes of the Kingdom and the spiritual maturity of self. We are not as “I will be an instrument in Your Hands Holy Spirit of Jesus, use me here today, my Lord” “I will be my brother’s keeper, I will be the good Samaritan” “I will invite someone to lunch” “I will bring forth Your love and comfort and personal touch to someone here today.” This is living on the “other side.”

The offenses from those in the Church are plainly because of not walking in The Spirit. Also because of disobedience to the command and not allowing the gift of love of the brother’s / sister's and acceptance of the beloved operate in and through them, then to put it plainly and simply they are walking after the flesh.

I was so upset once with those in the Church because many over the years have feared me because of the homosexual life I lived. They misunderstood the lifestyle, some thought I was just gross so they could not be near me let alone see me as that was who I once was. So they shunned me and have for years kept me out of their birthday parties, the new house parties, the night outs, coffee after church or other church events.

To date I am somewhat friendless and even of late I asked a woman who also has ministry to ex-homosexuals to join me for an authentic Passover celebration in her hometown 216 kilometers away and I ask women home for coffee or lunch and they say no; I go back and ask three times however I don’t ask a fourth time as I get the message!

Besides people walking in the carnal mind than the spiritual mind and this being an assignment of darkness they are continuing to use against me this city I live in is as a small country town with a religious stronghold. But this city is now opening a major large strip club and has legalized a brothel so the stronghold is going to change with the generation coming and that will make it easier for men and women who come to the church seeking restoration there will be less shunning and fear.

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I was so angry and became bitter years ago that I wanted to leave the Church and God altogether. Then The Holy Spirit quickened to me and said “you can’t leave God because those in the body who sin, He has not sinned against you and it is not His will that you be treated this way.”

This is why I write out of my experiences to minister to myself and in turn I will minister what I have gleaned for the edifying and building up of the body of Christ Jesus.

Rich In Availability

Some in the church are like the man who stored up for himself the harvest of his crops and was not rich towards the things of God (Luke 12:15-21).

There are many in the church that are not rich in availability, rich in sharing, rich in surrender to the will and way of God or rich in love. Many will store up for themselves an abundance of material wealth, financial wealth and self-importance and self-will and self-blessing and I tell you this so that when your boat rocks you will be able to keep rowing, keep rowing and keep rowing.

People will offend, like dogs will bark and like people will build for themselves treasure on earth than treasure in heaven.

So listen what is coming up out of your spirit when you ask The Spirit of Christ Jesus what is going on as to why this person has just given offense.

You will know when you and others are walking in the flesh. “Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-20) Walking in The Spirit is partially when our heart discerns His movements, His will in every circumstance, by asking and by listening without asking. We sense Him emanating or flowing through us and are knowing of His presence.

Also in circumstances we are in a heart of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Also we sing and make melody in our heart to Jesus and The Father (Ephesians 5:18-20) and talk to The Spirit of Christ Jesus.

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Shift In Perspective

We can work through rejection and denial, non-acceptance, fear, being misunderstood, self-loathing, condemnation, guilt, addiction or whatever is our ‘raw nerve’ our ‘Achilles heal’ our bondage, our pain or our weakness when we decide to press in to overcome.

Offense is no different we will take offense and God has told us persecution will come, people will offend, so will bad times and hurtful things will happen to us. But He has promised us good can come out of all these circumstances (Romans 8:26-28).

The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through The Holy Spirit (Romans 5:3:5) to cause us to overcome and He is there for our welfare when tribulation and these other things happen to and against us so take hope and know you will come through you will overcome.

Like it has been said, we need a perspective shift from the temporal to the eternal; a shift from being overcome to an over comer. A shift from bitterness to betterness, a shift from ugly to fearfully and wonderfully made. You and I are a unique piece of art and this shift needs to take place in the heart, so exchange, exchange and exchange it all for His beauty, His ability, His resurrection work.

Counselor Today, Carnal Tomorrow

Truth is there are people who will always be insensitive; those who think they know everything; those who you can never be pleased; those who think that no one can do it and say it as good as they can.

Some think by saying something funny or think making light of your plight will be helpful to what you have told them in confidence and it’s not working for you. Then give them grace and be aware of this knowledge when you open up for counsel.

