Manipulated?

THOSE PEOPLE

MANIPULATING PEOPLE

• Two women manipulated Herod. Mark 6:21-28
• Jacob manipulated Esau. Gen. 25:29-34
• Delilah manipulated Samson. Judg 16:15-19

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. 

Judg 16:15-16              

COMMON TACTICS OF MANIPULATORS

• FLATTERY
• THREATS
• GUILT

BREAKING THE POWER OF MANIPULATION

1)    GOD, HELP ME RECOGNIZE WHEN SOMEONE IS TRYING TO MANIPULATE ME.

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Matt 16:21-22

How do you know if you’re being manipulated?

• You often feel guilty and find it hard to say “no.”
• You compromise your values to please others. 

2)    GOD, EMPOWER ME TO PUT HEALTHY BOUNDARIES IN PLACE.

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Matt 16:23

If someone else has control, committing the sin of idolatry…

3)    GOD, HELP ME SEE MY OWN NEED TO CONTROL AND SURRENDER EVERYTHING TO YOU. 

We are all those people!

We all have a tendency to control or manipulate!

Surrender my relationships, my children, my future, my situation.

3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! 4 Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. Isa 26:3-4 NLT

Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant. Gal 1:10 NLT