OVERCOMING THE SHAME OF HIDING "There is no shame in being poor," I said to my daughter recently. There is no shame in Jesus . As I read through the references on ashamed in the Bible, I see several times in Psalms that David asks to not be ashamed. Several time in the New Testament we are exhorted to not be ashamed. It is almost like it is a decision on our part. To decide to know that we have nothing to be ashamed of. Our past mistakes can bring regret but it does not need to bring shame. As we read through our book Truefaced Experience the hiding styles we have used in the past begin to become evident. I wonder if anyone is wanting to hide , how they were hiding? I do not guess you have to make a public statement about how you "were" hiding. The main goal here is to break the habit of hiding and trust God. I use to have a wonderful mask "called poor." I can not tell you how well this mask has helped me all these years. It has kept me from over indulging the flesh. It has kept me from sinning. I guess I have been absolutely fearful to find out just how I would do if I was not poor. Several times the LORD has opened the door for me to be blessed financially. Yet each time I gave into unbelief and reverted back to my "need" to stay poor. That is not to say, there has not been some improvement as I have gone along. I think the LORD is challenging me to be ready for an all time break through. I don't want to be poor because it is "my will" to be poor. Now if He wants me to be poor, of course that is alright with me. I hope you can understand that I am only poor in terms of not having any extra money to meet financial needs that come along. Yet I am so rich in the grace that my LORD Jesus Christ has given me. So rich in the peace that passeth all understanding. So rich in LOVE that He pours through me in the Spirit. So rich in knowing Him. Knowing that if I draw nigh unto Him, He does draw nigh unto me. So very rich in so many things , I almost don't notice that I haven't quite got my paying the bills on time act together.
Prayer For SerenityGod grant me the serenity to accept the thingsI cannot change, courage to change the things I can,and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time,Enjoying one moment at a time,Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is,not as I would have it.Trusting that You will make all things right, if I surrender to Your will,That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.AmenKeeping my expectations of my self at a reasonable level is really difficult for me. That is why I would run a muck so many times before. Because my expectations were higher than the actual work that had been done in me, I would begin faking it. Still I have to careful to let His expectations to be met. If I hide because He is not done with me yet, what kind of a witness would that be? On the other hand, if I do not hide , and do not fake it, people will know , He is not done with me yet. How I handle that He is not done with them, is probably going to be the way that they handle that He is not done with me.How I handle that they are still faking it, is probably the way they would treat me if I was still faking it, or relaspe and start faking it again.Knowing the difference now, I would so much prefer that straight truth approach. Just lay it out here for me , tell me what you see. Only most are smart enough to know that you do not see what is in another's eye unless you yourself seem to be bothered by that very thing in your own eye. It is because we can not freely talk about our sins with each other that I think we hide. If someone talks to me about their sin , I want to be honest with them.It is sin. However, Jesus never said, "Only you holy folks that don't sin anymore, follow me." He said, "Pick up your cross and follow me." Maybe that means dieing to self . Maybe that means ,follow Him and let everybody know you are still a work in progress.
When in my flesh I want to do good, I develop all kinds of hiding styles . Realizing there is only ONE GOOD PERSON shakes the ground of my Pleasing God room and makes me want to return to the room of Trusting God. Only by trusting God can I ever hope to be transformed into the son that I am suppose to be . It is by His grace and His grace alone that I can even enter the room . I must trust in His goodness, not mine . So let me share with you a little more of my anti-goodness found in me . So deceitful is this trait you may want to ponder this for a moment because I doubt any of us "Christians" have never used this hiding style before . SOAPBOX . Sure getting on your soapbox is a hiding style . Does getting on your soapbox bring you or others any closer to JESUS ?It can get so tricky here because there are so many ways to be appearing to do just that , when in fact it is a soapbox that you are on, not a mission for JESUS at all. Then after all is said and done, (there might be a done) you can do the same thing that you were doing before but this time it is not a soapbox but a SPIRIT LED Mission . In fact this whole blog idea that I had, might have been a soapbox thing from the beginning , however , I believe for the changing power of our LORD JESUS CHRIST to change me . It is my firm conviction that the only way to change is to step out in faith and trust Him that He has changed me . In other words waiting to blog when the day comes that He has released me from my soapbox style of hiding , is not an option . So let me share with you what Hiding From Love by Dr.John Townsend says about the soapbox style of hiding . It's defensive behavior is : having an opposite reaction to injured part of soul resulting in passion against others in that area. Recommended step for quitting this kind of style is : Learn to question authority and still feel safe: so it becomes a friend and not an enemy.