Everyone is not trained as a counselor nor is everyone sensitive to our individual journey to be able to say the right response at the right time. Even those who think they know it all or have the counseling skills can blow it or overreach the mark by miles.

Take heart and release your response to move back towards counsel. We can allow Jesus to cause us to look upon this in a new way, 38

and to give us enabling love, mercy, compassion and understanding for them in our desire of love mercy compassion and understanding.

Now look within yourself we too have sin structures, we are a sinner saved by grace, the blood of Jesus shed for you, shed for me, shed for them.

To Deal With Sinners Saved By Grace

We have heard this over and over again that our identity, destiny, value and worth is not found in people’s acceptance and behavior towards us.

So if we look for security in relationships or how people treat us, insecurity is still operating in an unregenerated area of our flesh.

Surrender and exchange all insecurity for His security and allow Him to birth you out of insecurity.

Perfection Does Not Exist

We will never find the ‘perfect’ person, leader, partner, father, mother, friend, job, boss, church, congregation, group, cell, Bible College, ministry or whatever. We are all sinners saved by grace... ‘The blood of Jesus shed for me, shed for you, and shed for them.’

You will only find perfection in the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and even in this us being flesh we will assume they are imperfect. But considering the sinful nature they are our answer and solution to our circumstances. So we first express our feelings to receive help in prayer and as we mature we do hear to receive discernment, wisdom, knowledge, understanding and guidance.

Jesus will give us the help Jesus will give us the answer. You can listen to your heart, where the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Then listen to the heart of that person who is offending you, can you hear fear, rejection, pain, abandonment, insecurity, low self-esteem, little life skills?

Can you hear depression, immaturity, a stronghold speaking? Can you hear no understanding, little knowledge, and sorrow? Can you even hear them thinking they have to defend God’s heart and His Scriptures by retaliating in such a manner? Can you discern they are a little green in life and in their walk or call?

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Listen to the stirring in your own heart instead of the offense rising up and coming at you fleshly or demonically. Humble yourself to hear His heartbeat towards them. Humble yourself to know and experience Him. Listen to receive discernment of the beauty of His character in the circumstance what His heart is for what you would do.

Renew Your Mind With Counsel As a Safe Guard

Often you will need to renew your mind to His Counsel, often you will need to read counsel so it becomes the bread you eat and this way it will lessen the pain of offensive people.

Daily you and I witness broken people who are without the knowledge of Christ, daily we see broken people in need of the Savior and His ways. In need of His love, acceptance, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness and in need of His touch.

Don’t forget we too in the church are in need, in need the touch of The Merciful One so we too can extend this to others as He extends this to us. A touch of compassion can reach these hardened hearts and this reflects the reality and the heart of The Compassionate One.

As His Beloved Put On

Jesus is steadfast; He will not fail you when you trust, He will answer you when you ask for help on how to respond to people’s sinful behavior against you.

He has not asked us to be worthy of His grace, His gifts, His salvation, His restoration, His healing, His deliverance, His anything.

Then should it be so, that we not ask those to be worthy of our demands or our presence or our friendship or our skills or our gifts or to honor them?

He releases energy to love, and will enrich relationships, He will bond us to those in the family, those who offend. When we choose to live in kingdom living.

Then as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved we can put on His power compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience and forbearing with one another. And if we have a complaint against another, we forgive each other as the Lord Jesus has forgiven us.

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Forgive and Return To Love

As someone once said, “Mothers nurse babies! Then, do we want to be a mother to offense?” No. We want to overcome and forgive we do not want to nurse any offense.

A certain woman wrote a book titled “Return To Love.”

So I say allow Him to cause your heart to return to love, return to look through the eyes of His anointing of Love. Return to the commandment to love your brother and sister, but don’t leave Jesus out He is the Enabling One, He is Love who causes us to love and accept those who offend, Jesus is The One who causes us to forgive so we are forgiven. (Matthew 6:14-15) “Father I acknowledge I have been holding unforgiveness and I now choose to release all unforgiveness to You. I repent for not forgiving _______ of their offensive behavior and words.

Father I acknowledge forgiveness is not forgetting, not stuffing down my emotions, not acceptance of sinful behavior, not good manners, not giving someone what they deserve or not even being religious and spiritual.

I do acknowledge Father that forgiveness is obedience to righteous living and a key to my release and eternal destiny.

