Guarding our hearts...

Sunday 8.11.09. International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. A sobering day indeed.

The rhema Word of God that came to me, during my quiet time today was Galatians 1:10 - 'Am I now trying to win human approval, or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.'

The more impressive we are to people, the more likely we are to forget God's purpose for our excellence and expression of our many talents/gifts... and the more danger we are in of surrendering to human-approval addiction.

I'm serious. Human-approval addiction is NOT only prevalent amongst those who have experienced rejection, those who have never have been affirmed by their parents whilst growing up, or those who are insecure, etc. Guess what? Human-approval addiction is quite common amongst impressive people too!

Human-approval addiction is fatal. It displaces in us the zeal for God, we lose sight of our identity as children of God, and it is the very cause for judgemental attitude, bitterness, envy and strife to take root in our hearts. Not to mention burn-out. The pressures to stay on top are great. If we are so concerned with maintaining our impressive positions and social statuses, we will eventually never be satisfied with 'merely' excellence alone.

A cause for perfectionism.

We have to guard our hearts. We have to guard ourselves from idols - and idolizing perfection and an extraordinary reputation.

Pst. Woo showed us a video presentation in his sermon today that consisted of testimonies given by various people from those nations in which the Church is very much persecuted today. This served as a 2nd reminder to me, that I should remain faithful to God in every aspect and cherish purity in my heart - just as my persecuted brothers and sisters do... Also to keep them in prayer, and share with them whatever God has blessed me with.