Approval Addiction
by Joyce Meyer
– Our flaws will certainly distract us if we allow them. We must get our eyes back on Christ.
– Realize who you are in Christ. Face the fears and find freedom. – You have to face the fact that you are accepted in Christ and that He is pleased by you — do not fear that.
– We are accepted because of our belief in Him, not our performance. If we were accepted because of what we do, we would be called achievers instead of believers.
– We like to focus on what we can do, but we should focus on what He did.
– Do you believe the God of the Bible or the god of your feelings?
– 2 Corinthian’s 5:17 teaches us that we are new in Christ. – We don’t have to be addicted to other people’s approval, because we already have God‘s approval.
– We suffer a lot of pain because we look for men to accept us when we should be satisfied that God accepted us. Don’t look to man for what we should be looking for from God.
– God is for us, He is on our side (Romans 8:31). If God is for us, why in the world would we be worried and concerned about what everyone else thinks?
– Knowing who you are in Christ will allow you to be confident. Knowing that you are accepted in Christ will allow you not to stress over what others think.
– True freedom comes when we realize we don’t need to get from man what God has already given us – love, approval, worth, value and acceptance.
– If you live for approval, you will be miserable; you will always be wondering if what you are doing is accepted by other people. Don’t live that way.
– Fear wants us to run away from things, but God does not want us to fear
– He has not given us the spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).
– The devil wants us to feel guilty and contempt, but as a child of God there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1).
– We can approve of ourselves because God approves of us; we do not have to let other people’s approval control us.
– When we get or stay angry, we are letting the devil have a foothold in our lives.
– When our emotions are out of control, so are our lives.
– Focus on being a God-pleaser, not a self-pleaser or people-pleaser.
– People pleasers are people who fear rejection, failure and disapproval. They often compromise what they believe to gain the approval of others.
– Don’t be motivated by fear, be motivated by love – love for God and others.
– People pleasers do things out of duty instead of out of desire.
– Be careful of feeling a false sense of responsibility. It is not your responsibility to make everyone happy or to accept you.
– If you let people take advantage of you, it is your fault not theirs.
– Stand up to your critics or they will control you. Both Paul and Jesus had plenty of critics, but they were not controlled by the critics.
– It is offensive to God and definitely not His will if you allow anyone outside of the Holy Spirit to control your lives. He is the One who died for us and purchased us and we should not let anybody but Him control us.
– If you have been hurt by others in the past, receive healing from God and then go help other people.
– Give away what you want – if you want approval, approve others; if you want love, love others; if you want compliments from others, compliment others; if you want to receive, then start giving away to others.