Father, I forgive as an act of my will and I release blessings to _______. I ask you to bless _______ with peace and prosperity and the greatness of Your love and mercy and long life and good health.

Father I also choose to forgive myself and accept myself as Your son/daughter cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ my Savior.

Father I ask you to release me from the judgment of unforgiveness. Cleanse me from all defilement where grounds were given to spirits of Satan because of my nurturing and unwillingness to forgive and the desire to run with my offenses.

I thank You for releasing me from the tormentors (Matthew 18:34-35), let Your healing balm go into these areas that I may be renewed and refreshed and anointed once again with 41

Your Spirit.

Father where a root of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15) has entered in my soul I now renounce all bitterness and repent of all bitterness and the fruits of anger, rage, abuse, malice, resentment, gossip, retaliation, payback, bring their character into disrepute feeling rejection and whatever other fruits You reveal to me that has come because my unforgiveness that has gone into bitterness.

Father I ask for forgiveness for ________ for his/her offense, I stand in the gap and repent for their offense that I have held on with unforgiveness, Father You know them as I have mentioned them to You. I accept myself and declare I am no longer guilty of unforgiveness but forgiven, for as Your Word writes, “When we confess our sins You are just for forgive us and cleanse us from all defilement (1 John 1:9) especially the defilement of devils.”

Father I thank You that You understand that sometimes forgiveness has to out worked in the soul. Today I choose to continue to forgive until seventy times seventy until I have totally forgiven from my heart their offenses.

I choose not to retain their offenses (John 20:23) and I choose to cast off the works of darkness (Romans 13:1213). Father, I choose to walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7) to no longer walk in darkness with unforgiveness towards _______ (1 John 2:9-11).

Father I recall Your Word that Jesus spoke “but I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those cursing you; do well to those hating you, and pray for those abusing and persecuting you; so that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven.”

(Matthew 5:44-45) I choose to abide in Your Love and abide in Your Word as I choose to forgive _______ his/her trespasses. I choose to take Your yoke upon myself as I accept Your teachings (Matthew 11:28-30) as the way I am to live as one set apart with an anointing from You The Holy One. Father, for those who have ever offended me and for myself I choose to receive the promise “But He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement of 42

our peace was on Him; and with His wounds we ourselves are healed.� (Isaiah 53:5). I extend the same forgiveness You have given to me to ______ who has offended me and sinned against me.

Father thank You for the power of forgiveness, thank You Your kindness has led me to repentance, In Jesus Name Amen.

To Discern Pride At Work

Pride and arrogance can be at work in offense and you can see it for by now you know your sin structures. Leviathan is the king of pride who is a strong evil spirit. He is both a dragon and a serpent (Isaiah 27:1; Psalm 104:26, 74:13-14).

Father if I am under any curse of Leviathan, I claim the fullness of the cross and the blood of Jesus and the anointing for deliverance.

I ask You to destroy every legal right that gives this evil spirit and his underlings ground to be in and over my life. I repent for the iniquity of great pride and all pride even for my ancestors on both sides of my family.

I call on you to deliver me from all roots of pride, to hook this spirit out of its dwelling place and uproot it and its spirits out of the land of the living to its place You have appointed of them.

Father I yield totally this area in my heart and mind that this strongman and his underlings have had. Renew in me a heart of humility and dependence upon you, bring to death totally

by Your Holy Spirit every area in my heart and mind that would keep me in such pride. I receive an anointing for humility to burn out all pride and its roots.

In Jesus name Amen.

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Pride ____________________________________________________ Ambitious pride caused Lucifer’s fall and his spirits use this to ensnare us to fall. He lures our heart subtly into pride with his prideful overtones so keep watch over the heart for out of the heart flows the issues of life, least pride gains a foothold for a stronghold again.

Pride can stop the Wind that you can neither hear nor discern when you are under such a stronghold of pride. According to Win Worley Leviathan scales are believed to be so tightly joined together that when in function no air is able to get in, in other words your pride, this bond of iniquity will resist The Holy Spirit.

Not only stiff-necked and stubbornness are some of this spirits attributes (Job 41:22, Acts 7:51), but it will function in its lofty opinion of itself as if it is The Holy Spirit – these spirits are learned in the doctrines and teaching of The Scriptures. 1. [Worley 16:1996] Just a little quote about self-importance for it is spoken about by the person who coined “the man who is wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.”

