Dharius Daniels - How Offense is Silently Robbing You of Your Dreams

Attempt to eat something; it gets eaten itself because it’s hooked, and Satan has hooks. But his hooks aren’t obvious; he hides the hooks. Did you hear what I just said? Everybody, listen to me! Everybody that needs to experience freedom, nine times out of ten, got into bondage not because they said yes to bondage—they didn’t say yes to a hook; they said yes to a worm. Um, offense is a dream killer. How is unaddressed offense a dream killer? Make that make sense to me. Here it is: unaddressed offense causes us to obsess about our enemies and not our assignments. Did you hear what I just said? I said unaddressed offense is a dream killer because it causes us to obsess over our enemies and not our assignments. So, the fuel for someone’s future is a motivation to punish others or to prove to others that they can do something that somebody else said they couldn’t do. Yeah! Instead of living a life that chases purpose, they live a life trying to prove something or punish someone because unaddressed offense is a dream killer. There are too many people not walking in their purpose because they’re too busy trying to prove to others that they’re worthy of it.

Some people—here’s the thing, guys; here’s the thing about offense. Can I just work this for a minute? Okay, here’s the thing about offense: John Bevere calls offense «the bait of Satan.» The bait of Satan. I don’t know how much you know about fishing, but at times when people fish, they use bait. So they used to use worms, and you would put the worm on the hook and throw the hook in the water, right? You would simulate—watch this—with the rod, you would simulate the movement of a worm, which would cause a fish to think the worm is alive. In an attempt for the fish to actually get the worm, the fish gets hooked. So, in an attempt to kill one thing, come on, in an attempt to eat something, it gets eaten itself because it’s hooked. And Satan has hooks, but his hooks aren’t obvious; he hides the hooks. Did you hear what I just said? Everybody, listen to me! Everybody that needs to experience freedom, nine times out of ten, got into bondage not because they said yes to bondage; they didn’t say yes to a hook; they said yes to a worm. They said yes to a night; they said yes to a relationship; they said yes to an experiment; they said yes, and they didn’t realize that Satan has his hooks. Good God Almighty! This is why we need to talk about this a little bit more. This is why you cannot afford to live your life absent not of the spiritual gift, but of the skill of discernment, which is the wisdom to recognize a pattern. I’m not talking about the spiritual gift of discerning of spirits; I’m talking about the skill to recognize abundance—to say, «Every time this happens, this happens. I need to stop to recognize a pattern.» Discernment is understanding that this could potentially lead to that because Satan hides his hooks, and one of the places he hides his hooks is offense. Can I park here for a minute? Now, I said we’re just reflecting today, right? Okay?

When I say «offense,» some people think «anger,» and that’s why they assume this message is not for them. But you can be offended and not be mad. Did you hear what I just said? Like, have you ever stopped fooling with somebody? You weren’t even mad about it, but something happened that caused you to make a shift in that relationship? It just means you weren’t emotionally invested enough for it to impact you in a way that evokes anger. It was like, «When I lost them, I didn’t really lose much.» Because every loss is not a loss. Some of you need to hear what I just said! Somebody put that in the chat for me: «Every loss is not a loss.» Some of you are calling something a loss in this season that you’ll be calling a blessing in another season. See, I got that revelation a long time ago. I say this in relationships: everybody in your life is equally valuable—a Wall Street person off the street is equally valuable—but everybody doesn’t add equal value to you. Ever lost. But sometimes a loss happens, and you’re like, «I wasn’t really emotionally invested in this, so the emotional ramifications aren’t that deep.» But you still were offended; you just weren’t angry because offense is love’s response to injustice. Yeah! So when a person says to me, «I’m unoffendable,» I will say to them, «You are unloving,» because love requires vulnerability. What’s that love risk? When you choose to love, you choose to be vulnerable. When you choose the pleasure of love, you also choose the possibility of pain. I just said—I said when you choose the pleasure of love, you also choose the possibility of pain because the pleasure of love requires vulnerability. It requires you extending yourself emotionally to a person in a way that you would not ordinarily extend yourself, which means you are giving to them the power to impact you emotionally. When you give love, you are also giving away power. Are you all here? Yeah! This is seen in the life and ministry of Jesus. God so loved the world that he gave… Yes! And Jesus' love for us caused him to allow himself to be placed in a vulnerable position on the cross because it was not…