People Pleasing

"People pleasing is a self-inflicted prison"                            - Rick Warren

We can get so caught up in living for the acceptance,praise and validation from others.
Do we forget that Christ was rejected and died for us so that we could be accepted? 
That we already find all the acceptance we'll ever need in Him? Should it not be God that we should be trying to please? 

John 5:44 says 'How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes form the one and only God?' 

I don't know about you but that verse just blew me away! There is a home truth in it for all of us - how much do we try to please people, but how little do we focus our efforts on pleasing God? 

Paul goes even further in Galatians 1:10 and says 

'Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.'

Woah! That one just pierced me through! What Paul is referring to here is that when we try to 'win the approval of men'or try to 'please men' instead of God, we are no longer doing God's will, rather we are doing the will of ourselves and of others. 

"People pleasing is a form of idolatry"   - Rick Warren

You know exactly what I'm talking about - we crave to win the approval of others and seek to please them like a starving animal seeks his prey - our belly aches for it. 

Whether it be our family, friends, co-workers and even, or especially in the Church. 

Now don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with wanting to do or say things for and to people out of love, devotion and service to them. Rather, it's when the motive of our hearts comes out of a desire to increase our likability or to gain acceptance or favor, that it becomes dangerous. 

You start to think about it constantly, you increasingly focus all your attention and devote your efforts to it - often unbeknownst to you.

You being to live your life as a slave to these self-imposed expectations which you perceive will get people to like you more, accept you more. 

Soon enough you are so chained up that you can't even make a move without replaying all the possible outcomes over and over again in your head. 

You're bound like a dog to his house. 

Then suddenly, you feel the noose begin to tighten and you try to loosen it, to take it off but no matter how hard you try - you find yourself tightening it - you can't stop. 

You're heavy laden and desperately need release. 

That's the scary thing about people pleasing, most of the time you don't even know that you're doing it and finally when you becomes so constrained you wake up and think when did I get behind these bars?

There is freedom my friends, in the sweet name of Jesus. 

If this is you - take some quiet time with the Lord and invite him to come and reveal to you why it is you are doing what you do. If you will ask, He is faithful to show up and answer. Then pray a prayer that Jesus might set you free from your prison. 

Maybe it stems from you believing that you as you are will not be likable. God has given you a unique personality - embrace it! Don't shrink from it (granted, we all have things that we need to work on).

Give it time and people will begin to see your character - and the chances are, unless you're a completely horrible person - people will like you for who you are! There is a statistic that says 10% of people will never like you. So don't beat yourself up about it - sometimes our personalities just don't mash with certain others - and that's okay. 

The only one you have to please is God - Jesus knew that. 

Lastly, some wise words of Rick Warren 

"God doesn't expect you to please everybody" 

Facing Trials on the way to fulfilling your God-given purpose

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV)

When God gives you a dream, picture or desire for the plans he intends for you, which Jeremiah 29:11 tells us are good things:  'For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' people will get jealous and the enemy will do everything in his power to stop you from believing in it and pursuing it. Just look at Joseph! His own brothers wanted him dead (sadly, sometimes it is those closest to us who should be our greatest encouragers, are in fact our strongest opposition). You will face great opposition, it won't be smooth and God never promised it would be, but He did say that we can have confidence in His victory over death, sin and the Devil:

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Though troubles came, one after another, Joseph remained faithful to the Lord, Joseph pressed in to God. And boy did troubles come for him! He was sold as a slave, then thrown in jail wrongly accused of trying to sleep with his master's wife, interpreted dreams for those closest to the Pharaoh which he thought might be his ticket out of jail once the Pharaoh heard of his gift, but instead was forgotten for 2 more years! Joseph went through many trials, and because he pressed in to God and stayed close, God was with him, and even in his suffering God prospered him. His first master put him in charge of all of his estate because he saw that the Lord was with Joseph and was blessing his house because Joseph was there, then even in jail the warden promoted him to be in charge of all the other prisoners.

^{Genesis 20} Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lordwas with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Then when Joseph get's his big chance in front of Pharaoh (to interpret Pharaoh's dream) Joseph says "I cannot do it...but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires" Gen 41:16 

Joseph is unbelievable! He gives all the glory to God, he recognises that a part from God he cannnot do anything, that his gift is God given, that the power comes from God alone. Boy could we learn a thing or two from Joseph! So what happens next? Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of the whole of Egypt after he interpreted Pharaoh's dream.God gave Joseph "double for his trouble" as Joyce Myer says!