Some more thoughts on Pride it is hardness of heart therefore a cold heart is a fruit of pride. Pride causes us to be hearers and not doers, un-teachable, not receiving the revelations in The Spirit. Pride refuses to be told anything for it knows it all.

Rebellious pride hides and makes independence desirable; you will reject dependence on God and subjection to God and take all the honor due to God unto yourself; well what about me, me and me, look at me just look at me.

Recall: so then submit first to God to then resist the devil! No submission no deliverance!

Pride was a temptation in the garden, “I’ll be like God.” “I’ll know good and evil and the knowledge of good and evil, I’ll know it all.”

Pride is as innate as a dog barking, so self must be on guard, of its snare, dead to its desire, dead to pouting, dead to self’s pedestal. “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 KJ) Pride causes us to fall into the snare and condemnation of the devil 44

(1 Timothy 3:6) especially if we refuse to have it brought to death in the heart. “Pride as defined in the dictionary “an over-high opinion of oneself; exaggerated self-esteem; conceit; haughty behavior; arrogance; delight or satisfaction in one’s own or another’s achievements.” 2. [Worley, 1996:16] I have experienced this Religious spirit pride that does not walk in love but on guard of anything unscriptural to his doctrines of deception.

He loves to have you depart from those who he calls false teachers, false prophets and those holding any false doctrine according to ‘his know it all’ knowledge of the Word.

As Worley also writes in booklet 19, if he does love, it is not the agape love, but a false love that loves with motives. He will have you all alone because no one is good enough or knows enough or has grown in The Lord enough to measure up to his standard. He goes on and on and on over your mind and he declares “I don’t want her/his friendship I’d rather have no friends than suffer her.”

This is a picture also of the fruit of rejection for pride and rejection work together to isolate you and cause you to be friendless. Even an assignment they lay out to others in the church to shun and reject you and avoid you and not involve you in any fellowship.

So our reaction is Pride and this just reinforces friendlessness and captivity. Then we scream as we puff ourselves up with pride to cover our feeling we will cry: “I want someone to love me,” “I want someone to not overlook me,” “I want to be somebody and people will love me.”

I have fallen in this snare many times, and now I just rely and trust He is Able to move on the hearts and minds of them and on mine. Now I see knowledge brings freedom and as Paula White speaks “you cannot confront what you don’t identity.”

To Overcome Offense

We will enter into offense because people, circumstances, situations will be offensive, dogs bark and cats meow. The choice is how to respond to the offense; we can either view the offense as an opportunity for learning, or an opportunity wasted. And think of it this way we overcome offense and the people who offend.

As said by many that offense can “become a building block or stumbling block.” Truth is if we ignore the offense it will be buried alive and will find its way to live again, so if we face it and any sinful response 45

to it we will overcome it.

Our journey to the other side is learning the ways of God and His teachings.

The life-changing power of Love can cause anyone to reconsider their behavior against us and ours against theirs, but it won’t happen if we demand our rights or believe the worst in every situation.

Then put down your false pride and expectancy of better treatment, better responses better this or better that to treasure His way in the circumstance.

All Power And Authority

I remember being taught the following after crying in my pain that living by His teachings is freedom, is power, and is authority. That I need not exert power over anyone, pay anyone back, punish anyone for I was powerful and I have great authority.

That’s right we have all the power of heaven going for us, if prayer is necessary to release it in the leading of the Spirit we discern to act and we do only against the kingdom of darkness.

Recall the law of judgment is always in existence, just like the law of gravity, they stand before Jesus and nothing goes unseen. Therefore, we need not enter into any false power struggle or try to change anyone in our self-sufficiency or in our confronting his or her behavior.

Jesus is the changer, He changes man’s heart, in His hands lies the heart of all men, and He can turn it wherever He wills. He is Lord and is also over the powers of darkness.

We obey, we pray, we submit, we humble ourselves and act in the opposite spirit and we, richly blessed.

If the offense has caused a broken friendship, Jesus reconciles us to Himself, in our offenses against Him so He will reconcile us to them. He reconciles our emotions to Himself, so He will want to reconcile our hearts to one another, especially to those who have sinned against us.

