Illuminated (On Coming Out of Hiding)

From Blogger " A Warm Cup of Coffee"  -

“God calls us, as He did Adam, to come out of hiding. No amount of spiritual makeup can render us more presentable to Him.” -Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child

My thoughts today are focused on being naked.

Totally exposed; completely bare; free.

For awhile now the clothes have been coming off, piece by piece, as I discover how bare I actually already am, and what it means to really be covered.

The first covering was given to Adam and Eve when they realized just how bare they were; it was uncomfortable and embarrassing; there was shame brought on by the fact that their sin was exposed. They were naked, and the knew it, and so they hid from the One who knew their nakedness before they did. For their sake, and out of His kindness, God covered them in a coat made of skin (Genesis 3:21). You don’t get skin without the kill. And so there it was, the first sacrifice, the spill of blood so that the people would be covered and their shame hidden.*

And still we hide. Even though God knows every woven piece of our being, we hide. Our eyes are wide open to our failures, and so we cover because we don’t want to be found out. We give pretense and we try to be and do in order to be accepted and loved, but what we forget is that God sees past all of it; He’s sees our bare selves and He loves us anyway. We can’t be more or better and think that we will someone get closer or be more loved by God; He loves us in spite of ourselves. And yet, He offers a covering still. He offers a covering of blood so that will be free to walk with Him in the garden without shame or pretense or posturing.

He offers the opportunity for freedom.

Our new covering is on the inside, over our spirits, and it transforms us from being shackled to sin and frees us to stretch into our new selves without fear.

We don’t have to hide from God (this is actually impossible anyway), and we don’t have to hide from people (oh, this one is possibe, and quite frequent).

We are cracked and swollen and desperate. And He already knows our mess.

I’m saying, let’s be messy and honest. Let’s not try to super glue the cracks, but instead let the Holy Spirit work through them to bring light to a messy world. You can’t let your light shine if you try to patch up the cracks.

So here  I am, losing my clothes, getting closer to naked. I wonder if this is really what sanctification is about? Not becoming more, but becoming less, until we are fully bare.


Covered yet naked. A gracious mystery that I am falling into. And it’s gloriously freeing.

“If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminate nor become a light for others.” -Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child

Related: Core Lies (free download)

*There is no concrete evidence that the skin God used to cover Adam and Eve came from an animal, but I think it makes sense that it did. The Hebrew word used is עוֹר (or), meaning skin, leather, or hide.

OUTRAGEOUS FAITH

 Sharing a devotional for a women's evening - some of this material came from "A Holy Experience" blog, and some from other studies.  Thank you.

OUTRAGEOUS FAITH

“How do we know?”

That even when we’re broken, we are to battle onward -  to place all our dependence on  Him who promises to cover us  --  all the fixing coming from God as we make steps to move forward despite the circumstances that life has presented.  No matter who we are, what we have done, where we are coming from -- without question of deserving the grace, love, and acceptance of the Almighty Creator.

Sometimes it’s hard to look love square in the eye and accept the acceptance. Is this why we turn from God?

“What do we do?”

From where we stand, we can’t see whether it’s something’s good or bad. All we can see is that God’s  sovereign and He is always good, working all things for good.

     How do we know that what has brought us to the place we are at is really a bad thing?

Listen to the Story of the White Horse, an old story from South America:

How a white stallion had rode into the paddocks of an old man and all the villagers had congratulated him on such good fortune. And the old man had only offered this: “Is it a curse or a blessing? All we can see is a sliver. Who can see what will come next?”

When the white horse ran off, the townsfolk were convinced the white stallion had been a curse. The old man lived surrendered and satisfied in the will of God alone:  “I cannot see as He sees.”

And when the horse returned with a dozen more horses, the townsfolk declared it a blessing, yet the old man said only,“It is as He wills and I give thanks for His will.”

Then the man’s only son broke his leg when thrown from the white stallion. The town folk all bemoaned the bad fortune of that white stallion. And the old man had only offered, “We’ll see. We’ll see. It is as He wills and I give thanks for His will.”

When a draft for a war took all the young men off to battle but the son with the broken leg, the villagers all proclaimed the good fortune of that white horse. And the old man said but this, “We see only a sliver of the sum. We cannot see how the bad might be good. God is sovereign and He is good and He sees and work all things together for good.”

“Hasn’t that been the lie right since the beginning of time?

        –  That we can see?” 

        When we ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Satan hissed then that we’d know what is good and evil — that we’d really see.

        But the father of lies, he’d duped us in the whole nine yards. Though we ate of that tree we did not become like God.

      We have no knowledge of good and evil apart from God. Our heart optics are not omniscient.

“So how can I really see if a seeming disaster or dilemma, is actually dire?”

        My focus need only be on Him, to only faithfully see His Word, to wholly obey. 

     Therein is the tree of life.

       God’s only up to good work.”

     “All we can see is Christ – and in Him all is grace.”

I can see it, just what we always have, what we can always only see —

     Just a sliver, a sliver of the sum, swaying behind us -- there   --  in a whisper of wind.

“Whatever You may do, I will thank You.

I am ready for all; I accept all.

Let only Your will be done in me…

And I’ll ask for nothing else, my Lord.”

Outrageous Faith  - not to be kept for the refined in life…..

        How outrageous is your faith?  Is it beyond the ordinary?

        For the kingdom shall be taken by force.  Our faith activates the power of God.  Sometimes you need to realize that the battle is not yours – but Gods.

     

Place your trust in God – not the world system.

• If you are disappointed in yourself it is because you have put your faith in yourself – not God.

• Set the Lord before you in all things.

• The antagonisms of others – cannot kill your joy unless you surrender it.

• Contend for the faith through visible manifestations – actions that show you trust wholly in God.

• The wrath of man does not work the works of God.

Step out first in obedience despite what you feel in your heart …… despair, desperation, anger, rage, hurt …… for what we see in the flesh is but a sliver of the sum.  God has the sum in the palm of His hand, and in it we can find rest.