I cried when I saw this picture of my new niece and her daddy. A new life in the world is so beautiful but God revealed something more to me when I looked at this picture that broke me.
See recently I have been slightly persecuted by friends, colleagues and even family for my over zealous “selling” of a program that changed my life. “Shut up already”, “I don’t want to hear about it”, “it’s not for me”, “it’s not the only good program out there”. Have you ever been rejected, called names, or even lost friendships over something you believed in strongly? It can hurt and it can shut you down.
Several years ago we had one interaction with a colleague that hurt my husband so badly that he literally quit that “selling” part of his job for many, many years. This person was irritated by what we were “selling” and verbally made it known. My husband was wounded and he allowed pride to take on a SPIRIT OF OFFENSE.
The Spirit of Offense is a tool by Satan to trap and hold you from all that God wants you to do and to be. It stops you from serving others, helping, or selling something you know is proven to change people’s lives. The words of one person shut him down from helping hundreds and probably thousands of people.
The Definition of Offenses: From the Greek “to put a stumbling block in the way, cause to be caught (or) fall away, be led into sin, offend, anger, shock”.
Offense is like an automatic weapon. Once you pull the trigger, it keeps firing. – Kathy DeGraw
Offense are seeds that once planted are fertilized by ego and pride and grow into some horrific weeds in our lives including fear, doubt, anger, resentment, distrust, and blanket opinions.
The reality is we are not going to stop offenses coming our way but we must know what to do when they do happen:
1. Recognize the seeds that was planted
2. Forgive right away: The harboring of unforgiveness in our lives can cut off our connections to the Holy Spirit and can delay God’s perfect plan for our lives.
3. Search your heart: Seeds of Offense can turn into deep roots that we may not even be conscious of. Searching your heart for areas of offense, unforgiveness, ego and pride can turn up these deep roots.
4. Turn to God’s Word: Ask God to reveal scripture, verses, or prayers to pray over these hidden GIANTS in your life. Ask Him to uproot these monsters with the Spirit of FORGIVENESS that He gave us and you freely give to others. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive others.”
5. Heal: In some cases you may find complete deliverance and freedom after an act of true forgiveness and other times healing will be a process.
After attending one of those programs I like to sell I found out I had been harboring some deep seeded anger and resentment against some leaders who crookedly embezzled a company I love. It had been 9 years and I thought I had forgiven them and moved on. But apparently I hadn’t and during this seminar God ordained an awakening to the fact that I hadn’t forgiven them.
When I truly forgave them this newfound freedom and lightness came over me and I still have it weeks later. Oddly I became more comfortable, outgoing, and self-assured in group settings too. It was really weird and showed me how unforgiveness and the Spirit of Offense can affect so many areas of our life.
So back to my original story. See this picture of my brother in law and his beautiful family. When you watch the video below you will hear all the changes that happened for David after attending that program I “sell” too much. One of which was how God moved his heart from never wanting any more children to seeking God’s plan for his family. When this video was taken, little did we know that his beautiful wife Samantha was already pregnant.
No one leaves a First Steps to Success without being changed. They offer a full money back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied. So how about you? Are you ready to experience a change? Are you ready to learn more about things that are holding you back? I feel blessed if you made it to the end of the article and didn’t shut down or walk away from something that could literally transform your life like it did for David. Please consider it. I have 1 ticket left to the next First Steps to success training, and possibly the only ticket if it’s sold out by the time you read this. Give me a call 315-836-2014 ext. 1. Let’s learn and grow together.
God Bless you my friend,
Mary Starr Carter
A message from David
Caleah is such a blessing to us and we’re doing great (I guess after 4 babies you start to know what to do!). I attached a picture of her and I have our first skin on skin time last night 🙂 As I had everyone gathered around last night at the house for dinner I was recounting the story of how I was so against another child and Samantha’s longing for one.
Whenever people used to ask me about more children I was adamant that the only way we were having another child is if God himself changed my mind…. funny how God works isn’t it? So for the past 9 months I have been faithful to give God the glory and now I have an opportunity to explain how much God has done in my life and how he has changed me from the inside out to give me a heart for another little blessing.