Overcoming Difficult People

Matthew 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

In our daily life, we will all encounter difficult people; whether it be at work, school, church, or just in our travels throughout our community. As I sat in church recently, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “Let people talk about you. Let people do whatever it is they feel they need to do to bring you down, BUT then watch God move over your life and elevate you to a new level of favor. Watch good things begin to happen in your life, because of your faithfulness to the Lord.”

Some things have got to happen for our best life to come to pass. Sometimes we spend so much time trying to fight people, and get revenge for ourselves, when God just wants us to stand still and allow Him to win the battle for us.

Personally, I am getting to a point in my life where when I encounter a troublemaker, I’m saying to myself, “I’m gonna let you try to throw me under the bus. I’m going to let you say whatever it is you need to say to me, and then I’m not going to say one word about it.”

I feel that often times, when people are trying to throw us into the lion’s den, we have to be very careful of how we respond. Honestly, when we are acting in our own strength, and someone wrongs us, we tend to want to get very aggressive and be nasty back to the perpetrator. When difficult people hurl their accusations, we must go into the lion’s den gracefully. Let the person say whatever they think they need to say, and then you walk away. Don’t get on social media, and attack the person. Don’t send them a bunch of hate messages. Let the revenge of the Lord take care of them. God will do whatever He needs to do to protect us.

I believe one of the biggest reasons why we tend to react in anger, when someone badmouths about us, is that there is a part of us that believes that what they are saying is true. If someone calls you a nobody, there is a part of you that believes that you really are a nobody, because if you really truly believed that you were a somebody, you wouldn’t allow a person calling you a nobody to affect you the way that it does.

When people talk about us or eject us, what they don’t realize it that they are actually making us a topic of conversation. Often times, your detractors have talked so much hate about you that other people will visit your social media page or begin actually watching your life to see if what the detractor is saying is actually true or not. When haters talk bad about you, and the “Curious Georges and Georgias” come to investigate what is true from what is false about you…May they only discover that you are a person who loves Jesus and seeks to honor him daily.

Yes, there are a lot of vengeful, spiteful people in this world who envy the peace you have, who envy the love you experience in your marriage, who envy the success you have experienced in your career; And they don’t realize that they could have the same things if they’d place their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This opposition also helps us in a manner where the more people hurl hateful comments at us, the more it will cause us to draw closer to the Lord in prayer, so in a way while haters may mean to bring us down, their actions only serve to draw us closer to God.

Don’t fight your Lion’s Den Experience, because it will only serve to show other people how mighty God is in your life.

Written By Chikera Shackleford

If you are unsaved, while there is yet breath in your body, you can receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He is listening for your call. You can pray to Him in your own words, or by praying and truly believing the prayer below:

PRAYER OF SALVATION:
God,
I confess that I have sinned against You, and I know that there is nothing I can do by my own efforts to change my condition. I believe that Jesus Christ shed His blood and died on the cross for my sins; And that He rose from the grave on the Third Day to grant me eternal life. I know You love me, God, and I love You. I place my faith and trust only in You to conform my heart to Your will; And to order my steps everyday, from this day forward. Thank You , Lord, for saving me.

When we accept salvation, God saves us immediately, and makes us fit for entrance into Heaven, however some changes God will empower you to make easily, while making other changes will be a process that may take months or even years to make. Regardless of your situation, I assure you that the Lord loves you more than you could ever comprehend, and He will be with you every step of the way.

Pray, study God’s Word and ask Him to give you revelation of what you are reading. I also pray that the Lord will direct you to a true Bible teaching, Jesus loving church, where you can have the support of other believers.