The Bait of Satan: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense

by John Bevere

Jesus had instructed His disciples, “If your brother sins against you . . . seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” Their immediate response to Him was, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:3–5).

Jesus said, “It is impossible that no offenses should come” (Luke 17:1).

They are oblivious to their condition because they are so focused on the wrong that was done to them. They are in denial. The most effective way for the enemy to blind us is to cause us to focus on ourselves.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask that You would reveal, by Your Spirit, Your Word to me as I read this book. Expose any hidden areas of my heart that have hindered me from knowing You and serving You more effectively. I welcome the conviction of Your Spirit and ask for Your grace to carry out what You desire of me. May I come to know You more intimately as a result of hearing Your voice through reading this book.

In Psalm 55:12–14 David laments, “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng.”

The Bible is very clear that in the last days men will be “lovers of themselves” (2 Tim. 3:2).

Therefore we must be prepared and armed for offenses, because our response determines our future.

And a servant of the Lord must not

quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare [entrapment] of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. —2 TIMOTHY 2:24–26, EMPHASIS ADDED

When a person is deceived, he believes he is right even though he is not.

One way the enemy keeps a person in an offended state is to keep the offense hidden, cloaked with pride. Pride will keep

you from admitting your true condition.

Pride keeps you from dealing with truth. It distorts your vision. You never change when you think everything is fine. Pride hardens your heart and

dims the eyes of your understanding. It keeps you from the change of heart—repentance—that will set you free. (See 2 Timothy 2:24–26.)

Though your true heart condition is hidden from you, it is not hidden from God.

Just because you were mistreated, you do not have permission to hold on to an offense.

Pride hid their true condition.

Jesus’ first instruction for breaking free from deception was to “buy from Me gold refined in the fire” (Rev. 3:18).

A pure heart is like pure gold—soft, tender, and pliable. Hebrews 3:13 states that hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin! If we do not deal with an offense, it will produce

more fruit of sin, such as bitterness, anger, and resentment. This added substance hardens our hearts just as alloys harden gold. This reduces or removes tenderness, creating a loss of sensitivity. We are hindered in our ability to hear God’s voice. Our accuracy to see is darkened. This is a perfect setting for deception.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. —ISAIAH 48:10

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found

to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. —1 PETER 1:6–7, EMPHASIS ADDED

God refines with afflictions, trials, and tribulations, the heat of which separates impurities such as unforgiveness, strife, bitterness, anger, envy, and so forth from the character of God in our lives. Sin easily hides where there is no heat of trials and afflictions. In times of prosperity and success, even a wicked man w...

“But that doesn’t mean they were not there,” He said. “When the fire of trials hit you, these impurities surfaced. Though hidden to you, they were always visible to Me. So now you have a choice that will determine your future. You can remain angry, blaming your wife, friends, pastor, and the people you work with, or you can see this dross of sin for what it is and repent, receive forgiveness, and I will take My ladle and remove these impurities from your life.”

See your true condition.

“Anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18).

You will only repent when you stop blaming other people.

Satan will not be able to ensnare me in his trap by causing me to become “a lover of myself” (2 Tim. 3:2).

Holy Spirit, flow into my life with Your power, and eradicate every fiber of selfishness that would try to snare me and cause me to love myself more than I love You and others.

I will not allow a root of bitterness to spring up in my life, defiling me and causing me to fall short of the grace of God (Heb. 12:15). As a servant of my Lord I will follow Paul’s instruction to Timothy to be gentle, patient, and filled with humility in all my relationships—especially with those in opposition to me in some manner or way (2 Tim. 2:24–26). I will not be held prisoner by the enemy through my own unwillingness to rid my heart of anger and unforgiveness and by spewing out bitter waters rather than pure. Holy Spirit, keep me from hurt, deceit, and distortion because of darkened understanding and wrong conclusions about the intent of others to wrong me. Reveal my heart’s true condition, and do not allow hidden o...

that perishes, to be visible in my life (1 Pet. 1:6–7). I will not allow pride to hold back my willingness to forgive those who may hurt me. I do not have the right to hold on to my hurt. Father, Your Word teaches me that a pure heart is like gold. Give me purity of heart and cause me to be soft, tender, and pliable to your instructions. Holy Spirit, I recognize that You ar...

be melted and forced out of my life. Holy Spirit, anoint my eyes with eye salve that I may see my true heart condition and be kept from deception through unforgiveness, anger, envy, and resentment (Rev. 3:18). By the power of my God who lives within my heart I repent from the hidden impurities of my heart and plead for ...

Father, enlighten the eyes of my understanding that I may see my true condition and become free from any hidden offense that I may have been harboring. Free me from pride! Through God’s power I will never attempt to remove the speck out of my brother’s eye while ther...

And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. —MATTHEW 24:10–13

However, agape loves regardless of the response.

“He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption,” He explained, “but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season

we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (See Galatians 6:8–9.) You need to realize that when you sow the love of God, you will reap the love of God. You need to develop faith in this spiritual law—even though you may not harvest it from the field in which you sowed, or as quickly as you would like. The Lord continued. “In My greatest hour of need, My closest friends deserted Me. Judas betrayed Me, Peter denied Me, and the rest fled for their lives. Only John followed from afar. I had cared for them for over three years, feeding them and teaching them. Yet as I died for the sins of the world, I forgave. I released all of them—from My friends who had deserted Me to the Roman guards who had crucified Me. They didn’t ask for forgiveness, yet I freely gave it. I had faith in the

Father’s love. “I knew that because I had sown love, I would reap love from many sons and daughters of the kingdom. Because of My sacrifice of love, they would love Me. “I said to ‘love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. “‘For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collect...

We walk in a selfish love that is easily disappointed when our expectations are not met.

We set ourselves up for offense when we require certain behaviors from those with whom we have relationships.

A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle. —PROVERBS 18:19

we don’t risk being hurt, we cannot give unconditional love. Unconditional love gives others the right to hurt us.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. —2 CORINTHIANS 10:4–5

His ways are not like ours, and His thoughts are not ours (Isa. 55:8–9).

because knowledge without the love of God will lead to deception.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be ...unforgiving....having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! . . . For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth. —2 TIMOTHY 3:1–5; 4:3–4, EMPHASIS ADDED

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. —MATTHEW 5:44

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. —PHILIPPIANS 2:3

I will commit to living my life in such a way that