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The Disease to Please: Uncovering our Mask
We've got a disease! It's definitely not as serious as cancer or leukemia, but
damaging nonetheless. You can call it, "The Disease to Please." This serious
emotional disease can become both consuming and crippling if we are forever
striving to "be liked" and "approved of." Because when our people-pleasing side
gets too big in our lives, our God-pleasing side invariably gets too little.
Do you suffer from this disease? If so, share with us the areas that consume you
most.
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The amazing thing about this disease is that its curable! The even better thing is
that it all starts and stops with us, our mind and will. So let's take this time to be
transparent with one another and really commit to finding the causes, effects and
ways to conquer this weakening disease!
The Cause
First things first! What could be the cause of our constant need to be accepted,
liked, and approved? Why do have a constant need to please? Take a few seconds
to think about this and jot some answers down..... share!
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I believe the root of this ailment is that we have believed a lie! I don't know what
that lie looks like for you but here are some short examples:

 Maybe someone you look up to said something negative about you and it
crushed you so now you are spending your moments trying to prove that
person wrong. In proving them wrong you agree with everything they say
and oblige with everything they ask of you.
What was your home life like? Maybe you grew up with absent parents.
Maybe you grew up with parents that loved you but didn't show it well.
Now you work so hard for accolades and status because you think that will
bring love and attention.
Who does the world say you are? Maybe you are a mom and wife. Have
you believed the lie that you need to parent perfectly, wife perfectly, and
to have a clean house. All the time. And to please the world and the people
who believe this you work yourself into exhaustion trying to measure up.
Maybe you have a friend who has sold you a lie, "I like you better when
your drinking, you're more fun!" So now you accept every invitation to
party because you are that great "FUN" friend.
Do you have any experiences to add to the examples above? Do any of these
examples ring true for you? Share!

The Effect
What we believe is at war with who we really are. Because we care so much
about what people think, our disease has everything to do with the people
around us. We desperately want to manage the worlds opinion of us. We mask
who we really are in hopes that we can show the world what they want to see.
We hide. Hiding is exhausting! Burnout is inevitable; our cover will soon get
blown. We will either give up or give in. Give up the purpose, vision or mission
God has given us. Or we will give in to the temptation of the enemy, the
temptation that says, "life is easier and better his way."
Have you ever felt exhausted trying to keep up? Has the lie consumed you in a
way that has negatively affected your performance and/or relationship with God?
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This idea of hiding isn't new. It's been going on since the beginning, it started
with an apple, a snake, a lie and a fig leaf. The hiding keeps us silent when God is
calling us to be bold. It paralyzes us when God is calling us to step out in faith.
We are consumed with fear and anxiety when we could be dancing in freedom . It
imprisons us from receiving the limitless, greater than life , gracious love of God.
Romans 5:8 and Ephesians 3:20 affirms this truth!

3 Ways to Conqueror
1. Commit. Are you ready? The greatest thing about hiding or being lost is
being found. The rescue. Despite what your family, friends and the world
may think- are you willing to risk exposure to receive His Love? Are you
willing to live for an audience of one? Doing so will mute out the
insatiable need to prove our own goodness, and instead we receive truth
and are able to wholly offer worship to the only One deserving of it.
2. Replace the lie with the TRUTH! Let's start right now! Based on what has
been discussed during this study, through the examples and stories your
sisters have shared, what scripture(s) can you share that will counter the lie
that your sister has believed? I think of Pslam 139:14: "I will give thanks to
You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works,
and my soul knows it very well." The thoughts we practice tend to become
the truths we live. What does your soul know very well? If your answer is
something like fear, anxiety, or worry NOW is the perfect time to commit to
doing everything it takes for your soul to know love and acceptance.
3. Accountability. We should talk about the ways we hide, the desire to be
known, and the fear of exposure. Find someone who has been where you
are and is on the other side of it. It is so important to have people who
push us closer to Christ. There is life-giving power of story, in vulnerability,
and in the strength that is found in weakness.

Jesus. Jesus makes it safe for us to walk out from the dark places. We have a God
who sees and cares and notices. He isn't going to lose His passion for us. He
remains unmoved. The cross gives us permission to be exactly who we are called
to be and the grace to take off the mask of who we pretend to be, He cures the
disease that enables us to fully live in freedom for an audience of One. Allow God
to look beyond the hiding places you have constructed.
We learned today that this disease to please is curable and that the cure starts
with and in us! The following verses really show God's endless love and grace for
us - I pray this verse will speak to just how much you are accepted in Christ . Lets
remove the need to please a world that is full of flaws and deceit and commit to
being all in for a God who will never rejects us and always love us.

Romans 8:37-39 (NLT) " No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is
ours through Christ, who LOVED us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever
separate us from God's love, Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow- not even the
powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in
the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us
from the love of God that is revealed in CHRIST JESUS our LORD. "

Let's Pray: Father, we love you so much! Thank you for giving us this time to look
into our lives and see where we have left you out. God, forgive us for subscribing
to a system that seeks to only please the world, in turn we have minimized the
need to please you. Jesus, take these masks that we are hiding behind so that we
may then put on everything good in You: Truth, righteousness, peace, faith,
salvation and the Word of God. Jesus, we are committed to doing life with You, to
loving You, and to receiving the healing power that is only in You.
Amen!

Action Items:
1. Pray for the Lord to free you from people bondage, then expect tests in
that area.
2. Recommended book: Approval Addiction by Joyce Meyer