Tag: love God

Obedience

Do Not Fear Man

meghanewhite

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Hello, my name is Meghan, and I am a recovered people pleaser.

The disease to please is deceptive. It looks really nice on the outside. But it hides an awful, sinful truth. Pride. Wait a minute, people pleasers are so nice. They only want what’s best for others. No, not really. 

As a former people pleaser I can tell you the ugly truth. You please people to make them happy and like you. I thought I was doing good. I was motivated by my own needs. It’s all about me. I did not see that at first, and yes, that sounds really harsh. Sure, the facade is niceness. But, it’s actually selfish. The motive to people please is fear of man. That is wrong.

I was not aware of my people pleasing ways until I was a teenager, maybe late teens. Once Jesus opened my eyes to my problem, He then showed me how dangerous it was. We are to fear God, not man. 

The motive to please people is fear and insecurity. That is not from the Lord. I could jump through a million hoops and still disappoint many people, and I have. When Jesus began to unravel me, and reveal all of my ugly prideful ways, He set me free. There is freedom in fearing God and only God.

I am to please my Heavenly Father. He never shames me, guilts me, or turns me away. When you put God first and pleasing Him first, there are times you will offend people. It was hard for me to disappoint others, initially. Now, I’m pretty good at it. Hahaha!

People pleaser me: What will they think?

New creation in Christ me: What does God think?

Everything changed for me. My motivation used to be what would others think of “fill in the blank decision”. My motivation now is pleasing Father God.

The Bible is quite clear on this topic. We are to fear God and not man. 

The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? Psalm 118:6, NASB 

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25, NIV 

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31, NKJV 

Now I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed someone, has the power to throw that person into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! Luke 12:4-5, NASB 

If you are struggling in this area I feel your pain. I was in that same place. There is hope in Jesus for total freedom from pleasing people. You can start today. Ask God to reveal areas where you are fearing man and not fearing God. It will be difficult at first. 

No is a powerful word. Begin with saying NO to things that you know are wrong. Pray about your decisions. Read the Bible and stay grounded in the truth of the Word. Ask God to give you strength and courage to say NO to the fear of man stuff in your life. The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say when you have to tell someone NO. 

Fearing God does not mean we are rude, heartless robots. God fearing people love, forgive, show grace, and mercy. We just aren’t motivated by fearing man. We do what’s right and sometimes that means we are going to tick some people off. That’s OK. If we are obeying God and following His Word He will help us. 

God first, always. 

Love you all,

Meghan

Father God,

Thank you for your patience, grace, and love. Help all of us to stop fearing man. Forgive us for the times we have put other’s desires above Your desires. Help us to stay focused on You and pleasing You. Stop us from the disease to please people. Set us free. Help us to love others and honor You in our lives. We praise You, the One true God. You are Holy!

In Jesus name,

Amen 

Guest Post

Make Me Available

meghanewhite

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Make Me Available is a U.K. based faith brand and faith blog. They graciously invited me to contribute to their blog. It was an honor to be included among so many talented writers with a shared passion for Jesus. You can read my post here:

https://www.makemeavailable.com/blogs/welcome-to-the-mma-blog-spot/i-never-dreamt-of-being-a-writer

Make Me Available is all about drawing people to the love of God. It began with a lovely poem. When I read the poem it made me cry. It’s beautiful. I love what Make Me Available is doing globally to reach people for Christ through a fun, vibrant faith brand.

The T-shirt I’m wearing is a Make Me Available original. It says: We Walk By Faith Not By Sight.

Make Me Available has T-shirts and sweatshirts for men, women, and children. A percentage of each sale goes to the global Christian charity Feed The Hungry. Please go to their site. Read the poem. Order some T-shirts for your family, and know you are supporting a ministry that is impacting the globe for the Lord.

https://www.makemeavailable.com

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Love you all,

Meghan

Faith, God, Jesus, Uncategorized

Love God, Love Everybody

meghanewhite

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It’s just so simple. Love God with all you’ve got, and love others like yourself. Well, that was easy. Please go back to your normal routine, and enjoy the picture of the Nevada desert. Hahaha! I wish just reading those words made loving God and loving others effortless.

What’s the greatest commandment according to Jesus?

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39, NIV

I think about these verses every day. For me, it all boils down to this. The greatest commandment is the umbrella under which all other commandments fall. Love God with all I’ve got and love my neighbors, which is my family and every person, the same way I love myself.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” does not mean to love myself first, before I can love others. It just means in the same way we care for ourselves and our burdens, we show that same level of care and concern for others. Our neighbor is everyone and anyone. Your family, friends, and actual neighbors are your “neighbors”. We don’t get to pick and choose who we love. Though we try, we are called to something different.

Luke 10:30-37 tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Read this story for yourself. It gives a great example of how to be a good neighbor, and to show real love.

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10-36-37, NIV 

We are to love all people. Every single person was made in the image of God.

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27, NIV

We need to ask God to help us see people the way He does. If I look at people with my own judgements and opinions then I’m not going to love them very well. If I look at others according to God’s view and that He made them, I can see their hearts much easier.

Loving others is really hard. Loving difficult people is nearly impossible. We don’t have to be best friends with everyone, or hang out with everyone, but we are told to love. We cannot love based on our own feelings or perceptions. Our love for others is based on the love Jesus has placed in our hearts. I cannot properly show love without God. He is love.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  1 John 4:8, NIV

Jesus loved me first before I ever knew Him or loved Him.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19, NIV

Love is so much bigger than like. The love Jesus gives us is beyond anything we will experience from another person. Jesus gave His life for us because He loves us.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8, NIV

How do we love God with every part of us? It means we don’t hold anything back from God. Loving God is a natural response from a genuine relationship with Him. The more you know God, the more you will love Him. He gave us full access to Him because of Jesus.

To love God with all my heart, soul, and mind means I put Him first in my life. I give Him everything. I praise Him. Read His word. Pray. Ask Him to fill my mind with His thoughts. It is a daily choice to love God with every part of me. Though I will never love Him perfectly, I will make a choice to let my heart be loyal to Him first and foremost.

The Spurgeon Study Bible says:

“‘With all your heart’ means intensely. ‘With all your soul’ means sincerely, most lovingly. ‘And with all your strength’ means with all our energy, with every faculty, with every possibility of our nature.”

The greatest commandment to love God with every ounce of me and to love people is impossible. If I rely on myself to accomplish these acts, then it’s a failure every time. When I rely on Jesus, I can love the way He loves.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Jon 15:5, NIV 

Loving God and loving everybody is how we shine our lights in this dark world. We have the awesome responsibility to be Jesus’ hands and feet to every person we encounter. We were never meant to do it in our own ability. Otherwise we’d never need Jesus. We need Jesus every moment, of every hour, of every day.

Let’s love our awesome God with everything we’ve got. Let’s love His kids well.

Love you all,

Meghan

 

Father God,

Thank you for your perfect love. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus to save us. Help us God, to love you and love others greatly. We cannot properly love people without You. Show us others, the way you see them. Let us see hearts and souls. Help us to see the hurting, lost, and broken. Use us, imperfect vessels, to love people. Thank you for the privilege we get to show Your love. We praise you!

Amen