God Said Then God Said

God said to Joshua He would be with him as He was with Moses when he entered the Promised Land. Joshua was told of the need of obedience to God’s commandments and teachings, he was also told to obey God for the plan and purposes in taking the land.

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Joshua knew he was the head and not the tail, he knew he was where God had placed him. He also knew he would not always have great personal comfort and his feeling could not reign in all circumstances, likewise it is with us.

Our adversary likes to take us out of the center of God’s will. Sons and daughters as bond slaves are and will to be led and will be led, they don’t go where they please.

Jesus leads us to a church, a place where He wants us to be no matter how much its means suffering to stay. Recall He knew suffering because of obedience to His Fathers teaching. It is to be as He wills for a group, a ministry, a dance group, a job, a Church, and then He may say – go, do what you will to do you are in a season where you can choose or you choose but don’t forget to listen to your heart as the enemy lays nets everywhere.

So when we leave He will lead us out in peace and joy if it is not His will for us to be at any offensive place. Your heart will know this is not the church family for me; this is not the doctrine(s) to sit under.

Double Minded Man is Unstable

A double minded man is unstable in all his ways, either you want to walk in kingdom living or you don’t either you want to stay in the boat or you don’t.

If you sway indecisively from ‘I will live for Jesus’ to ‘I will live for myself’ keeping your carnal sinful behavior, your offenses, you will not mature in the faith. You will rob yourself of your true self and of many blessings and being a blessing to others and others of blessings you too.

His commandments offer life and offer changes of the heart one day at a time, one step at a time. And it is in the power of the Holy Spirit, not the power of the flesh that can cause you and me to take hold of life. We can rest our soul confidently not striving to will and to do for it is by His heart work that He brings forth fruit of change. Then the fruit of Him changing our heart in offense offers a harvest for others.

Keep sailing your waters are calm and clear ahead.

Rest in Knowledge

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I often rested in this knowledge that persecution will come within our own ranks and the woman or man of the flesh will persecute the woman or man of the Spirit.

Hang In There We Are All In The Same Boat

John the Baptist, his wilderness time, the time he was separated for years and years before the day he stepped into his ministry. He was trained, he was molded, he suffered loneliness, hardships, and sorrow took his heart in his isolation. To add he would not have been accepted by many and ridiculed, disliked and challenged by many.

At times he would have wanted to throw the towel in and go back to his people, but he hung in there. The devil would have many a time made his heart disagreeable to the call on his life. Made him think he was not going to make it out of the wilderness to fulfill the call on his life, but God came through, fulfilled the promise He gave him as a vessel set apart – Kiddushin unto Him.

Freedom And Grace

We are often confused with freedom and grace. “Don’t let your grace be an excuse for the flesh, an excuse to sin.” “Who the son sets free is free indeed.”

Choices: the world’s lusts the lust of the flesh the pride of life, is this freedom or is this grace? Or is freedom receiving grace to choose a Christ life, not the world’s life?

Yes, this is Grace.

Our Inheritance

I can’t say it took a short time to know that my inheritance is to enjoy the Father; to enjoy Jesus; to enjoy the Holy Spirit; to enjoy the enriching of His choices; to enjoy His presence; His company; His general and teaching fellowship; His peace; His joy; His wisdom; His knowledge of all things; His understanding of all things and of people; His counsel in all matters and to our brokenness and to others; His loving touches; His presence of love; His love to you and for others; to enjoy His anointing on 48

your romance and love making; His kind acts and words through you to others; His healing signs and wonders by others and through you to others and to you; His warring power in and through you; and the earth and all its beauty; His financial prosperity; His giving of material gifts and monetary gifts to you and through others to you; Him placing you specifically in a job in the workforce that suits your personality and or for His kingdom purposes; Him giving you opportunities to build treasure up in heaven by the work and works he gives you; to enjoy His gifts and empowering of musical talent, singing, dancing; His gift and ability to make you a good athlete; His calling on your life to be Teacher, Prophet, Pastor, Evangelist, Apostle and to have and give discernment, wisdom, words of knowledge; His ministering spirits; His protection under the shadow of His wings; His gifts of food, fruit, nature, precious stones on your finger or in the earth; To enjoy His scenery, animals, bugs, reptiles, people, his whole creation and the science of it and the science of man; His gift of ability to have children; To be partnered with a wife or husband; His creative gifts; His empowering you to work wood, metal, fabric, clay, silver, gold, paint, draw, design; To enjoy His companionship His presence in sharing all this and these moments with Him and or just to enjoy it all in the spiritual natural man.

