please – KARLA LEES

So He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing.
Psalm 105:43 ESV

When we are in the bottom of the pit, we cannot yet see the joy which awaits ahead.

The slave within us cannot hope for the freedom it feels is beyond its grasp.

He knows.

God’s Word is full of the overflow of His heart for His people:
freedom
love
blessing
hope
future
mercy
grace
and yes, even joy.

If you have been a slave for longer than you can recollect, the concept of joy can be a startling one to accept.

Freedom can take some getting used to, not because you don’t see it. but because you haven’t yet accepted it is yours.

The Israelites spent 40 years of wandering around in the desert, when the route God had had for them was only months long. Because they couldn’t escape their mindset of slavery.

Slavery brings along depression, whining, complaining and rebellion when it lingers & takes hold.

Unless you believe all of you is set free, including your mind, you may return to the bonds God has set you free from.

For the battle is won on two fronts:
by His actions, and our acceptance.

God has completely set us free through the one time action of Jesus dying on the cross.

The legal bonds of slavery have been obliterated for all eternity.

Hallelujah!

The mental bond to slavery is the one which we need to break, through our acceptance of His act of freedom- regardless of whether we can see or not.

It was finished – His action.
It is finished – our acceptance.

When we agree with His freedom, and align ourselves to show our acceptance…we remove the last tether to the chains God has already broken off of us.

When that happens, we go out with joy, knowing we are His beloved, singing Him the songs of love welling up within us, filling the expanse where freedom now reigns.

The battle is ultimately won through Jesus, but conquered in each of us when we accept the truth…

He is the freedom we seek,
we are the vessels He longs to remake & restore.

It’s our choice whether we allow Him to finish the freedom for which He paid the ultimate price.

Our minds need to choose His freedom, agree with our Maker, and allow the fullness of all He has for us to fall upon us.

When we are overflowing with love, we long to be with the one we adore. We long to serve them, because they show us their care & devotion in all they do as well.

We are no longer slaves.

He has served us first with the offering of freedom, hope & a future, and awaits for us to take and eat, sip from the cup, and begin to live free.

If the slave mentality is lingering because you have severed that last tie, the one trying to lure you back in….

Begin to pray.
Worship Him.
Call on His Name.
Proclaim the truth, in Jesus you are no longer a slave.
Speak out your true identity, free one in Christ. Chosen, Beloved.
Cut the cord of the lie tying you to the former things which are no more in His Kingdom.
You are His.
Sing out your thanks as you soak in His Words of hope, truth, love.
Shout your freedom from the rooftops at full lung capacity.
Go and walk in joy as He leads you out, once and for all, into the Promised Land in His Presence.

I somehow believed the lie that I was here only to please everybody else when I was young.

In school, you only get good marks when you do what the teachers ask.

At work, you only get more responsibility & raises when you do what your employers ask.

In relationships, you only get included when you do what your friends ask.

My dreams were squelched under the expectations placed upon my shoulders by everybody I came into contact with. Leaving me alive but not living the life God intended for me.

Then I walked squarely into the embrace of Grace, and my world was turned upside down and inside out.

Soon after finding Jesus, I remet the man who was to become my husband.

I didn’t yet realize that I hadn’t completely broken off the disease to please so I could relate in a healthier way to those I live and work alongside.

Fast forward several years, to an kind word spoken by one of my employers, which God timed to be spoken alongside His Words He was writing on my heart. I was not to put myself last on my list of priorities, all the time.

I am here to serve my fellow man, we all are.

But God doesn’t ask me to pour myself out in a way that He has not asked me to do. Nor deny caring for myself long term in a way that causes myself harm.

Before I encountered Jesus, I had been taken advantage of my men I dated. My ‘no’ wasn’t respected.

Jesus doesn’t ask me, or you, to be anyone’s punching bag, ongoing butt of their jokes, recipient of their rage, or their casual sex toy. He didn’t design us to be stepped on or destroyed by those who are supposed to love us.

We are to please Him first.

Living our lives as He guides pleases Him.

If your coworker or loved one asks you to do something to please them, and its against God’s standards? God isn’t pleased when we say yes.

Because we were made for so much more than to simply please one another’s whims or join them in their fall into sin.

Our desire to please God is to grow out of our love relationship. When I receive His love, I can share it with those around me. Ultimately pleasing God, which will likely meet the needs in those I care for.

But its His pleasure I want more than anyone else’s.

Learning this fundamental truth? I have been able to discern with His guidance when I am to meet a need and when i am to say no to a request. I am to work my best for His glory, which will likely please my bosses, but happens more as a side effect of working to build His kingdom first than to solely please my employers.

My best yes is to say yes where He wants me to be.

Occasionally, I want to jump and say yes before I make the request known to God. The fleshly me still likes to try and infect me with the disease to please again.

When I am in doubt, I wait.

And oh, I confess i do not like to wait, nor at times to let God make the decision for me, but I know it’s the best medicine to prevent this disease’s return.

Left to my own devices, I slip away and become someone of everyone else’s making… like the main character in that classic movie, Runaway Bride.

God didn’t design me to not be myself, and to let everyone else make my decisions for me as I try to please them at my own expense.

Let me be clear, I love to serve. I love to be His hands and feet, share His words, encourage, love, help as He leads. Pouring ourselves out in service where He has placed us blesses Him.

But I am no longer doing it to please anybody but God.

Whether others are pleased or not is based on their perceptions & expectations, and is part of their story.

My story is moving ahead with freedom to please God first. For it is in Him that we live & breathe & find our meaning.

I am free from the unreasonable expectations of trying to live up to everyone else’s belief of who I should be.

Living to try to please a flawed person who doesn’t know all about me will only lead to the disease to please growing into heartbreak and pain.

Living to please the One who knows all about me, who knows the way I can live my best to serve Him & those around me is my priority now.

If like me, you struggle with the disease to please, do yourself a favor.

Seek the applause of heaven, for a ‘Well done’ from your Heavenly father will ring for all eternity.

God honors our desire to seek Him first. If you find that pleasing Him means those around you are less pleased with you, ask Him what is going on. He will answer you as you give Him the first place He is due.

Tag: please

slave no more

infected with the disease to please