Hi friends!
I have felt the strong need lately to talk about toxic friendships, and how God wants to remove these kinds of friendships from our lives since they distance us from Him and also often lead us into sin. Whether that sin be gossiping, drunkenness, negativity...basically anything that is not in the Lord's will for us. Before I was a Christian, I used to be involved with a lot of these toxic kind of friendships. These friends would want to drink all the time, gossip about others, curse, and more. Whenever I was around them, I felt shame, guilt, and sadness for the actions that we were partaking in. I didn't know what to do and how to get out, I felt trapped. When I made the decision to follow Christ when I was 20 years old, the Lord told me it was time to get out. Little by little, I began to distance myself from these toxic friendships, and now I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I am surrounded by strong Christian friends who build me up with who I am in Christ, and who also fill me with joy. Jesus is AMAZING and is my deliver. Are you stuck in a toxic friendship? I believe that the Lord is calling you out if this friendship that is draining you and not building you up with who you are in Christ. You might be asking yourself to get out. Although I can't speak for everyone, I have come up with some practical steps that I have done to get out of these kind of toxic friendships.
1) Stop hanging out with these kinds of people.
The process of cutting off these friendships that lead to sin might be painful because you have held onto them for so long, but the Lord wants you out so that you can experience His presence more.
"And if your hand--even your stronger hand--causes you to sin, but it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." Matthew 5:30
2) Pray for the power to cut these friendships out of your life, because you can't do it on your own.
Your going to need supernatural strength to cut away these friendships. Say spoken word out loud. Satan hates nothing more than when you say the name of Jesus out loud and quote scripture. Say this out loud: "Jesus, I'm leaving these friendships in Your hand. Remove these people from my life. Give me the strength to let go, and also to distance myself from them. You tell me in your word that bad company corrupts good character (1 Cor 15:33), and that you want me to have the kind of friendship where I am being sharpened with who I am in Christ by my friends (Proverbs 27:16).
3) Pray for them.
God says in his word, to pray about EVERYTHING (Philippians 4:6). I believe that He wants you to pray for these people that are in your life at the time. Pray and ask the Lord to guide you in what to with do with these friendships. If these people have hurt you badly, still pray for them. Pray for them too to know Jesus. We all need Him.
4) EXPECT change in your life. DON'T DOUBT.
If you truly have faith that God is going to remove these toxic friendships out of your life (because He will), then the process of how this happens means that big change is about to take place in your life. But this a good thing, because change always means that the Lord is doing things in your life. Change is a GREAT thing. Do not let yourself doubt that the Lord wants to do big things in your life, because the Bible says that the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
I believe that you haven't read this blog post by chance, God is waiting on you to ask Him for the strength to remove yourself from the toxic friendships that you may or may not have in your life. Please let me know how I can be praying for you about this. My email is jess37272@gmail.com
I have felt the strong need lately to talk about toxic friendships, and how God wants to remove these kinds of friendships from our lives since they distance us from Him and also often lead us into sin. Whether that sin be gossiping, drunkenness, negativity...basically anything that is not in the Lord's will for us. Before I was a Christian, I used to be involved with a lot of these toxic kind of friendships. These friends would want to drink all the time, gossip about others, curse, and more. Whenever I was around them, I felt shame, guilt, and sadness for the actions that we were partaking in. I didn't know what to do and how to get out, I felt trapped. When I made the decision to follow Christ when I was 20 years old, the Lord told me it was time to get out. Little by little, I began to distance myself from these toxic friendships, and now I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I am surrounded by strong Christian friends who build me up with who I am in Christ, and who also fill me with joy. Jesus is AMAZING and is my deliver. Are you stuck in a toxic friendship? I believe that the Lord is calling you out if this friendship that is draining you and not building you up with who you are in Christ. You might be asking yourself to get out. Although I can't speak for everyone, I have come up with some practical steps that I have done to get out of these kind of toxic friendships.
1) Stop hanging out with these kinds of people.
The process of cutting off these friendships that lead to sin might be painful because you have held onto them for so long, but the Lord wants you out so that you can experience His presence more.
"And if your hand--even your stronger hand--causes you to sin, but it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." Matthew 5:30
2) Pray for the power to cut these friendships out of your life, because you can't do it on your own.
Your going to need supernatural strength to cut away these friendships. Say spoken word out loud. Satan hates nothing more than when you say the name of Jesus out loud and quote scripture. Say this out loud: "Jesus, I'm leaving these friendships in Your hand. Remove these people from my life. Give me the strength to let go, and also to distance myself from them. You tell me in your word that bad company corrupts good character (1 Cor 15:33), and that you want me to have the kind of friendship where I am being sharpened with who I am in Christ by my friends (Proverbs 27:16).
3) Pray for them.
God says in his word, to pray about EVERYTHING (Philippians 4:6). I believe that He wants you to pray for these people that are in your life at the time. Pray and ask the Lord to guide you in what to with do with these friendships. If these people have hurt you badly, still pray for them. Pray for them too to know Jesus. We all need Him.
4) EXPECT change in your life. DON'T DOUBT.
If you truly have faith that God is going to remove these toxic friendships out of your life (because He will), then the process of how this happens means that big change is about to take place in your life. But this a good thing, because change always means that the Lord is doing things in your life. Change is a GREAT thing. Do not let yourself doubt that the Lord wants to do big things in your life, because the Bible says that the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
I believe that you haven't read this blog post by chance, God is waiting on you to ask Him for the strength to remove yourself from the toxic friendships that you may or may not have in your life. Please let me know how I can be praying for you about this. My email is jess37272@gmail.com
I'm in a very similar spot lately!
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