John 6:60-66 Amplified Bible
60 When His disciples heard this, many of them said, This is a hard and difficult and strange saying (an offensive and unbearable message). Who can stand to hear it? [Who can be expected to listen to such teaching?]
61 But Jesus, knowing within Himself that His disciples were complaining and protesting and grumbling about it, said to them: Is this a stumbling block and an offense to you? [Does this upset and displease and shock and scandalize you?]
62 What then [will be your reaction] if you should see the Son of Man ascending to [the place] where He was before?
63 It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life.
64 But [still] some of you fail to believe and trust and have faith. For Jesus knew from the first who did not believe and had no faith and who would betray Him and be false to Him.
65 And He said, This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him [unless he is enabled to do so] by the Father.
66 After this, many of His disciples drew back (returned to their old associations) and no longer accompanied Him.
In John 6:60-66, the apostles were "offended," went back and didn't follow Jesus but not the twelve apostles or even the 70 disciples. This Scripture is talking about the many of the multitude of disciples who turned and left the teaching of Jesus. They withdrew from the ministry and returned to the things that were left behind - their old friends, their old lusts and back to the world. We need to be careful about taking on a spirit of offense. Satan is a deceiver and a liar so he knows how to twist words. Many times in the church we take on a spirit of offense. A spirit of offense is defined as being offended or offending someone. It is a nature of a spirit to lure us into Satan's web of deceit. It can manifest itself in anger, rebellion or false accusations. It can also divide or cause tension in a congregation and cause us to withdraw from God and affect our attitudes and lives. If we are not careful we can get bitter and we can get to a point where we never make any progress from that point on.
I got offended one day in church and I let it affect my life for a whole year and a half. I withdrew more and more from the church. I continued to go but I sat further and further towards the back of the church. I put up a wall around me, told myself that no one really care about me and basically made myself invisible. One day someone in my church said to me that they hadn't seen me in awhile and gave me a hug. I had been in church all along but I put that wall up and they couldn't see me. We have to be very careful what we speak out of our mouths because our words have power. When I was coming to church one day, I had a secular radio station on and they played an old song by the group "Heart." The lyrics said harden my heart and swallow my tears. I sang that our loud and with power. For a long while after that my heart actually did harden and no matter what I just wouldn't cry. Every time I thought I would cry, I'd sing that song in my head and said I'm not crying. That is just so sad that I let the spirit of offense get to me so much that I'd want my heart to harden. But we can beat the spirit of offense by reading the Word and keep on pressing in. I never gave up going to church even though I was feeling that way. I started to read the Word again. Some Scriptures that will help to defeat the spirit is Psalm 119:165, James 1:19-20, Galatians 6:8-9, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Psalm 92:13-15 and Romans 12:18. These are just a few Scriptures - there are still many more. Guess what - I don't even remember what I was offended about. So don't let a spirit of offense come on you. Be careful what you say and just keep reading the Word