But I did learn to seize the day, make the most of my moments in relationship with Him, dine with Him and eat His bread one step at a time.

Many times I refused to get out of self-pity yet I came back to one day at a time one step at a time to enjoy all that He had placed in my heart about His World This World and His Ways and The Way. You can do this, stay in His Love Boat. Go and refresh your mind on the verses that forbid homosexuality: http://www.witnessfortheworld.org/homont.html View the same scriptures from the Peshitta New Testament Version. http://www.dukhrana.com/peshitta/index.php

Praise The Lord

We are not of this world our citizenship is in heaven. Jesus may put us with people who are offensive and recall this is life in general.

I just want to give you a reality check again look around, look north look south look west look east there are persecutions, hardships, hurts, offenses and insensitive people.

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People under the power and persuasion of the enemy, people who will offend under the powers of darkness, people who will manhandle you, people who do not and will not change their behavior; people who refuse to walk and be trained as a king and a priest.

But rest, Jesus is our lifeguard, we fight not with and or in the flesh, but we are made powerful in the strength of His might.

Keep rowing keep rowing keep rowing now let The Wind fill that sail with a God perspective.

The Master and Rabbi

We are being trained and taught by The Master Rabbi to be like Him so as to be at one with Him. Recall He is the One who came to earth in the form of man to deliver us from evil spirits and the corrupt nature of the flesh.

We are the Disciples He is the Master, The Rabbi. In Hebraic understanding a Disciple is to serve, to take on the beliefs the attitudes the politics the teachings of their Rabbi and become just like them. So this is with us, we are to be conformed not to our carnal image but the image of the One we serve Christ Jesus.

We are taught to live by our spirit not by our base nature as we are sealed by His Spirit to enable us to stay dead sin and its temptations and the carnal nature. We possess a greater knowledge of our reason and purpose for being and the reason why we are to live as those that are above and not below.

We as Disciples are being trained to live not for ourselves so as to help others become better than ourselves and to overcome as we overcome. We as Disciples are to learn so we are equipped to heal others so as to be used to heal the world with a global voice.

We walk out of the teachings of our Rabbi, we do not just go after an intellectual pursuit of the ways and lifestyle of Christ Jesus our Rabbi; but we make a decision with our heart to walk this walk after His ways and teachings.

This way we can make allowances and understand people’s flaws and faults so offense is not the bread we eat but redemptive bread we eat. Truth is this: Christians fight, Christians turn the tables, Christians divide, Christians clash, Christians cause conflict and Christians take things too serious.

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Christians are not all peacemakers, Christians struggle for power, Christians divide loyalties, Christians are hearers and not doers and Christians refuse to be molded to become a Disciple King and Priest; and is this Christian you or me?

You have heard it said before “Sink or swim” “do or die” “fight or give up” “succeed or fail.”

Look the truth is when the rubber hits the road the only way is UP to overcome. This way UP is His way and this way UP will bring more to your spiritual and natural and material welfare than the ways of darkness and the ways of the corrupt carnality of ourselves or the perceived truth of Christians and their bad behavior.

Like Leaves In The Wind

Humanity, the carnal self is rude, selfish, self-seeking, self-exalting and not unlike the beast of the field who devour one another to survive.

The church is filled with the wounded, filled with the insensitive and filled with people who sin by choice who sin out of brokenness, who sin and who breathe air! We will never be perfect little Christ’s, consider Jesus would have offended many and where He did not will to offend someone would have taken offense.

We all need to face the reality ‘we will always take offense’ and ‘people will always offend us.’ There is no church that exists without human beings, no church group of people exists without the sinful nature, no church group exists without hurting one another - it is impossible to avoid or prevent offenses from Christians or at that work colleges, family, friends or nations but it is not impossible to work through the offense(s).

Take a breath, take a reality check, the grass grows green, the leaf fades, the flower blooms and people sin against us knowingly and unknowingly. But we cannot walk around with a chip on our shoulder because the grass grows green, the leaf fades, the flower blooms.

