How to pray for the toxic people in your life

Love gives. Loves goes the extra mile. Love endures.

That love is not always reciprocated.

As Christ followers, we strive to give love from a pure heart that doesn’t require a person to love us perfectly in return. We intentionally allow God to be our source of perfect love, and we relinquish the right to demand it from others. In obedience to God and His Word, we set our hearts on being patient and kind. We commit to modeling Jesus’ sacrificial love. But sometimes the person we give our love to consistently betrays and wounds us. How do we give 1 Corinthians 13 love in that situation? God created those who hurt us. He has a good plan for their lives. He knows the “why” behind their destructive behaviors. He knows the lies they believe about themselves. He knows what stands in the way of their wholeness. He is a Shepherd who pursues every sheep that wanders away from all He offers.

We are temples of God’s Holy Spirit, empowered by Him to believe in what we cannot yet see. We are vessels of His mercy, His wisdom, and His Word. His mighty power is at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

There is a dark force of evil behind every lethal personality disorder and self-defensive coping mechanism. Every casualty in a relationship war has fallen prey to the one who steals, kills, and destroys.

The great news is… God has far more power than Satan. The God of angel armies makes us ready for battle with His truth, salvation, faith, righteousness, peace, and the sword—the Word of God. His banner of victory flies over us. When we arm ourselves and pray, we salute His authority and partner with His plan for the family of God.

What would delight our God more than for us to turn our minds away from the problems and focus on Him? He is our solution.

Praising God is a powerful first line of defense. We can worship and adore Him, our wonderful counselor and supreme relationship expert.