Hostage to Performance: Always on Stage

Hostage: Someone held against their will in a place they do not want to be. 

The bible is full of references to God rescuing. What are we to be rescued from?   Below are my notes from Tony Portel’s message

Do I believe the lie?:  "You are unlovable, unforgivable."  

“Laughter can conceal a heavy heart” Prov 14:13, but “Saying things are all right will not make it well” Jer. 6:13.

Time does not heal all wounds, but like Ogres in Shreck, there are layers of an onion that need to be peeled back.  

Who are we at center? Reasons why we hurt:

• Physiological problems
  
• Experiences that shape who we are
  
• Childhood and our parents
  
• You have an enemy that wants to steal, kill and destroy
  
• You can be free  “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free John 8:32
  

Performance (the first lie)

1. Extreme perfectionism leads to extremes (strain to succeed or withdrawal.  I must meet certain Standards to feel good 
2. Avoidance of risk (my father could not let me see him fail)
3. Anger/resentment: we cannot criticism
4. Pride: Leads to Judgment
5. Anxiety and Fear:  We might fail
6. Depression: Failure of high standards
7. Dishonesty: Hide failure or embellish
8. Low motivation:  don’t try rather than risk failure
9. Chemical addiction: Break away or break down

Justification (TRUTH about how to be made right, absolved of guilt)

“We have peace with God ….because of what Christ has done for us.” Romans 5:1

Nothing to do with “worthiness” will make God love me more or less than he already does. It’s not “God is gonna get you”, but he loves me so much all he sees is the cross when he looks at my book of sins. 

“But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him” Col 1:22

Made a grown man cry

You can fail, it’s not your identity.  “Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Roman 8:39   Right here i realized the lie, I am not separated from God.  The truth set me free, again. 

Change?  What is next?

1. Be honest with God:  Are you afraid to let others in?
2. Right relationships.  Trust others.
3. Need God’s word, be renewed day by day, not by what people think. 
4. God’s holy spirit is needed
5. We need time, healing is a process, time to think differently