Thoughts on the Spirit of Skandalon/ Offense
When we allow ourselves to get offended, we are actually walking into a trap.
According to the Lexicon, the Greek definition of the English word "offended" is
Skandalon - to entrap, i.e. Trip up (figuratively, stumble (transitively) or entice to sin.
I have seen some of my very dear ones falling into this trap of Skandalon recently and I remember how I struggled with it too. The devil is a tricky chap.
One of my dear ones is struggling against a great yoke of skandalon that has grown larger over the years - backstabbing by friends and colleagues, betrayal by a boyfriend. It has caused her to struggle with depression, eating problems, self-image issues... it has caused her to have problems focusing on her career and stumbled her relationships with other people.
Another dear one struggles with the spirit of skandalon because there is one particular girl who seems to be flirting with her other half. Every time she sees that girl, the spirit of offense really pushes her buttons. Have you seen an anime of a girl with flames exploding out of her eyes and around her - yup... that is how this dear one looks like whenever she sees the other girl.
Yet another dear one struggles with her communication problems with her parents. It has caused her to seek love in all the wrong places, to struggle with depression.
The devil knows which buttons to push, and I have seen how he keeps pushing the same buttons to trigger off this spirit of offense or skandalon in the lives of these 3 dear ones.
As for me, I struggle with my own "buttons" too.
I struggle with communication issues with my mother (whom I love a lot but we tend to somewhat upset each other now and then because of our conflicting views and ways of handling matters). Mum and I have less conflicts now that we don't live together and everytime she pushes my buttons, I choose to react differently from what my feelings wish to react. I turn away. I walk away from the potential fight. Just like David didn't bother to explain to his brother and his accusations but instead turned away to talk to other people.
I struggle with weird pet peeves - like how I don't like it when my hubby tends to get lost in his thoughts and walks ahead way faster than I do, I stop to look at something and when I turn back he is like a few metres away already. Lol. The other day I just let it bother me so much I gave in to the button pushing and had a quarrel with my poor hubby who meant no harm, he was just really deep in his thoughts. But I had told him before that I wish he'd walk beside me instead of getting so far ahead that I struggle to catch up. ^.^" Kae was there with 2 friends when I let myself be snared by this feeling of frustration & exploded into tears and snot. When Ian and I came back to them after a heart to heart, Kae was sitting there like a person waiting for a blind date (my 2 friends waited with him at the cafe)- with a rose in one hand and a little phone charm that says "So loving..." with 2 bears embroidered on it in the other hand. The 2 bears represent Ian and I (our nick name is The Bear Family =D ). I put the phone charm on my phone pouch so I will see it and remember to not blow up like I did that day. I will not let the devil ruffle my feathers and disturb my shalom!
The problem with the spirit of offense is that when we let it bug us, we take our eyes of Christ to focus on our own hurts and our problems. We magnify these hurts and in doing so, we unknowingly give the object (a situation, person) that hurts us more value than what God's will for us is. We end up sowing the same spirit of offense in other relationships too some times because we let our offense cause us to do or say things that offend another.
Vicious ya? =p
The Word reminds us that our only struggle in this world is the struggle to remain in His Shalom.
So when the spirit of offense creeps up on us, it is important not to let it drag us down further. We should struggle against our human instinct to fly into an emotional turmoil and instead tell our hearts "Peace! Be Still!".
In Luke 7:23, Jesus says - And blessed is he, whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me. The words "occassion of stumbling" is actually "skandalizo" from "skandalon".
Here Christ reminds us that we are in Him and we are, according to the Lexicon, makarios or supremely blest and happy when we don't allow ourselves to trip up, stumble or be enticed to sin because we are in Him.
As He is in this world so are we - Victors! Shalom-filled beloved ones of our Abba Daddy!
As a man thinks, so is he. Our thoughts and what we choose to think about matters!
We have the mind of Christ and the joy of the LORD is our strength... =D
The spirit of offense is out to rob our strength by robbing our joy, to rob us of our remembrance of how we have divine authority and the position to reign in Christ by using situations or people to rub us the wrong way.
It is not easy, but praise God that as we keep pressing on in the Light, it gets easier to leave the darkness behind and it gets easier to see the next step before us & not stumble.
