A video about your inner circle. 3 Types Of People You Can’t Help! Avoid People Who Make Your Life Difficult!
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when someone comes to know the saving
grace of jesus christ
a new life emerges replacing the old one
and all at once this new believer
experiences a joy
and a hope that wasn’t there before but
here’s the thing
if you don’t surround yourself with
people who encourage you in your journey
of faith
then the bible says in first corinthians
15
33. do not be deceived
evil company corrupts good habits
a believer who has walked with god for a
while
can become discouraged and lose hope
when they encounter people in their life
who are not living up to the faith they
proclaimed to have found
if a person’s relationship with christ
is not grounded
in who he is and what he has done
then that person is more likely to be
swayed by what
other believers do what other people say
as christians who are part of the body
of christ
it’s our job to secure our faith in god
and in his word
it’s our duty to guard ourselves and
protect our faith by examining the
relationships
we have are they helpful or are they
hurtful
are they supporting you to go forward or
are they pushing you backwards
now what i want us to specifically look
at
are the three types of toxic people to
avoid when living out our daily walk
with christ
the first person to avoid is the
discourager we all know this person
this is the person who has something
negative to say about every situation
they are always looking at the glasses
half empty instead of looking at the
positive side of things
imagine this scenario with me for a
minute a brand new believer has an
excitement for church
and being part of what god is doing she
attends every single thing that the
church has to offer
if the doors are open she’s there she
sits down next to someone that she knows
is a christian
and is excited to get to know her
however
this person immediately starts going in
on how long this sermon usually lasts
and how there just aren’t enough
compelling ministries in the church
the new believer walks away with a
stunned look trying to understand why
someone wouldn’t have the same joy and
hope that she is found
she tries a few more times to give this
person a chance
thinking that maybe she just had a bad
day but
every time she walks away feeling the
weight of negativity
her new friend always seems to find
something wrong with
everything in the church you need to
remember
don’t be deceived evil company corrupts
good habits
the way others talk and look at life can
have a major
impact on us rather than focusing on the
ones that discourage
look for people who motivate you and
spur you on as hebrews 10
24 says and let us consider one another
in order to stir up love and good works
the bible is telling us that we need to
have people that will encourage us
in our walk with the lord and constantly
uplift us as opposed to discouragers
the second person to avoid is what i’d
like to call
the distractor these are people who
distract you from your calling
and from accomplishing the work of the
lord
people who don’t have their sights set
on the will of god but on themselves
their priorities focus on self rather
than
service if you spend large amounts of
time
with these types of people then you will
lose sight of the calling that god has
planted within you
for example a believer who wants to
pursue a closer walk with the lord
spends time meditating on god’s word
they spend time in their prayer closet
and surround themselves
with godly people and when you do this
you will always have people that will
say comments like he’s always at church
or that church is his life instead of
pushing you to continue
they try to convince you to go out or to
do something that doesn’t focus on the
lord
but on fleshly desires instead while we
should still have relationships with
people that are not saved
because we can be the light in a dark
world our closest friends
should be those who share similar
desires about god’s will
and calling look at the believers in
acts 2
they were so passionate about the lord
that they met together daily
verse 42 says all the believers devoted
themselves to the apostles teaching
and to fellowship and to sharing in
meals including the lord’s supper
and to prayer meeting together and
pursuing christ
was their desire at the end of the
chapter
we see that god was adding to their
numbers daily when it came to the amount
of people who were being saved
the third type of person to avoid is the
person who is the destroyer
it may not be a physical destruction
they are after but it will be a
destruction of your peace and joy
even your faith these are probably the
most important people to avoid
because they can be disguised in sheep’s
clothing as matthew 7
15 states but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves
these people even know scripture
sometimes
remember that when the devil tempted
jesus in matthew 4
he used scripture every time so these
people will often know the word
and seem like christians but when you
really listen to them
they are far from god our enemy the
devil wants to destroy the peace and joy
god has given us and he can even use
others to do it
consider this scenario a woman joins a
ministry in her church to try and reach
the lost community
there are those around her who don’t
agree with the ministry and look for
ways to convince others in the church
including this woman why the ministry is
not needed
they speak well and have a reputation of
being people who have
invested a lot in the church and they
will most
likely have been members for a long time
now even though they proclaim
christianity with their mouths
their hearts proclaim something else
these types of people are out to destroy
anything that brings others peace and
joy
and so you and i should pray for
discernment so we can identify these
types of people
pray for their deliverance but still
keep them at a distance
so that they don’t have any effect over
us
it’s so vital to your relationship with
christ
to make sure you are surrounded by
people who encourage you
who participate in doing the lord’s work
and building up the body of christ
rather than tearing it down
it doesn’t matter if you’re a new
believer or have been a believer for
many years
the enemy will use anyone he can
to distract you from following the lord
so be cautious
and guard your heart from these types of
people
pray and ask god to put people in your
life
to edify your walk with him
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learn to let go
holding on to something that god is
saying has come to an end
is painful and that process of holding
on will hurt you
and if it doesn’t hurt you then it will
plant seeds
seeds of bitterness seeds of resentment
and unforgiveness
that’s what will begin to build up in
your heart that’s how satan wants you to
react
how could they do this to me after all i
did for them
how could they just treat me like that
you see
it’s thinking like that that’ll cause
you to become disheartened
you induce yourself into a state of
suffering
when instead you just need to let them
go
respectfully quietly gracefully
let them go don’t waste time fighting
about it
don’t argue about it god brought
them he’ll bring someone else
and when you find yourself in a position
where you need the grace
to accept that someone has served their
purpose
pray that the lord will be your comfort
as he guides you into the next chapter
we don’t always know what’s best for us
it can be hard to see reality clearly
when our emotions get in the way
that’s why we need to pray for the grace
to be of a clear
mind we will meet a lot of people over
our lifetime
without a doubt there will be many that
we will grow fond of
some that we’ll be sad to let go of
others not so much but we have to
trust that god knows what he’s
doing he knows what will help us
he knows what will harm us and in the
grand
view of eternity
in the grand scheme of our beginning
and our end he knows it all
what is needed to develop our character
who
is needed to take us to the next level
and
also who should be removed
so that we can be free to elevate
we don’t always have control over the
people who influence our lives
we can’t always beg them to stay or
force them to leave
but what we can control is our attitude
the bible says as much as it depends on
you
live peaceably with all living peaceably
means letting go of anger it means
letting go of
malice it means letting go of regret it
means letting go
of what could have been and looking
forward to what’s ahead
god has so many relationships in store
for you that you might not
even know about yet don’t miss out on
the opportunities he’s preparing for you
because you’re too focused on preserving
something that was never going to last
and don’t try to bury your emotions but
bring them to god
in prayer he knows you’re hurt
he knows your pain jesus himself
was betrayed by the ones he loved
he understands your reluctance
but he will also give you the strength
to do the hard things you need to do
pray for wisdom as well it can be
hard to determine when to stay and when
to let go
but at some point it becomes clear when
it’s
not meant to be if a relationship
no longer glorifies god but instead
glorifies itself it’s time to move on
it’s time to look forward
so if god removed them from your life
don’t be afraid to let
them go
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you