How to overcome a spirit of offence:

Overcoming a spirit of offence takes intentionality and a humble spirit willing to surrender the right to stay hurt. There are steps we can take that help us move to releasing the person and avoiding a spirit of offence from taking root:

1)Acknowledge that we were hurt by something someone said or did even if it is an irrational hurt. God is ready and willing to hear our cries and help us walk through our pain.

2)Don’t quickly turn to others for counsel without serious consideration and prayer. If we need to process and discuss the offence, one person can provide the wisdom we seek. A spirit of offence usually involves just 2 people, and by seeking counsel from many others we create a bigger problem. We start out innocently working toward recovery and can easily get trapped into offending someone else.

3) We must pray for our own grieving spirit and for the other person.

4)We must walk through forgiveness even if we don’t feel it. That means if we see the person who hurt us, we act graciously. This can be difficult, but such an important step in healing.

Erick Bouwmeester