Getting upset about spilled milk all day all week all month and year in year out is not going to take this reality away. You will have to go to live on a deserted island to escape the church people, the work people, the family people all people but you will be left with yourself. Your sinful self, imperfect self and guess what - you will still get offended with the islands lack, the islands provision or you will find something to be offended over to dwell in the memories of offense of the heart.

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Offenses will come offenses will go, offenses will come, offenses will go; they will always be a part of reality, always. But it’s how you process them, so to be kind to yourself and bring yourself back to being sweet happy and content and at peace with the offense and the one who offended you process it.

Sin happens, people will always sin against us but knowledge breaks down the impact, knowledge enables us to not stay offended as long as we did the last time, knowledge enables us to process.

Prayer gives you perception, understanding, guidance, grace, love, and the power to move on until the next offense – the reality is it never ends we take offense; others give offense but work towards the impact to lesson.

Release the offense like leaves into the wind, don’t nurture it, feed it or wrap it in a blanket and put it down with a bottle, the mattress is full of mites!

Yes I know The Church People Have Hurt You So Bad

“Oh but you don’t know” “Oh yes I do know” I had to write my way out of offense and just last night I was spoken to in such a derogative way by a Pastor.

I know the continual pain of church women in this country town of rejection, their righteous judgments, no hugs, no acceptance, no love, no friends, no lunches, no invites and it has been eighteen years of renewal and restoration and commitment to Discipleship the Priesthood.

Yes, I know pain from the Christians, those who say they walk in the Spirit those who say they walk in the Masters footsteps and who say they obey the command to love one another and who say they know the Bible and its teachings but they shun me and refuse my invitations and won’t invite me and this is a thorn in my flesh.

I did not know how to process offense in the early years of Christianity so the pain had marred my soul and at one time I was in need of redemptive restoration in this area to uproot the effects. So today it still hits a nerve when I am viewed as whom I once was, or when someone finds out and I’m not hugged, or hugged sideways or shunned or ignored or avoided or not asked out or refused when I offer.

“Yes I know” hurt and pain from the church. Much has hurt me so bad; but I could not stay in this hurt and neither can you. We have to move on and overcome and get to the heart attitude that no church exists 52

without sinners who will continue to act out against us in whatever shape or form. We have to get to the place it does not matter if they choose to see us by our past, or not hug us, or not accept us, or deliberately ignore or avoid or shun or not invite us for Sunday lunch or Friday night coffee.

There is a way to overcome but it has to come personally, we will find this way as an individual process; and this book is filled with knowledge that will enable you and me to process any offense but we have to keep going back to read it especially when offended.

You cannot change anyone. Do you recall that man that woman you fell in love with, then you thought you were the one they would change for and you were very certain you could fix him/her so you stayed in the relationship that devalued you, took your identity and boundaries away?

Of course you do and this was a mistake. You wasted years that you cannot get back, your emotions got bruised your bones crushed; all because you did not know any better because you fell into this old age trap the devil has set and plays against everyone.

Well offense is no different, unless you learn to process and or deal with offense which is as old as Adam and Eve you are going to waste more years, get your emotions bruised and your bones are going to go dry. “An offended brother is worse than a fortified city; yea, their contentions are like the bars of a castle.” (Proverbs 18:19) Withdrawal, leaving, anger, criticism, jealousy, ignorance, envy or competition and or whatever is your way of ‘coping’ is not the road to take when offended. Look people will offend, that’s the truth, and we will take offense that’s the truth. If you go into a group who have habitually carried out a task and there is an unspoken law ‘this is how we do it’ and try to bring in a new way to do the task you will be a threat and they may even move you out. This is a truth, traditions are honored in groups and violating traditions that are held close to the heart causes war in the soul and war against the opposing soul.

We are all different and as writers say, we are either Analytical, drivers, amiable, expressive or sanguine, choleric, melancholy or phlegmatic and all of us offend others unknowingly and knowingly.

No matter how spiritual you are, how spiritual they are or what name, title or rank they have we all can be categorized into the above types of people and will revert back to certain behavior when out from under the presence of The Spirit or when in sin or walking in the flesh.

The analytical will withdraw, the drivers will dominate, the amiable will give in and the expressive will attack.

