The Disease to Please - Encouragement Café - July 23, 2014
The Disease to Please
Café Menu for Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Today’s Special is: Help for the Approval Addict
Carefully prepared just for you by your friend, Jill Beran
Main Ingredient:
“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”
Proverbs 29:25 ESV
Entrée:
What will she think? He won’t like this decision. They won’t approve. This will make her upset. If I do this, she won’t be happy; but if I do that, he won’t like it.
Have thoughts like these ever entered your mind? For years these and some more just like them constantly ran through my head as I worried about what others would think. I would rarely make a decision without first analyzing if others would approve.
As my faith grew and my time in God’s Word increased I came across Galations 1:10. Listen to Paul’s words,
“Am I now trying to win the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
These words stopped me in my tracks and made me realize I had a problem - I was a people pleaser and an approval addict.
Then our key verse for today, Proverbs 29:25, shed more light on my disease to please. God opened my eyes to see I was fearing man more than I feared Him. As I longed for others’ approval I was telling God, His wasn’t enough. This my friend is a trap that Satan would love for us to fall into, but God wants us to trust Him.
As we trust Him, He will keep us safe and help us understand that He alone is the one we need to please… His approval is the only one that matters. But friend, knowing this is only the beginning; we must take action. These questions that have rolled through our minds won’t magically disappear, but I’ve found replacing them with Truth helps.
Memorizing verses is a powerful medicine that will help those who suffer from the disease to please. As we learn to fear the One who saves us and sustains us, we will let go of the worry of what others think! Our thoughts will no longer be consumed with the fear of letting others down, but focused on bringing glory to the God we love!
Take Out:
Friend, if this is an area of struggle for you, perhaps even a fear, please know God can help you overcome it and set you free! I encourage you to spend some time in prayer, asking God to show you how you fear man more than Him and then praying for Him to help you trust Him more!
If you want to take things a step further, spend some time with the Truths below that remind me us who we were created to please! Today pick one, jot it down and commit it to memory. I am praying God will use it to renew your mind and transform your thinking!
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men…”
Colossians 3:23 NASB
“The LORD is for me, I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Psalm 118:6 NASB
“Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:9 NASB
Dessert:
Dear Heavenly Father, You are God, my Creator…thank You for creating me for a purpose and reminding me of what that purpose is. May I live to bring You glory. That can happen when I worry about what others will think, so Lord I ask for Your help. Open my eyes to when I am focusing on pleasing people rather than You, give me a heart that longs for Your approval. Keep me from the snare that comes with fearing man and help me trust You so that I can receive your promise and be kept safe. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
© 2014 by Jill Beran. All rights reserved.
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