But wait, there's more!

In Genesis chapter 45, when Joseph's brothers have been forced to go to Egypt to collect grain due to a great famine in the land and they recognise that Joseph was the one who was in charge of the grain, they get scared that he is going to murder them. But Joseph, in great humility says "do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me here ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance." v5-7

Wow, just Wow!  He's not resentful or bitter but could see past his own suffering and circumstances to see that it was God's doing because God has a greater plan. Joseph was very secure in the Lord! 

Now it doesn't mean that his trials weren't hard, because they were, but God was (and is) greater than his trials (and ours too). 

The outcome? Joseph was able to save a whole nation plus many more people because he trusted God through his suffering and trials and God delivered him and he was able to fulfil his purpose.

Will you trust God and remain faithful to Him through your trials and suffering so that he can take you to a place where you will be at the centre of His will and in position to fulfil your God-given purpose? 

"Part-time" Jesus

First, God.God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. If we don't have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at the center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God. 

- Eugene H.Peterson

Just let that sink in for a moment.

 

Jesus doesn't want to be your part-time Jesus, he wants to be your all, he came so that he could be your all.

God should be our all-consuming passion and we should have genuine joy about it!

Yet we fit him into our schedule, I'll talk to you during my Quiet Time Jesus, life is pretty sweet at the moment, so I don't think I'll pray today, plus I'm pretty tired, but you understand right? I'll sing to you on Sunday Jesus, I'll feel your presence on Sunday Jesus, other than that i'm going to live my life.

Let's get one thing straight, We have life - because of Him.

Jesus is meant to be our life, because life it best when we're in continual relationship with him - because He is life!

The Good Life is the God Life and the God Life is the Good Life.

You can't separate life from God anymore than you can separate good from God! So if you want to experience robust life as God intened it to be, you need to walk with Him everyday.

I'm sure you've heard this before but hey, what's one more time ?

" You were made by God for God " and unitll you realize that - you'll be wondering around a fair bit.

 

Jesus is your life time partner - Mat 28:20 (Jesus speaking to his diciples) "I will be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of age".

Talk to him when you're walking between classes, on your lunch break, on your drive home, put on some worship music and just praise him. Thank him throughout your day. Study his word, every day not every now and then.

You can feel his presence all the time - not just on sunday for 1-2 hours at church. You can read his word any time, not just at wednesday bible study, you can sing his praises in more places than church. 
Jesus never signed up to be part-time he signed up to be ALL time!


" Prayer or talking with the Lord is not a way of reminding HIM that we love him...but a way of reminding US that HE LOVES US completely and unconditionally " - Irene Ramos

Pray this prayer:

Jesus, as I seek you with all my heart, I pray that I will find you. Holy Spirit I pray that you would make me sensitive throughout my day to the presence of God. I pray that you would help me O Lord to turn to you throughout the day, so that I may be in continual relationship with you. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

                                     Jesus at the center of it all? - You bet!

Feel free to leave comments, I promise to respond =)



We are Called to be Witnesses

Do shake in your boots at the thought of sharing the Gospel to friends, family and or co-workers?

I kind of do.

Though, it's not a fear of talking to them, it's the subject of what I'm sharing.

I guess our fears can stem from a range of things:

• Messing up the Message 
• Not knowing how to start
• Not knowing what to say
• Not finding the right time
• Being found annoying, offensive and ultimately losing friends

For me I guess it would be pretty much all of the above, but especially the last one. 

Personally, I don't have many close friends that I share a lot with, but I do have many people that I'm always happy to see and talk with and sometimes even go out with.

A whole heap of these people are from various 'religions' Sikh, Hindu, Bhuddist.

Now a lot of these folks will like my Facebook statuses about God, but when I mention Jesus, the likes come only from my born again friends. 

They are going through life missing the point though, and I'm bursting to share the life and love that Jesus is with them, but I guess I feel something is stopping me. 

For example, I enjoy spending time with one of my good friends, who is a Hindu but I seriously  yearn for her salvation.

So what's stopping me from sharing Jesus?

Fear of offending and losing her as a friend, fear of our friendship going sour and south.

Well, consider the below:

What if we were so in love with Jesus, that nothing stopped us from sharing Him with those we know, love and care about?

My good friend who I referred to above, has always asked me why I never gave up on her (she was into a lot of the wrong things) and she is greatful that I didn't.
Well you say, that's easy, as Christian's we're supposed to love the unlovable and believe in the worth of people though they think themselves unworthy, as God has shown love to us while we were still sinners and as he has placed worth on us in Christ Jesus.

