Has God laid
it in your heart to leave some friendships and relationships that are clearly
toxic and are clearly not moving you forward either in your walk with GOD and your life in general? Are there times
when you feel as though you should draw back from a certain relationship
because it is either causing you to stumble into sin or it destroying your self-esteem
and discouraging you from moving forward into the dreams God has laid it in
your heart?
I know it
can get really difficult to let go or even step back from those close people
that you have known for over 20 years, since you were young. Whoever God is
trying to separate you from let His plans and purposes prevail because the
enemy (Satan) could be using them to hold back your destiny. It could be your
childhood friend, your bff whom you totally love more than anything else, or
your girlfriend/boyfriend who you have dated since forever or that colleague at
work who you’ve known for a few months or even that prayer partner at church
who you share with everything and you always sits next to church.
Jesus had
the same experience with one of his closest disciples, Simon, when He was
getting ready to Jerusalem to be tortured and to be nailed on the cross...Simon
tried to stop him saying such a thing cannot be done to Jesus. Immediately,
Jesus rebuked him sharply by saying, “Get behind
me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the
concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:23). Jesus
called Simon, Satan, because He discerned that Simon was trying to stop His
purpose here on earth and it was the enemy, the devil who was using him. Simon
was just trying to look out for Jesus, he didn’t mean any harm – but here was
the problem – he was more mindful of the things of men than he was about the
things of God.
Can you
imagine if Christ actually listened to Simon and been like ‘you know we’ve been
together with Simon for a long time – through the storms and in everything, I’m
gonna do what he says’...and not gone to the cross for our sake. Let me tell
you where you would be, you would be deep in sin and in the world playing by Satan’s
tune, broke, busted, hopeless. Simon
didn’t see the purpose of Christ going to the cross and some of us have our
Simons- well-meaning people, who you trust, who look out for you but they don’t
perceive the destiny that God has planted in your heart, they can’t understand
the new desires and ideas God is giving you and the places He wants to take
you. It’s not that you are any better than them, not at all, but God is leading
you in a specific direction that maybe different from the others around you.
In the past
year, I have slowly let some relationships die because they just were carnal
relationships that weren’t pushing me closer to God’s best; they were mere
feel-good relationships that appeased my flesh. Others I have simply outgrown
them because the season is over, and guess what the well dried up- they weren’t
as exciting or nourishing as they were before. In John 15, it tells us that God
is our vinedresser and part of His role is to trim out overgrown or dead
branches (relationships or situations) that we may bear more fruit.
We really
need to stop wrestling with the Holy Spirit when He prompts us to step back or
to disconnect with certain relationships- because in the end when we simply
obey and not rely on our understanding or reason our way out, it will be
ultimately for our good. It could be that colleague who sits next to you at
work who convinces you to let ‘ live a little’ and go out drinking and partying
or they be trying to convince you to go after that lady in the office and they
know you are married. It could be that close friend of yours who has backslidden
and she comes telling you how great her man is in bed, and she is busy planting
seeds of compromise and lust in your heart and mind – and without realizing it
sleeping with a man isn’t such a big deal as it was before.
Scripture
tells us to guard our heart above all else, for everything you do flows from it
(Proverbs 4:23). The enemy is out to get
you, to destroy that vision and to abort that assignment God has for you. He
uses people around us to distract us from what God has told us to do- in a very
subtle way just the way he used Eve to convince Adam to do the exact opposite
of what God had clearly instructed him to do.
Fulfilling
is our destiny is too important that we can’t afford to sacrifice for the sake
of friendship. Here’s how I know if its time let go of some people; if all they
do is plant seeds of discouragement, lust, compromising God’s word,
competitiveness, envy, jealousy, perversion, bitterness or just trying to make
you give up on God’s promises.
The great
news is that when we actually obey the Lord and cut off some people from our
lives, the LORD replaces them and brings people who push you closer to your
purpose and to God. I can testify to this because they will be the real deal.
So be encouraged, it may be lonely for a season but God’s plan will prove to be
better than trying to hold on to a bunch
of people who are trying to sidetrack you from God’s best.
