Review of “The Bait of Satan” by John Bevere
My Mom wanted me to read this book – you know, one of those books that mothers hint will help your spiritual growth.
The Bait of Satan is about learning to overcome bitterness. It is about learning to deal with offenses, and forgive the person who has offended you. An offended person is one who has “taken offense” when someone mistreated him in some way. This may also include offended people who believe they were mistreated when they were not.
These are the points that Bevere made which stood out to me:
Dealing with Difficult Situations
If we are in a situation where someone is offending us, we are not necessarily called to leave that situation. We are not necessarily called to fix the situation either.
If we become offended and leave a difficult situation, we often fail to learn the character lessons that God wanted to teach us.
If we become offended and leave a situation angry, we can become spiritual vagabonds. For the rest of our lives we grow more and more offended and isolated, and develop a persecution complex. We blame everyone else for our unhappiness.
Immature Christians often try to protect themselves in difficult situations. They do not see that God has brought them into this situation to help them acknowledge their own character flaws.
The way we view the difficulties we have left behind will determine how we will react to our next difficulties. When we leave one situation bitter, we will carry that into other relationships. No one is able to develop a healthy relationship with someone who is running from bitterness.
We should not leave a bad situation until we feel the Holy Spirit leading us out with peace. We should not react to the difficulties in the situation. Instead we should be moved by the Holy Spirit.
If we leave a difficult situation without the Holy Spirit’s leading, it may take many years before we see the offense we have hidden in our heart. God will eventually make us face our problem, even though we may avoid it for many years. If God does not, we may never come to grips with our own character flaws.
If we do leave a situation with the peace of the Holy Spirit, we won’t feel compelled to defend or explain our difficulties to others.
We should not enter a situation or relationship, like a church, unless we really know God wants us to join. We will not be able to leave the situation until God releases us.
The Bait of Satan is about learning to overcome bitterness. It is about learning to deal with offenses, and forgive the person who has offended you. An offended person is one who has “taken offense” when someone mistreated him in some way. This may also include offended people who believe they were mistreated when they were not.
These are the points that Bevere made which stood out to me:
Dealing with Difficult Situations
If we are in a situation where someone is offending us, we are not necessarily called to leave that situation. We are not necessarily called to fix the situation either.
If we become offended and leave a difficult situation, we often fail to learn the character lessons that God wanted to teach us.
If we become offended and leave a situation angry, we can become spiritual vagabonds. For the rest of our lives we grow more and more offended and isolated, and develop a persecution complex. We blame everyone else for our unhappiness.
Immature Christians often try to protect themselves in difficult situations. They do not see that God has brought them into this situation to help them acknowledge their own character flaws.
The way we view the difficulties we have left behind will determine how we will react to our next difficulties. When we leave one situation bitter, we will carry that into other relationships. No one is able to develop a healthy relationship with someone who is running from bitterness.
We should not leave a bad situation until we feel the Holy Spirit leading us out with peace. We should not react to the difficulties in the situation. Instead we should be moved by the Holy Spirit.
If we leave a difficult situation without the Holy Spirit’s leading, it may take many years before we see the offense we have hidden in our heart. God will eventually make us face our problem, even though we may avoid it for many years. If God does not, we may never come to grips with our own character flaws.
If we do leave a situation with the peace of the Holy Spirit, we won’t feel compelled to defend or explain our difficulties to others.
We should not enter a situation or relationship, like a church, unless we really know God wants us to join. We will not be able to leave the situation until God releases us.
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