The sabotage spirit, which comes to put a stop or undermine the work that you are doing, always comes from someone who is in relationship with you and genuinely loves you.
This is why most of the time, the individual who is a potential offender goes out of his or her way to be nice to you, compliment you and want to be around you. Sometimes you won’t even know their potential in this area and quite honestly many of the offenders won’t see their own potential, until it actually comes upon them, but watch the patterns. It will be just a matter of time before you find the evidence that proves your intuition is true.
People who know you, and you know them are comfortable to some degree around you. These people don’t have to put on around you and be what I call “extra.” If you never regularly greet me with a kiss, why is it that you feel the need to do it now? Most of the time it’s because these individuals have been sabotaging behind the scenes, and it’ eventually surfaces in a subtle way. If you really love the person and believe they really love you, when the stuff hits the fan, don’t dismiss the individual.
Reassess the relationship, and if it is profitable for the both of you, then work at it together. But if you find that the person is an avid hater of yours, then severe ties with the individual but most of the time that won’t be the case. If and when this person finally comes to grips with his or her conscious and asks for your forgiveness, then give it to this individual however if they never ask for it, forgive them anyway.
In the mean time, do like Job did—pray for them. It just might bring you the deliverance that you need. In Job’s case, he had friends who constantly mocked and ridiculed him and his relationship with the Lord (Job 12:4). But Job never denied God, who instructed his friends to go to Job for prayer.
The Bible says that after Job prayed, everything began to change for the best (Job 42:10). That tells me that sometimes we are to not only maintain a relationship with our offenders, but, more importantly, we are to serve them. In Job’s case, his friends weren’t necessarily sabotaging him, but the mockery that they displayed was similar to that of betrayal. The bottom line is if Job could pray for those who seemingly laughed in his face, how much more could we pray for and serve those who sabotage us.
Think about it we’ve all been betrayed on some level. The act of betrayal; though hurtful and sometimes disappointing is really not the issue, the problem is our response to it. Cry your tears and wipe your face, though it hurts now if you never forgive them you’ll cause yourself pain for the rest of your days.