In my travels as a corporate team builder I always find myself ‘eavesdropping for God’ or lately just using my eyes and seeing the disconnection of people to people interaction. As I travel on the planes, the trains, Ubers, or just walking the streets of the big cities which I work in I’m constantly astounded how far we are removed from the ability to talk to another.
I always say that a stranger is only a stranger until you say hello. It is absolutely amazing when you engage someone in a genuine conversation in which the sole purpose is to find out that stranger’s story and what lead them to be sitting next to you.
In recent weeks I have had the opportunity to befriend taxi drivers in Hobart, meet Christian brothers in the Virgin frequent flyer lounges of Melbourne and Sydney. I saw the very transformation of a life in front of my eyes as a person was impacted by the love of God and the beautiful presence of His Holy Spirit, resulting in her coming back to her loving heavenly father. We even got to have communion to seal the deal as the Virgin hostesses served wine and crackers. God has everything worked out perfectly.
When we are not shaped by meaningful relationships like the one with our God we then take up alternatives and therefore are shaped by other things. These other things are usually much more temporary, less valuable and quite damaging to finding out who we are.
I recently read a book called From Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship by Jack Frost and one particular part of the book struck a chord with me. Here are some thoughts I gleaned from Jack Frost.
Maybe there is something in your life where you are settling for a counterfeit love instead of the real, pure love of our heavenly dad. These are the 7 P’s of counterfeit love on page 43 of the Jack Frost book and are as follows.
Passions
When I say this I am referring to when our passions go wrong and we end up looking for value in things that often take hold of us and become addictions or strongholds that are often very hard to shake off. Examples of this counterfeit love is drugs, sex, alcohol addictions.
Possessions
Did you know that we get over 7000 messages a day through our brain that tell us we need the next best things, new toy and bigger version of what we have to be happy? Well that is what this counterfeit love is all about and it is amazing how if we are not aware of it, our identity can easily become shaped by this.
Position
One of the areas that we fall into is the desire for position. We live in a world where society is polarized by status. It is divided into the haves and have nots and when our identity is built on this it’s dangerous territory. The reason being is that we start to see ourselves as more important than another and this is when we became more like an animal than made in his image and likeness.
Performance
I remember as a young up and coming football player that my whole life and value was about performance. Driven to be my best and any cost. This can happen in lots of different areas of life. I can tell you that life begins to wear you out if this is the love and approval that you seek.
People
This is one of those areas of counterfeit love that can sneak up on you. It might be the girl that is seeking to made whole by finding that perfect soulmate or it might be a desire to be like your hero, whoever that may be.
What these have in common though is that they are people too and if we build our identity on another person we rob ourselves and God of his plan to have you reach the God potential that you have for his world. That’s why none of us is exactly the same. He has a part for all of us to play.
Place
Have you heard the statement “the grass is greener on the other side”? This is what this counterfeit love is about. When I am in a good place in my soul and spirit I subscribe to the concept that God would have me in those ‘greener’ pastures if that is where I was supposed to be.
Power
This last of the 7 counterfeit loves is all about the lie that we are in control. As humans we struggle and strive to get ‘control’ of things in life, thinking that we are more secure knowing this.
Unfortunately this pursuit is fraught which danger and is probably the cause of so much mental illness, sickness and even death. When we allow the power of destiny to be in God’s hands we will avoid a lot of unnecessary harm to our lives. This has been my lesson of life lately and it is amazing what freedom has come into my life.
So, there it is: the 7 P’s of counterfeit love that we settle for instead of just taking into our heart the One true love that is all we need and that is God’s love. He really is that answer to our identity crises, he is the answer to all our doubts and questions and He is the Love that never runs dry.
Justin Monaghan is currently launching as a professional prophetic artist under the label JR Faith Creations and works as corporate team builder all over Australia. He is married to Liana and lives at the beautiful beach of Port Willunga. They journey with the creatives in their lives to see them rise up to their full potential for the Kingdom of God.
Justin Monaghan's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/justin-monaghan.html