There is a life of keeping dark secrets that God calls us away from. There is a life of sharing these secrets with Him in love and intimacy that God invites us to.
Everyone who does evil things hates the light. They will not come into the light. They are afraid that what they do will be seen. But anyone who lives by the truth comes into the light. He does this so that it will be easy to see that what he has done is with God’s help.” (John 3:20-21 NIRV)
As Jesus was obedient to God’s plan one hundred percent, so we are invited to follow Him. Are we willing to allow God to heal and transform EVERY deep area of our being that is currently occupied by secrets? God knows all about the deadly secrets anyway and offers His strength to help overcome them. Darkness seems helpful when we are trying to hide, but light is needed if we are going to walk without stumbling. We welcome light into our darkness when we admit what we've done wrong, acknowledge how we've believed lies and acted in destructive ways based on those lies. We fill ourselves with light when we choose to rely on Jesus who is our light, and actually behave in new and generous ways, based on His forgiveness and healing.
When we are hiding in our shameful behaviours and holding onto our addictions, the darkness seems to be a friend. We refuse to confront painful or bitter thoughts that lurk deep in our consciousness. We are aware that something is there and that the Holy Spirit is encouraging us to bring those things before God. Now we must choose whether we listen to the fear pressing in on us or trust the voice of the Holy Spirit. God wants to liberate and restore us from every experience in our past where we operated outside of His conscious presence and help. We will continue in the darkness if we focus on the pain, the shame, the blame, and the injustice of past experiences. We will come into the light when we are willing to acknowledge our past in the light of the truth of God's word. When we bring our wounds to Jesus for His comfort and cleansing we allow those troubling events to be encircled with God's grace and healing. Light is needed to penetrate the darkness and take us forward with confidence to the future God has promised. In reality, it is the covering of darkness that keeps us shackled in the prison of the past.
Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord; (Lamentations 3:40 NKJV) God wants to bring His light into every corner of our hearts, not to harm us but to help us. We don't need to be afraid of God's light or of bringing everything within us "to the light". Through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness and healing for every offense committed against us or by us. Jesus wants to safely guide us on the right path that gives us joy and satisfaction. He wants to give us a life that is better than what we could ask for or even imagine.
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7 NLT)
God has all sorts of things that He wants to share with us when we are able to receive from Him. God knows more about us than we know about ourselves. There are treasures deep in God’s heart that He is willing and ready to reveal to us simply because He loves us.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NLT)
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Audio for Monday, July 29, 2013 -- Sharing The Shameful Secrets
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