Oh my word, he could at least have said thank you!! The way we as humans expect 'thank yous' is crazy, it's reminds me of us being made in the image of God. He wants our praise and for us to glorify Him, but as soon as we make ourself the main one, the god, AKA self hasn't fallen yet, we expect that praise for ourselves. I need to get to a point of totaly doing, without expecting any gratitude. Furthermore we don't need praise from people at all! When you want praise you live for yourself.
Romans 2: 29 "..and a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people." -NIV
As soon as we become dependent on/or find identity in the praise from people, it's people who determine who you are. What they say or the amount of likes on facebook is setting the standard to your beauty and your worthiness . What if the whole world around you fade away right now, who are you? It also links with wanting to be accepted by people, doing the extreme to be accepted or to be seen. Not even being yourself at all! When i realised how perfectly completely accepted I am by God, I found me, my identity wasn't in the reflection of a Roberto Cavalli shop anymore. I'm not scared of not being accepted by people and somehow if people accept Jesus, they will accept the Jesus in me. In my team I can be raw and sometimes difficult but I know they love me with a supernatural love, I have a space for sharing deep hurt without being judged. Only because they look at me with His eyes.
Romans 12:2 'Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world'
By wanting praise from people, the natural outflow of that would also be comparison. Why does most young kids wants to be like some famous being? Because that person gets praise, allot of acceptance, have money and is probably a eye candy. Comparison is poison. Even in Christianity I use to compare myself to people giving testimony, writing blogs, how they minister, how they worship and then finally when I broke down all those things I realised I had a WAY different and way more unique way of serving Jesus. I never would have experienced how my part in the body of Christ is to sketch visions at random times and praising him with simply being full of joy if I kept on comparing myself to Frikkie or someone that seemed to have this whole christian thing covered. It can be so difficult, and sometimes comparison is a daily battle for me. I am human and the world promotes comparison, but if I check in every morning asking Jesus who I am. Then I Know. My confidence is not in my looks anymore. Its in what He thinks of me. I Timothy 2:10 'For woman who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do'. Knowing Jesus is knowing yourself, Loving God is loving yourself. Love others as you love yourself then makes sense. I also came to realize that the only reason we would find something ugly is by comparing it to something else. Who sets the standards anyway? Jealousy feeds on comparison and when you compare you are easily inclined to do what others do meaning you are a product of being badly influenced.
Psalm 59:17 'O my Strengh, to you I sing praises, for you , O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.'
He deserve All praise.
We as human want to praise some great person but know this - every human being is imperfect. Ecc 7:20 'Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins'. Don't get inferior no one is better than You, no one can even be compared to YOU. Your unique. God made all of us so unique and then society and fashion makes everyone the same. Your not fat! Your not ugly. Not even the 'ugly' duckling was ever ugly, not even when he was small. Comparison led him to think that. Don't fall into the devils trap. God wants us to have confidence. My beautiful Ryan and I have been through so much this year and he sent me this scripture the other day- Heb 10:35 'So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. that was the final thing that made me realize, oh my Lucifer, you want to steal my confidence because you know how powerful I am when I know who I am!!! With this confidence in knowing who I am and that I host the Holy Spirit comes boldness and with this boldness I proclaim the name of Jesus without a worry what others think, and with this boldness I worship with arms wide open, able to fully express the spirit inside of me calling ABBA Father, YAWEH,praising Him without worrying about those people staring at me with judgement. With this boldness I sketch prophetic things without doubting in myself.
2 Corinthians 3:12 'Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very BOLD'
I pray and I asked loved ones to pray for me to see myself as the flawless Beauty that He sees me as. This blog is the result of prayer. I gave up on being obsessed with myself. Makeup hides a lot more than just your true pure beauty. I wanted perfection, and once again the only place we're I will ever find perfection is in a perfect God. The result of all this is that I don't starve myself for a week before a modelling runway, I fast for a week to get more of Him. A red sales board has lost its power.