Additional thoughts -
I noticed that Goliath told the Israelites to "come down" to fight him and Nehemiah was also asked to" come down" to speak to some troublemakers.
The devil always wants us to come down to his level because in "coming down", we leave our place of safety - which is being seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ Jesus. =p We leave our rock solid foundation to step on to sinking sand and perhaps even into a flood.
It is easier to slide down a slippery slope than to climb up it and the devil knows that.
We are flying on Eagles' wings in Christ so let us not disembark from the flight to struggle in the parched desert with no living water.
I like Nehemiah's reply and I always remind myself of this -
I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? [Nehemiah 6:3]
Bible interprets Bible -
What is God's Work in today's context for believers?
Jesus puts it succinctly in John 6:29 -
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."
"Believe" in the above quote in the Gospel of John is represented in the original Greek scriptures by the word "pisteuo" which basically means -
From pistis; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. Credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ) -- believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.
Our "great work" today is thus is to believe God above all circumstances; To trust in His faithfulness and know that He keeps His promises because there is no shadow of turning with Him; To keep having a better opinion of Him; To keep on believing and speaking His Word over our own fears and what lies we are told. ^.^!
Nehemiah's defiant answer should be our own response to the enemy too - Why should our believing and speaking stop while we leave it and come down to the devil's level to play ball with him?
Yup! We must and should do what Christ did - talk back to the devil using God's Word instead!!
A sobering word in 1 Cor 3:15 reminds us -
"If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer the loss. However, he will be saved, though it will be like going through a fire."
Our Work = doing God's Work = believing in Christ and His promises = Faith = Believing and Speaking
If any man's believing and speaking gets consumed utterly by the lies of the enemy (ie he stops speaking God's truth over himself but speaks the enemy's lies over himself), the man will suffer the loss. BUT he will be saved (God does not let the enemy consume us) , though it will be like going through a fire (- feel like one's going through a time of being refined, it will feel like a period of testing).
I italicised "like" because I feel the Word is making it clear that you may feel like you are going through hell during the time of testing but it isn't hell, God's protection is still hedged around you. Because of the wrong choices of words spoken over the person's life, he or she has to face up to circumstances resulting from it, BUT that there is double restoration taking place even as one journeys out of that period of testing resulting from bad choices.
According to the Lexicon, the Greek definition of the English word "offended" is
Skandalon - to entrap, i.e. Trip up (figuratively, stumble (transitively) or entice to sin.
I have seen some of my very dear ones falling into this trap of Skandalon recently and I remember how I struggled with it too. The devil is a tricky chap.
One of my dear ones is struggling against a great yoke of skandalon that has grown larger over the years - backstabbing by friends and colleagues, betrayal by a boyfriend. It has caused her to struggle with depression, eating problems, self-image issues... it has caused her to have problems focusing on her career and stumbled her relationships with other people.
Another dear one struggles with the spirit of skandalon because there is one particular girl who seems to be flirting with her other half. Every time she sees that girl, the spirit of offense really pushes her buttons. Have you seen an anime of a girl with flames exploding out of her eyes and around her - yup... that is how this dear one looks like whenever she sees the other girl.
Yet another dear one struggles with her communication problems with her parents. It has caused her to seek love in all the wrong places, to struggle with depression.
The devil knows which buttons to push, and I have seen how he keeps pushing the same buttons to trigger off this spirit of offense or skandalon in the lives of these 3 dear ones.
As for me, I struggle with my own "buttons" too.
I struggle with communication issues with my mother (whom I love a lot but we tend to somewhat upset each other now and then because of our conflicting views and ways of handling matters). Mum and I have less conflicts now that we don't live together and everytime she pushes my buttons, I choose to react differently from what my feelings wish to react. I turn away. I walk away from the potential fight. Just like David didn't bother to explain to his brother and his accusations but instead turned away to talk to other people.
