According to my online dictionary, to manipulate is—”to manage or influence skillfully, especially in an unfair manner: to manipulate people’s feelings.”

In the last few weeks, I’ve received several requests asking for prayer. A theme connected these different requests. My friends were suffering under skillful manipulators who used their positions of authority to trample over their feelings, rights, and needs.

How do we identify and resist manipulation? Why does it matter if we give in or not?

Identifying Manipulation

Delilah used emotional pain to control Samson, and manipulators use it to control us—if we let them (Judges 16). Manipulators charm, mope, and threaten—all to get their way. They use guilt, shame, and intimidation to beat us into submission. Beware of their intent, and never compromise what is right to appease them or gain relief.

Giving in to manipulation is not just unpleasant—it destroys. Jesus said no one can serve two masters. Submitting to manipulation makes the wrong person lord over our lives.Continue Reading