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Face the fact giving and taking offense started in the Garden of Eden and is with us today and will be with us tomorrow. If you want to reduce the impact of offense and the snowballing effect of sin + sin + sin, first accept you will always take offense in some measure and offense will always be given in some measure. Then you have to learn to process the offense ASAP before the snowball enlarges and you get sick.

If you want to sit on the offense, or nurse it, or feed it or put it to bed with a bottle and you know you are not to do that and you know you have to deal with it, process it then that’s another book! No - you rationalizing your behavior and wanting to dwell in the offense or dwell in the injustice it is still taking offense. This sin structure has to be brought to death and it is still sin that can cut you off from the presence of The Lord and this is not the Christ life, the walk of a disciple the walk of a member of the Kingdom of God. “With God all things are possible” we can have a change of heart.

Conclusion

Offenses will always be with us, people will always be with us, we will offend and they will offend. Reflect at all angles each time you take offense, yield it to Jesus and find your personal individual way(s) to process them so you do not harbor them or regurgitate them or they will become burdens.

Remember there is a way of escape from all offense either taken or given; therefore, do not throw away all that is worthwhile to overcome offense that you have read in this book. Go back to it, pick it up and allow His light, His grace mercy understanding and power to cause your heart to walk the way of a disciple of Christ.

We can rise above all offense as we take the keys of the Kingdom He wills for us to take and in this we are being transformed more as His Disciple. Kingdom living is more than obedience to the ten commandments or any laws, Kingdom living has living skills, life skills and etiquette taught in the scriptures to enable us to live in the world and enjoy life.

Being molded as a Disciple as a priest and as a king is a lifetime process and daily with the power and anointing and work of The Spirit of Christ Jesus we allow Him to birth and continue to birth and bring forth the Kingdom way of life.

The Gurus teach it, the ascended Masters teach it but Christ Jesus is The Truth and has the Truth about it and owns the original blueprints and it is only Him who gives the power to bring it about to do it. These others 54

teach a life of the flesh of striving in your own strength, but He enables us and sticks as close as a brother to cause us to continue to walk in teachings in His Light and Love.

Receive your covenant anointing and gifts to walk in His teachings, His ways, then walk the way of unrighteous defense to offense. Choppier waters are behind you in front of you and will come to you.

Be liberal in Love, yield to Love and be brought forth to Love, shift with the Wind while you on the water and stay in that boat.

Be blessed and be a blessing Agape

Kathleen Malligan

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__________________________________________________________ End Notes

Pride 1. & 2. Worley, W. Leviathan ‌ and Other Names of Spirits Booklet 19 [H.B.C. Box 626, Lansing, Illinois 60438, 1996]

Bibliography And Acknowledgments

Anderson, Neil T. Living Free In Christ. Regal Books A Division of Gospel Light Ventura, CA 93006. 1993 Johnson, Ann. Miryam Of Jerusalem. Teacher of The Disciples. Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, Ave Maria Press, 1991 Johnson, Ann. Miryam Of Judah. Witness in Truth & Tradition. Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, Ave Maria Press, 1987 Johnson, Ann. Miryam Of Nazareth. Woman of Strength & Wisdom. Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, Ave Maria Press, 1984, 1988 Hammond, Frank. Forgiving Others: Key To Healing And Deliverance.

Children’s Bread Ministry, P.O. Box 789 Plainview, TX 78073-0789, 1995 Worley, Win. Leviathan ... and Names of Other Spirits booklet 19 [H.B.C. Box 626, Lansing, Illinois 60438, 1996

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Understanding and Overcoming Homosexuality

By Working Through All Offense Book 4

Part of your overcoming the carnal-self is learning how to deal with offense; and the truth is in your journey people will offend like dogs will bark.

Therefore, this book is filled with knowledge that will counsel, teach, train and edify you so you will be able to process all offense in your personal and individual way.

From this book you will gain keys, you will understand that we do and it is ok to take offense.

You will know how to discern what unrighteous offense is and what righteous offense is.

You will discern if boundaries are violated and you will be able to understand and allow for people’s differences.

You will be able to deal with sinners saved by grace and learn the importance of expressing your feeling to Jesus Christ without any guilt and condemnation.

Kathleen Malligan Triumphant Ministries Toowoomba 58