03.30.2025 | How to Get Along with Prickly People

HOW TO GET ALONG WITH PRICKLY PEOPLE

Luke 6:27-28 (NLT) But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.

We are called to community. We are called to be a family.

In families and in community, we will face prickly people.

Prickly people are sometimes hard to get along with. Easily upset. Often Angry, irritable.

Prickly people are people we feel like we are walking on eggshells around.

All of us are sometimes prickly people.

Rick Warren calls folks like this EGR people: Extra Grace Required.

We are called to be a Family! Families often have Prickly People.

Jesus faced Prickly People. He knew how to work with Prickly People.

In the Scriptures for this morning, Jesus gives us practical steps for getting along with Prickly People.

1.      MAKE A DECISION TO LOVE THEM AND DO GOOD TO THEM

Luke 6:27 (NLT) But I say to you who are willing to listen, love your enemies!

Love is not primarily a feeling!

Agape Love is a decision to do what is best for the other person no matter how they treat us in return.

Romans 5:8 (NLT) But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Luke 6:27b (NLT) Do good to those who hate you.

Luke 6:32-33 (NLT) If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much.

Luke 6:35 (NLT) Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.

2.      SPEAK WORDS OF LIFE TO THEM AND ABOUT THEM

Luke 6:28a (NLT) Bless those who curse you.

Bless – speak well of a good word

Our words are powerful.

Our words can bring encouragement and healing.

Our words can bring hurt and discouragement

Proverbs 18:21 (NLT) The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

We refuse to speak unkind words to them or about them.

Psalm 141:3(NKJV) – Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.

3.      PRAY FOR THEM AND FORGIVE THEM

Luke 6:28 (NLT) Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.

Pray the Word of God for Prickly People.

Put their name in the Lord’s Prayer.

Choose to forgive them in Jesus Name.

Luke 23:34 (NLT) Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

I FORGIVE YOU!

I BLESS YOU!

4.      ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO HELP US LOVE THEM

Romans 5:5b (NLT) For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.

Receive the fire of His love for Prickly People.

Prophetic word from Dave – Human Torch

Every Believer can be a Human Torch for Jesus!

We pray for the love of God to fill our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.      Do you know some prickly people?

2.      Are you sometimes a prickly person?

3.      What is the difference between a love based on feelings and a love based on faith?

4.      On a scale of one to ten with ten being the highest, how would you rate yourself in controlling your tongue?

5.      Have you tried praying for the prickly people in your life? How has the Lord changed your heart as you have been praying for them?