The Approval Addiction : Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone by Joyce Meyer

Author:Joyce Meyer [Meyer, Joyce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Life - General, Spiritual Growth, Spirituality
ISBN: 9780446695510
Publisher: Joyce Meyer Trade
Published: 2011-02-04T05:00:00+00:00

Even after Jake saw the truth in God's Word, he still had all the same feelings. He could read in the Bible that Jesus had delivered him from sin and guilt, but that didn't initially change his feelings.Our minds may be like some computers that can have a lifetime of wrong information stored in them. It will take time to clean out all the old files and reprogram new information. The Bible says that our minds must be completely renewed (See Romans 12:2). We are like a person who decides she wants to become a lawyer. She realizes at the beginning that it is going to require an investment of many years to learn what she will need to know.

Jake began studying God's Word, and little by little his mind was renewed and he learned to think differently. His fresh new thoughts gradually began to control his old feelings. The feelings did not disappear entirely for quite some time, but he was able to control them. He finally realized that his feelings were reactions to his past life. He began learning to act on God's Word, not react to old memories.

Jake learned the importance of his own self-talk. How we talk to and about ourselves, whether silently or out loud, is vitally important. Get into agreement with God. Say what He says about you. If God says you are forgiven and your guilt has been removed, then you should say the same thing. Don't say how you feel--say what you know!

Jake no longer feels guilty all the time. Once in awhile he still has "a guilt attack," but he can reason with himself and not let his feelings control him. He no longer derives his sense of worth and value from his work. He enjoys his work, but he is able to separate it from who he is as a child of God. He is not addicted to approval. He desires it, but he knows that as long as God approves of him, he already has all he really needs to be successful in life.

Jake has been able to forgive his father. His father still drinks heavily and is still critical most of the time, but Jake no longer receives condemnation from him. He has finally realized that his father is the one with the problem, not him. He no longer feels responsible to keep his father happy. He now knows that his father's problem is inside him; it is not something that can be fixed by someone on the outside. Jake prays for his father and shows him whatever love he will receive. He hopes someday he will be able to lead his father into a personal relationship with Christ. He doesn't blame his mother any longer. He realizes she did the best she could in her condition. She has suffered greatly in her life, and Jake feels compassion for her.

Jake has met a woman and fallen in love with her. Interestingly enough, she has some of the same problems that God has helped Jake overcome.

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