I struggle with weird pet peeves - like how I don't like it when my hubby tends to get lost in his thoughts and walks ahead way faster than I do, I stop to look at something and when I turn back he is like a few metres away already. Lol. The other day I just let it bother me so much I gave in to the button pushing and had a quarrel with my poor hubby who meant no harm, he was just really deep in his thoughts. But I had told him before that I wish he'd walk beside me instead of getting so far ahead that I struggle to catch up. ^.^" Kae was there with 2 friends when I let myself be snared by this feeling of frustration & exploded into tears and snot. When Ian and I came back to them after a heart to heart, Kae was sitting there like a person waiting for a blind date (my 2 friends waited with him at the cafe)- with a rose in one hand and a little phone charm that says "So loving..." with 2 bears embroidered on it in the other hand. The 2 bears represent Ian and I (our nick name is The Bear Family =D ). I put the phone charm on my phone pouch so I will see it and remember to not blow up like I did that day. I will not let the devil ruffle my feathers and disturb my shalom!
The problem with the spirit of offense is that when we let it bug us, we take our eyes of Christ to focus on our own hurts and our problems. We magnify these hurts and in doing so, we unknowingly give the object (a situation, person) that hurts us more value than what God's will for us is. We end up sowing the same spirit of offense in other relationships too some times because we let our offense cause us to do or say things that offend another.
Vicious ya? =p
The Word reminds us that our only struggle in this world is the struggle to remain in His Shalom.
So when the spirit of offense creeps up on us, it is important not to let it drag us down further. We should struggle against our human instinct to fly into an emotional turmoil and instead tell our hearts "Peace! Be Still!".
In Luke 7:23, Jesus says - And blessed is he, whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me. The words "occassion of stumbling" is actually "skandalizo" from "skandalon".
Here Christ reminds us that we are in Him and we are, according to the Lexicon, makarios or supremely blest and happy when we don't allow ourselves to trip up, stumble or be enticed to sin because we are in Him.
As He is in this world so are we - Victors! Shalom-filled beloved ones of our Abba Daddy!
As a man thinks, so is he. Our thoughts and what we choose to think about matters!
We have the mind of Christ and the joy of the LORD is our strength... =D
The spirit of offense is out to rob our strength by robbing our joy, to rob us of our remembrance of how we have divine authority and the position to reign in Christ by using situations or people to rub us the wrong way.
It is not easy, but praise God that as we keep pressing on in the Light, it gets easier to leave the darkness behind and it gets easier to see the next step before us & not stumble.
Additional thoughts -
I noticed that Goliath told the Israelites to "come down" to fight him and Nehemiah was also asked to" come down" to speak to some troublemakers.
The devil always wants us to come down to his level because in "coming down", we leave our place of safety - which is being seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ Jesus. =p We leave our rock solid foundation to step on to sinking sand and perhaps even into a flood.
It is easier to slide down a slippery slope than to climb up it and the devil knows that.
We are flying on Eagles' wings in Christ so let us not disembark from the flight to struggle in the parched desert with no living water.
I like Nehemiah's reply and I always remind myself of this -
I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? [Nehemiah 6:3]
Bible interprets Bible -
What is God's Work in today's context for believers?
Jesus puts it succinctly in John 6:29 -
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."
"Believe" in the above quote in the Gospel of John is represented in the original Greek scriptures by the word "pisteuo" which basically means -
From pistis; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. Credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ) -- believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.
Our "great work" today is thus is to believe God above all circumstances; To trust in His faithfulness and know that He keeps His promises because there is no shadow of turning with Him; To keep having a better opinion of Him; To keep on believing and speaking His Word over our own fears and what lies we are told. ^.^!
Nehemiah's defiant answer should be our own response to the enemy too - Why should our believing and speaking stop while we leave it and come down to the devil's level to play ball with him?
Yup! We must and should do what Christ did - talk back to the devil using God's Word instead!!
A sobering word in 1 Cor 3:15 reminds us -
"If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer the loss. However, he will be saved, though it will be like going through a fire."
Our Work = doing God's Work = believing in Christ and His promises = Faith = Believing and Speaking
If any man's believing and speaking gets consumed utterly by the lies of the enemy (ie he stops speaking God's truth over himself but speaks the enemy's lies over himself), the man will suffer the loss. BUT he will be saved (God does not let the enemy consume us) , though it will be like going through a fire (- feel like one's going through a time of being refined, it will feel like a period of testing).
I italicised "like" because I feel the Word is making it clear that you may feel like you are going through hell during the time of testing but it isn't hell, God's protection is still hedged around you. Because of the wrong choices of words spoken over the person's life, he or she has to face up to circumstances resulting from it, BUT that there is double restoration taking place even as one journeys out of that period of testing resulting from bad choices.
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