His love is worth giving up the control or power others lording over you have....

Have you ever had one of those "friends" that seems to come across as having those super high standards of "coolness"... Making fun of those different than they are, getting others to join in on the belittling of someone else, setting themselves high on that pedestal, you feel yourself walking on eggshells around them so as to get their public affirmation, because their defamation would seemingly kill your soul... That type of friend doesn't deserve the power you are giving them... The creator, God of the universe, is madly in love with you - not because of what you've done or will do, or who you are or who you will be, not even because He created you...but because you are - you! No one else has ever lived the life you are living, endured the struggles you've endured, enjoyed the joys you've experienced, loved the way you have... You are perfectly unique in every way!! When you really experience the absolute fulfillment from receiving the love your Creator is pouring into you - you won't need anyone else's affirmation... You'll know how unconditionally loved you are... Sometimes in order to feel that love, we have to release the control that those whom I above mentioned, have over us... How can you feel Him loving you if you are so afraid to be who you really are? How will you feel Him love you and all your imperfections if you don't accept that those imperfections are a part of who you are... He doesn't love your pain or where you are hurting, He loves loving you through it... Similarly to a mother who loves her child in the womb, through the birthing process, and then as a child to be nurtured on the outside... Never once was that being unlovable, undesirable, unwanted to that loving mother - how much more so must the One who knew you before you ever entered that womb love you?! His love is worth giving up the control or power others lording over you have. Turning the other cheek is definitely an attribute of our Abba Father, but unless He is calling you to be in the boxing match - get out of the ring... It is ok to stop making mean people popular, because then it stops making it popular to be mean... I have been cruel and unkind on many occasions - smacking people with a popular opinion in my circle so to bring them low, beneath my standards... If you've ever been the recipient of my cruelty, I want to say now how very sorry I am, and ask your forgiveness. Because I know that the Creator God came to earth and lovingly humbled Himself to wash His loved ones feet, I know who I am supposed to esteem myself over, and the answer to that is - no one, ever. That doesn't mean that I have to berate myself in order to show myself lower than others (a form of false humility). But be truly humbled by His love, because true humility comes from knowing He loves all the way to the deepest and darkest parts of me, and He loves to the highest extent of my possibilities - and even though I'm different from anyone else the amount in which He loves is exactly the same - He loved Peter and He loved Judas and He loved them exactly the same. Can you see how purposeless it is to be lorded over or to lord over? He loves you abundantly above what you could ever ask for or even ever think possible... Relinquish that control, He has set the captives free!