I guess I knew deep down, but never could articulate the above because man did she test and try me!

However, earlier this year, as I was discovering more about the personality of Jesus, the holy Spirit gave me the answer in plain terms.  It was all about Jesus and his love, grace and mercy shown towards me, the second chances that he had given me that should be afforded to everyone, because we are called to show God's love and be living vessels of it!

So I explained it to her in a private message via facebook.
And you know what, I did have the voice saying to me, she doesn't want to hear about Jesus, but I shoved it aside, and I told her, because I needed to give the Glory to God. I was falling more in love with Jesus, and I could not deny talking about Him to her anymore.

1 John 4:18 (NIV):

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

The Outcome? She loved me for it. Now I wanted her to love Jesus for it, not me, becuase if it wasn't for His love toward me, I would have given up on her as a lot of people did, and I explained this to her.
No major breakthrough for her, but we shouldn't let what we can see, dishearten us because it's often what we can't see that counts - and sometimes that's the bigger picture (what we can't see or understand).
This reminds me of something Scott 'Sanga' Samways preached on the topic of witnessing:

"Don't be the missing link!"

See, Sanga said that, you might not be the one who takes a friend all the way to the point of Salvation, because it can be a series of "God deposits" in their life that all take them up to that point, so it's crucial that you play your part. You might be the starting link in the chain, the middle link, the end link or a link some where in between, it doesn't matter which link you are, as long as you are there!

Even if my friend had said "look that's great and all but stop with the all the Jesus stuff", it wouldn't have been the end of the world! Sure, I would have been upset but, as Rich Wilkerson Jr said :

"You get up, dust yourself off and move on!"

  2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus 'sake.

Even in including the example of my friend in this post, I was almost tempted to delete it, out of fear that she might read it and get offended. And on that note, if you're reading this my dear friend, I just want you to know the perfect love that is Jesus - because life is best when it's lived with him. 


There is a tweet which really convicted me on this matter, here it is:

Brittany Posey ‏@_Jesusdied4u

I would rather share God's Word and lose a friend down here rather than stand in judgment before God with their blood on my hands in Heaven!

Finally, I'm going to leave you with a quote from Carl Lentz - Pastor, who said of offending people while witnessing (paraphrased):

- Jesus offended many to get to us, so if we have to offend some to get them to Him, so be it.

Y.O.L.O - so live it in Jesus name.

You only live once here on earth.


We should be living life to the fullest in Jesus name for life is best experienced with it's Creator. 


Jesus is the giver of life - just look around you, our planet is teeming with life, all but a glimpse, a reflection of the Artist. 


It is only when we share our life with the Creator, when we walk in a daily relationship with him, that we can experience life as God intended it to be - robust! 


Friends, we can experience intimacy with the Heavenly Father - it is available to you today.
Jesus has torn the veil people! - Have you heard?!


Mat 27:50-51 "Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and died. Then the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces, from top to bottom".


As Max Lucado puts it in his book "He chose the nails" (which is a powerful read!) - 

The Holy of Holies was the part of the Temple we could never enter - it communicated that God is Holy, separate form us and unapproachable. God is Holy and we are sinners and there is distance between us. Job said "If only there were a mediator who could bring us together" 9:33.                               Jesus is our mediator! "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5)                                                                      A mediator it one who 'goes between'. Wasn't Jesus the curtain between us and God? And wasn't his flesh torn?                                                                               What appeared to be the cruelty of man was actually the sovereignty of God.                                                                                                             God has removed the barrier that separates us from Him. He has torn the veil. The blood has been spilt and the veil has been split.                                       You are welcome in God's presence!

This is Good News people! 


I guess the problem is that we heard it, and we do know it but we're too busy, too lazy or not hungry enough to seek that sort of relationship with Him - I mean we should crave Jesus in every part of our life, because life isn't full without him. It is only in Christ that we are something. Check out Paul talking about our Spiritual Blessings in Christ 
 Ephesians:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he^c predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 

6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 

9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  

13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

These are our gifts to claim because of Jesus - these are truths that we can believe and affirm over our lives! 

"You Only Live Once" is more of a reason to stop doing stupid things than to continue doing them.   

- Jarrid Wilson

YOLO - give away your innocence and you can't ever get it back, no matter how much you may want it - it's gone forever. God's word says that you become ONE flesh!


 Mark 10:8 'and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 


Think about it, don't you want to be ONE flesh with your future husband or wife and not Lisa from senior year, Joe from 'that' party or Mike from work?


