{"id":742,"date":"2015-07-11T14:07:56","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T14:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=742"},"modified":"2015-05-29T14:41:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T14:41:18","slug":"performing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=742","title":{"rendered":"Performing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"05-03-15<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0\u00a0 Wow Prodigal, what a voice you have!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Thank you,\u00a0 I am practicing for a performance.\u00a0 I have the honor of using my voice to sing to others tomorrow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 I cannot sing at all but I will be there to support you!\u00a0 While you take a break from your practice, you can listen to today’s story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gary Heim and Lisa Heim in their book True North talk about how we can all perform at times even if we do not sing for others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In one way or another, we all try to be in control of our lives by performing for God and people instead of freely loving them from our hearts.\u00a0 Performing is significantly different from loving or being responsible.\u00a0 True love wants to give because we know we are dearly loved by Jesus, and therefore we want to bless others.\u00a0 When we love, we know our limitations and can draw appropriate boundaries.\u00a0 We’re secure enough in God’s love to be able to say yes and no to people’s requests.\u00a0 On the other hand, when we perform, we hide behind masks of what we think people want us to be because we’re grasping for their love, approval, and acceptance instead of resting in God’s; we’re giving people more power than God in defining who we are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have performed plenty of times.\u00a0 I don’t think we can get out of it hundred percent but I think we should not allow performing to control our lives.\u00a0 How do we give people more power than God?\u00a0 This is something God has been slowly testing me and showing me.\u00a0 Just like you, we are all busy and have a lot of social demands on our plate.\u00a0 I started years ago, praying about which social events that I should attend.\u00a0 In doing this, interesting enough, God has made it very clear for me not to attend some social meetings.\u00a0 He also made me go places,\u00a0I really did not want to go.\u00a0 When I would say no to some social events,\u00a0 I knew without a doubt that by saying no that someone would get offended and someone would be upset.\u00a0 Then I had a choice that God was giving me.\u00a0 What is more important, this person’s approval or God’s.<\/p>\n

I started to pray about it and wisdom was giving to me.\u00a0 We cannot see the whole picture.\u00a0 Maybe the timing is not right for this social meeting, maybe it would do more harm then good because God has to work on my heart or their heart.\u00a0 Maybe God wants you somewhere else at that time.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, when God tells us to do something and it will offend someone else.\u00a0 We first make sure that it is God and then we have to put God’s approval first.\u00a0 Otherwise we spend our entire lives performing for the approval of others and then we are not a servant of Christ.<\/p>\n

Galatians 1:10<\/p>\n

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?\u00a0 Or am I trying to please man?\u00a0 If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Me:\u00a0\u00a0 Wow Prodigal, what a voice you have!   Prodigal:\u00a0 Thank you,\u00a0 I am practicing for a performance.\u00a0 I have the honor of using my voice to sing to others tomorrow.   Me:\u00a0 I cannot sing at all but I will be there to support you!\u00a0 While you take a break from your practice, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPerforming - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=742\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Performing - 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