well hey my friend if you are struggling with life's stickier issues want to grow
in your relationship with God and become everything you were created to be then
you are in the right place in case we haven't met yet my name is Kris Reece
and if this sounds like something that you could benefit from go ahead and
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we're going to talk about how to hug a porcupine specifically three steps to
loving a difficult person God's Way
difficult people are all around us whether it's an abrasive co-worker a
narcissistic boss or a toxic mother all you need to do is throw a stone and you
will likely hit someone difficult these types of people remind me of porcupines
and for some of these individuals that were difficult can be a very generous
description a brief encounter with some of these people will leave you feeling
down right aggravated and you can purpose in your heart to love like Jesus
but the minute you get near this person Oh everything in you recoils but jesus
said in Luke 632 if you love only those who love you why should you get credit
so how do we follow biblical
mandates to love our enemies without getting pricked well today we're gonna
cover the three steps let's dive right in step number one turn upward the only
way you will be able to sustain any amount of interaction with a difficult
person is through prayer now this may seem like a Christian cop-out but prayer
is essential if you are to know how to handle this devil sent individual and
find peace in the midst of the irritation and when you pray you release
the burden to God trust me he's got bigger shoulders than you do and you
also begin to soften your heart towards the other person
don't believe me I once had a woman in my life whom I honestly believe was sent
by Satan to try my patience she would lie to my face spread rumors manipulate
others into thinking that I was the one that was tormenting her and the last
thing I wanted to do was to pray for her well unless of course it was for
vengeance okay just being honest but instead of giving in to my frustration
to vent about her I prayed for her and one day I heard that she wasn't doing
well and a little part of me wanted to rejoice but a bigger part of me actually
had come fashion for her believe me my friend
that compassion didn't come from any part of my heart it only came from the
love of Jesus sometimes God allows these people in our lives because of what he's
looking to do through us step number two turn inward what is jesus looking to do
in you we often look at a difficult person as the external problem that
needs to be eradicated but what if God is actually using these people as a form
of sandpaper to refine you Jesus asks the hard question
and I've found that when
you want to see what a person is truly made of put them in hot water and the
same is true for our encounters with toxic people they reveal what's already
in our heart so what is God showing you about yourself through your dealings
with this seemingly impossible individual whatever it is I want to
encourage you to allow him to have his way in your life and you'll be better
for it step number three turn outward everyone has a story sometimes difficult
people are not difficult because they're bad sometimes they're difficult because
they've had challenges in their lives that they have not been equipped to grow
from who knows God may be placing you there for such a time and task just
remember though that this person is not your pet project or responsibility your
job is to stay connected with God through pairs prayer and follow his
leading your job is not to fix this person look difficult people can leave
you feeling drained and defeated but will you choose to look at these people
as somebody that was maybe sent by God to help make you more like his son Jesus
well that's all the time that we have for today
my prayer is that your heart will begin to change and softened towards these
difficult people they're everywhere and sometimes they're sent by the enemy
sometimes these people don't even realize what they're doing so my prayer
is that you will begin to look at them through the eyes of Christ in fact one
of your prayer requests should be God help me to see these people the way you
see them well if you are struggling with some difficult toxic people in your life
I get it that's why I created the toxic people
Survival Guide it is your free guide to learning how to identify and deal with
toxic people I'm going to go ahead and include that in the description section
below go grab your copy it's really going to inform you about the different
types of toxic people and how you can handle each one of them individually so
until next time I pray that you remember all things are possible with God