All through out our life we will have to deal with difficult people. Whether it's family, co-workers, friends, or even people in Church! We all know how difficult it can be in these situations, but what does God tell us to do? In this blog I'll be giving you a play by play guide on how to handle difficult people in 3 easy steps!
Let's be honest, the Devil is testing you and trying to get you heated with these "people of friction" on your life. That doesn't make these person any less, we all have moments of weakness, or a "I left my armor at home" moment. Regardless, you're face to face with your accuser and you want to know the best way to deal with them! Always say n.a.h. to the challenge, really!
N.A.H.
Never react to the hate.
Always talk to God before you make a plan.
Honor everyone involved.
Never React To The Hate
When we react, we act on the flesh and sow evil. Romans 12:17 states we should never repay anyone with evil. Our biggest enemy is our flesh in these moments. The flesh is usually what speaks the loudest because just like Jesus said Mark 7:21, it is our fleshly heart that is the source of evil. And of course the Devil knows this, if the Devil can get you to respond out of evil, you end up losing the power of God to change the situation. The biggest force inside us wanting to snap back is our pride.
So what do we do to overcome this? We must keep God's word in our heart!
Psalm 119:11
"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
You need to spend more time in God's word, so God's word can spend more time working on you! We need to live our lives in the constant awareness that our desires are evil and to not listen to them. This is 100% the most difficult part of the walk and God knows this! No matter what comes your way, look up and get your mind on Christ! Otherwise the trap of the enemy will snag your foot and stop you from elevating to the levels Christ wants to put you at.
Always talk to God before the response
Depending on the situation, you might only be able to talk to God in your thoughts or you might be have some time to come back with a response. The BEST thing to do is to leave the situation and go pray. What happens if you're not able to leave? If you can't leave then you NEED to 100% take a deep breath, ask God to give you the strength and right words to say then step in faith. The enemy always like to "corner" us into responding immediately, but don't forget you serve a God that can and DOES respond in an instant!
In Number 16 250 Levites accused Moses of a bunch of false claims, all because they were jealous of the position God had Moses in. Moses threw himself to the ground, and let God prove his position, then edified his accusers, only for them to be even more disrespectful back to him. Moses was MAD, but he talked to God before responding back. Later in the chapter you read how God turned the situation around and proved Moses' position.
Honor everyone involved
Regardless of the person or people involved, we MUST be honorable in all that we do. I always think about Saul and David and how David just left Jerusalem while Saul was attacking him. We don't always get to flee but we always have an opportunity to respond out of honor. A real tactic God's revealed to me is to not address their insult, but look at the contents of the person's statement. When you strip the evil out of the words, you get to look at what they are really saying and respond accordingly.
Am I saying you can't call people on their rudeness? NO, correctly calling people on their rudeness is not an easy thing to do and must involve the Holy Spirit so you don't end up sinning. It's totally possible, but if you're struggling to not let evil come out of your heart, you should be focused on the Holy Spirit purifying your heart before learning how to correctly call people out.
Ending note on honor is love. If you're having a hard time being honorable, you need to learn how to love someone the way God loves them. When you look at someone with the eyes of God's love you see their needs, you see they might be having a bad day because they got a bad report from the doctor, or a child of theirs is really sick. Or most importantly, they don't have the true peace of Jesus Christ, and that's why God is allowing you to be in these situations! Let your light shine out of this darkness and turn it into a testimony!
Personal Testimony of This Working
On a very real note, I've had difficult people in the work environment as well as family. There was a time a guy I knew closely spoke against me having a relationship with Jesus Christ saying it's the wrong thing to do and the bible doesn't support that. I only stated that it's my relationship with God and you don't have to agree, then kept my mouth shut. A day or so later he broke out in skin bumps from head to toe. I forgave him in my heart and asked God to forgive him for speaking evil and heal him. The next couple days he was healed.
There was another time I was at work and this co-worker kept being super rude to me, I never responded to his evil and just stayed honorable. I asked God to bless him up and out of the company and a month later that's exactly what happened!
Conclusion
Never react to hate so you don't get caught in the snare, check in with God before responding to the person, and finally honor everyone involved. This is the recipe to bring the real power of God to change a situation and teach you a lesson in love. The foundation of all this is obedience and love, walk in that and you start to open the doors to the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.