Keep your eyes fixed on eternity, don't live for what feels good in the moment, because it will more than likely be your undoing in the long run. 

YOLO - Will you decide on those BIG and SMALL decisions with God's guidance or will you ignore His will and follow your own.

If you didn't consult him at the start and just settled for something, are you brave enough to seek his will about it now?

Will you seek His will if he/she is the right one to marry or indeed if you should be in a relationship with them at all?

See the truth can be confronting, I mean it is the truth after all. But the truth will never lead you astray and Jesus' name is Faithful and True - He will guide you on the right way for your life. Trust Him, He loves you and has your best desires at heart, He doesn't desire your destruction (Satan does!) but your betterment. 

YOLO - the way you treat friends and family. Are your relationships soaked in monotony and familiarity or do you treat them like the God given gifts they are to you? 

YOLO - what about your gits and talents? Have you hidden them away or buried them? Are you perhaps using them, but not for the purposes of His kingdom?  Your talents are God's gift to you, what you do with them is your gift back to him.


Are you working for His glory or your own? 
That career your dreaming of or building at the moment - is it for your own purposes or His?


Are you being all that you can be in Christ?


Are you trashing your life away one Friday night at a time or are you building yourself up in Christ on day at time?

So go, live life to the fullest and be all that you can be in Jesus name because

You Only Live Once

I would love to hear your comments and thank you for taking the time to come down by the stream!

How Far is Too Far? - One for the Girls

Nail Polish, Hair Dye and Make-Up.
What do these things have in common?


They are all 'beautifiers'.


They are things that women apply or have applied to them in order to feel prettier, look more attractive or sometimes just to change things up a little.


Then you have coloured contact lenses (just for fun), fake lashes and fake tans - all still very temporary.
You then have botox to smooth those fine lines and wrinkles, a 'little' nip and tuck here and there - we're getting bigger now.
Lastly (but certainly not definitively) we have breast implants and plastic surgery - very big decisions and dramatic changes to our natural state.


Why do women do some or all of the above? Well we say things like it makes us feel more confident and better about ourselves.


All of your physical characteristics were lovingly designed for us by our Creator. Not one of these things was a mistake - the colour of your hair, eyes and skin, your height and yes ladies, even the size of your bozzom were purposely given to you by God. 


So why, then do we think that maybe God made a mistake with us?


What does God's word tell us about this?


Job 10:8 (NASB) 'Your hands fashioned and made me altogether..,'  


God has fashioned and designed you dear! And not just one part of you, everything about you! The same God who made the stars and called them by name, who made the sun to burn fierce and bright as it governs the day sky, who gave us wildflowers and waterfalls - made you ! And as personal as he was in making each one of these natural beauties of our world, which are each a small reflection of him in their own right, well girlfriend, he was just as personal when he made you and my, did he make you beautiful.  

If Jesus was to come round for dinner, knowing about your doubts, insecurities and worries, he would send a note beforehand saying, 

"Just be yourself, my princess, for I love you dearly just the way you are." 


If God delights in us, it is not because of our hair colour or how even our skin tone is, and he made sure that we knew this, because he knew what we would be like:


1 Sam16:7 (NIV)"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."


In other words, we can be vain, but God is not - He is better than that (and we should be too!)
Furthermore,


Proverbs 31:30 (NIV) "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."


1 Pet 3:2-6 (MSG) "There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance - the styling of your hair, the jewelery you wear, the cut of your clothes - but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way..."


Should it not be such qualities that make us confident women, whether our hair be greying or not? 
St Peter even implicitly says that such a way of living shows God's love to unbelievers - Wow! 


You are one of a kind, and in the Creator's eyes - you look perfect because you turned out just the way he wanted. 


Psalm 139:13 (NIV) ' For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb.' - when you knit something, you effectively shape it to be what you want it to be. 
v15 ' My frame was not hidden from you when I was in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth...,'


Just the right height, just the right hair colour, just the right shape nose and perfectly placed cheek bones - if he wanted to change something about your appearance, he certainly had time, about 9 months! But no, to him you are His beautiful creation and he wouldn't have you any other way. After all God made you to be you, if he wanted a thousand and one Kim Karsdashian look-a-likes - he would have made them, he certainly has the power.  


You were made in His likeness,  v14 'fearfully and wonderfully made'. 


So don't for a second longer believe the lies that the enemy circulates around the world and through the media. Instead stand firm on the truth of God's word and


Flourish baby, Flourish!