The moment that you get over on Satan's turf and you allow offense, unforgiveness, or strife to grab hold of you, you become vunerable to the enemy.

You can't afford offense. I want you to know that your problem isn't flesh and blood. Satan understands that if he can get you in offense he can get you out of faith, he can get you out of the Word, he can get you out of love - then he can get you concentrating on other things.

That situation, that person, that deal happening in your life is not worth you losing God's favor flowing in your life. I don't care how bad it is - how much they've lied on you, or what they did to you. It is not worth you losing the manifestation of the anointing.

Whatever they did to you with the Lord on your side, it will not succeed. Don't get over into the area of offense and take unforgiveness and strife and begin to question why God let this happen. God's not your problem - God's your answer.

John the Baptist was the closest man in ministry to Jesus on the face of the earth. He's Jesus' first cousin, he was the only one who really understood who Jesus was.

The Holy Ghost revealed to John that Jesus was the Messiah. The disciples still really didn't know who Jesus was. They only knew he was a great prophet and had great anointing. The rest of the Jews thought that he was the one who was going to deliver them from the rule of the Romans - lead them in a great military conquest on to victory.

They didn't understand what he was really called for but John did. But even John became deceived because of offense.

Offense Is Satan's Best Friend
You can't afford offense, let it go. It'll eat your body, eat your mind, and cause the anointing to stop protecting you. John got killed. Now Satan had a two-fold purpose: he wanted to shut John up for good, and he wanted to use the situation to get Jesus angry, get him in strife, and get him out of the love of God so he can stop his anointing.

Satan has tried this trick on many others before and seen it work. Jesus walked this earth as a man anointed by the Holy Ghost. Even though he was God, he walked the earth as man. He was 100 percent God and 100 percent man - and the perfect mediator between God and man.

Because he was 100 percent God he could represent the claims of God before men, but because he was 100 percent man he could represent man's claim before God, the perfect mediator. He's both God and man and he's never failed on either account. Satan tried to get Jesus right from the start in the wilderness.

So if faith works by love, the opposite of faith is fear. Fear works for hate and strife. Love is the grease that makes faith flow. See God's not into making a floor mat out of you.

That is the reason why God told you to love your enemy and do good for them. Remember what Jesus did, Jesus did not get in strife. He says to love your enemies. Now let's say it another way: do something good for those that hate you.

Now that isn't the world's way of doing it. The world's way is if you hit me, I'm going to hit you back. The Lord is saying not only that you should forgive them, but that you must bless them.

Let them know that it's from God Almighty. He's the one above that changed your heart and caused you to operate in love towards them. It'll cause your faith to rocket and it'll cause you to win. In 1 John 2:5, it says, "You can have perfected love. The love of God can be perfected in you."

Love Takes Care Of Offense
Jesus walked in perfected love and that perfected love brought miracles, it brought deliverance, it brought health to all those who are around him. And Jesus, because he did not fall for Satan's trap, completed his ministry, and aren't you glad that he did? He said you know God's in you because you can walk in love in any situation. You know that you are a mature Christian when you can act on the word that you hear today.

The perfect love casts down fear. If you're not walking in fear you're going to be over in faith and this is the victory that overcomes the world. You know you are a real victor when you refuse to allow offense to hang on you anymore.

Copyright © Keith Butler Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.