Love

“We’d avoid a lot of insecurity, if we fully, wholly believed in God’s wild affection for us.”
― Mary E. DeMuth, The Wall Around Your Heart: How Jesus Heals You When Others Hurt You




     Truth should not scare us, because it sets us free.  It's the lies we have been told all our lives by the enemy that kill, steal and destroy.  I have talked to several friends in the last few days who say there are certain people who intimidate them.  Some of these people are so secure in who they are to Jesus and in the Kingdom until a certain person or type of person, walks in the room.
     As I have been going back and editing my story, getting it ready for publishing, I keep seeing patterns in my history.  I tend to choose to get my security from narcissists.  People who want to control and who have no interest in my needs, but want to feel good about themselves.  They want to control me and my life with no regard for my needs.  So, as the Lord is showing me where my insecurity is causing this, every time I choose this type of person, my insecurity grows.  The devil has had a plan from day one.  I have to break this cycle.
     In the last days the Lord has been showing me how important it is to get our identity from Him and Him alone and how that identity needs to be with us at all times, no matter who is in the room and what lies the enemy is spouting.  He has shown me in scripture how the last days will be full of false teachers, prophets and such.  I tend to see these people as evil.  I may be wrong here.  They may be rebellious, but what if the rebellion stems from fear.  Maybe started in fear, but turned into an intentional rebellion. 
     So a pastor who is insecure in his identity massages the ears of his congregation so they do not reject him.  A prophet gives you a word you want to hear and not from the Lord, so you don't reject them.  Maybe what God is saying is believe in me, believe in my love for you or you will become intent on pleasing others with false words.  Once you have let that insecurity get a firm hold on your heart, it will grow and truth will escape you.
     The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all you have.  And love your neighbor.  To love the Lord and be in obedience will grow your trust in Him and extinguish insecurity.  To focus on loving Him and allowing Him to love you brings truth - He is truth.  We can't speak anything but truth and be in God's will.  I think about Samson, lying to Delilah about the secret to his strength.  I don't think it was okay with God that he lied about this.  I think Samson should have told the truth.  That truth should have been NO - I am not going to tell you.  Just say no.  But instead he lied.  A lie is a lie no matter what the purpose.  To sugar coat a word from the Lord or make one up, to twist the words of scripture to please your congregation comes from insecurity and a need to control an opinion of you.  Truth is so important.  Christ is truth - any less than truth and it's a lie and the devil is a liar.
     If a person is insecure at all, I suggest they study the love of God.  The bible is full of stories and verses on His love for us.  The most important thing for us to do is love Him and the cool thing about it, is He fills us with the very love we give back to Him.  When you truly know who you are in Him, obedience and loving others comes without effort.  What a powerful kingdom it would be if we all knew, really knew how much we are loved. 


“If [you] are [a Christian] … you should feel secure and honored that God loves you so much! That knowledge is a joy and a privilege. No one can ever take that from you because no one can ever take you from God!”
― Van Harden, Life in the Purple Wedge!