Overcoming Offenses and Unforgiveness

By Dr. Vivian Whittle

God is forming for himself a people who will manifest his image and his glory on earth, sons of God who will walk in his power and authority and who are ruling and reigning with him. A people who would be holy and without blame before him in love (Ephesians 1:4).

In Overcoming Offences and Unforgiveness Dr. Whittle shows how offences and unforgiveness are stumbling blocks to God's purpose in the earth, and also a detriment to our souls. She also offers the keys how to deliver ourselves from these snares of the devil, to enable us to walk in total freedom, love, and power in order to set captives free and to be carriers of God's glory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781098076214

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Overcoming Offenses and Unforgiveness

Dr. Vivian Whittle

Copyright © 2021 by Dr. Vivian Whittle

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

God’s Remedy

How Offenses Can Harm Relationships

A Biblical Example of an Unrighteous Response to an Offense

How Offenses and Unforgiveness Hinder Prosperity

Stephen, a Godly Example

The Soul

A Special Prayer For You the Reader

Foreword by Rev. Ira Carty

by Rev. Ira Carty

In Overcoming Offenses and Unforgiveness , Dr. Vivian Whittle outlines two major stumbling blocks that stand in the way of a Christian’s spiritual formation: offenses and unforgiveness. She describes these as two major hindrances or traps that the enemy of our soul, Satan, uses to impede our growth as believers, rendering us powerless and ineffective. Before the creation of this world it was, and still remains, God’s intended purpose for us to be conformed to his image and likeness as stated in Romans 8:29–30 (MSG):

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

Dr. Vivian shows us how offenses and unforgiveness hinder unity in the Body of Christ, which is counterintuitive to Jesus’s high priestly prayer that he prayed before going to the cross in John 17. Here we see Jesus prayed that we might be one as the Father and he are one. Dr. Vivian draws on Scripture by taking us back to Adam and Eve, the first humanity created by God. We are presented with them as being created in perfection, reflecting and bearing the image and likeness of God, followed by the Fall, with an introduction to the first offense and how it affected them.

Dr. Vivian does not leave us in a position of hopelessness in this book but rather rightly introduces us to God’s remedy, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the One who existed before the foundation of the world and who laid the foundation of the world itself. She not only exegetes Jesus’s teachings on offenses and unforgiveness but allows us as readers to reflect in intimate detail how Jesus responded to both through the Scripture. As the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus models this response to the disciples and informs them what their response should be.

What is great about this book is that Dr. Vivian follows up with real-life examples of people and how offenses and unforgiveness affected their lives through their responses. She reminds us, as found within Jesus’s own words, that offenses will surely come. However, we are reminded that God uses offenses to refine us and to conform us to the image and likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Throughout this book, we are taken on a beautiful journey, allowing us to see that the pathway through overcoming offenses and unforgiveness leads to an awakening of our true God-given intended purpose, and that is to be conformed to the image and likeness of God. This book is a must-read by everyone who desires to reflect the image of God, the appropriate human response.

As Dr. Vivian’s son-in-law, I know that this book was birthed out of deep prayer and rich intimacy with God, whose image she desires to be fully awakened to, and strong pastoral concern for the Church. May you be enriched by it, in the same way I have been, and more so moved by her heart and deep conviction in seeing the Church (the Body of Christ) formed and come into the fullness of God. Tricia, Josiah, and I are excited to see the many people whose lives will be shaped by this book through reading and applying it. My prayer for you is that, like David, this will be your prayer response: And me? I plan on looking you (God) in the face. When I get up, I’ll see your full stature and live heaven on earth (Psalm 17:15 MSG).

Rev. Ira A. Carty

Associate Pastor

Avenue Community Church

Toronto, Canada

Foreword by Gary Brooks

by Gary Brooks

I have known Dr. Vivian Whittle, and her husband Pastor Maurice Whittle, for over 20 years at the time of this writing. Whenever I see them it puts a smile on my face and I consider them dear friends. I have personally found them both to be very loving and faithful servants of the Lord. More so though, the Lord considers them faithful and appointed them to the ministry.

Dr. Vivian’s love for our Lord Jesus Christ is very evident in her character, her manner, and in her teaching. What you will quickly find in her book, Overcoming Offences and Unforgiveness, is that she speaks out from years of experience and with great love and sensitivity from her heart for the Church/the Body of Christ.

She is a lover of the Word of God and has a sincere desire for all believers in Christ everywhere to reach to unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

After reading her book I am reminded by the Spirit that the Law came through Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. In His earthly ministry, Christ’s teachings, His manner, and His love in action proved to all of them (and us) that it was impossible for them, while under the Law, to walk in righteousness—and without offense, and to love and forgive like God.

However, we (who are born again in Christ) exist no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit! For we have been liberated from our old life in the flesh, by the power of the cross of Christ, and are now free and enabled to walk in and after His Spirit, in His righteousness—and without offense, and in His love and in His forgiveness—for Christ now lives in us!

So now, in Christ, we can be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ forgave every one of us. Now we can be imitators of God, as beloved sons, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us.

Gary S. Brooks, Apostle, ThD, PhD

Introduction

The Bible, the book of life, is meant to be a road map that provides guidance as to how we should live out our lives in Christ. Yet many of us have paralyzed our spiritual growth by choosing to ignore its truths. There are two major stumbling blocks that stand in the pathway of Christians’ spiritual formation: offenses and unforgiveness . These two major hindrances are two of Satan’s many deadly traps and are like spiritual cancers that eat away at the growth and maturity of believers.

The Oxford Dictionary defines an offense as anger, resentment, wrongdoings, sin, transgression, a breach of law and rule, or an illegal act. The English transliteration of the Greek word for offense is skardolon, which means a stick for a bait or trap that is used to lure an animal. Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines it as a hindrance or stumbling block in the way causing one to stumble or fall. Metaphorically, it can also be defined as any person or thing by which one is entrapped, drawn into error or sin.

Satan uses offenses as bait to lure believers into a lifetime of bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, and hatred. When offenses come our way, they become a hindrance and a stumbling block to us. They cause us to stumble in our walk with God and our relationship with each other. Therefore, we need to address these hindrances because they negatively affect our Christian walk.

Prior to our conversion, we experience offenses and similarly offend others in various forms. Unfortunately, we are unwilling, and sometimes even unable, to resolve these issues within the community of faith