I want to talk to you about something the Lord showed me a long time ago. I was fasting and praying, seeking God one time, and this is what He told me. This wasn’t something I thought up on my own, and I’m not saying it’s not in some schoolbook somewhere, but it was the Lord who revealed it to me.
Inherent in every human being is that they long to belong and desire to be wanted and needed. It’s built inside us. That’s how we were created. We want recognition. We want to fit in. We want to have a purpose in life. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it’s used in the right way.
Now, if a person doesn’t allow the Lord Jesus Christ to fill this need within them, they will look for it in other ways. And the devil, he knows this and uses it to pervert that need. He’ll offer you a preferred way to fulfill that need, a counterfeit.
That’s how teenagers get off track. All of us remember wanting to fit in with the crowd. But see, the enemy tries to take things and ways that God built us correctly and pervert them. That’s why you got folks thinking they’re cats or dogs, women thinking they’re men, and men thinking they’re women. It’s all perversion. Satan is doing his best to try to pervert the human race, even down to the church level.
Ministers have a great fault today of overlooking false doctrine to be accepted, appreciated, and embraced by someone of great notoriety. Many will overlook false doctrine to be improved and validated by someone who is very well known and popular because this gives them a sense of belonging and fills the desire to be wanted and needed. They desire recognition so desperately that they are willing to sell out and compromise the Bible and even their spiritual morals and values to obtain it. They refuse to challenge error and false doctrine because their position is more important to them than the Word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Some also do this because they see it as a way to climb the spiritual ladder. They seek recognition from popular people so it will catapult them to the top quicker.
So, what do we do about this longing to belong?
- First, let Jesus fulfill all the desires in you. Don’t fight and kick and bawl and scream and try to push somebody else out of the way and run somebody else down so you can get there or grab somebody else by the coattail because you want to climb the ladder behind them.
- Second, don’t put your eyes on man, put your eyes on God. Let Him raise you up. Because if you raise yourself up by doing all those natural things, then eventually you’re going to come tumbling down. The way up in God is always down. Self-promotion and self-proclamation stink in the nostrils of God.
- Third, remember what 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 tells us: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works”. The devil doesn’t come with pitchforks and fangs, spitting fire. He comes as an angel of light. Don’t be deceived!
- Fourth, follow the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a guarantee that you are not going to be deceived.
Remember, you’ve got victory in every single area of your life. God is with us!
