Get Naked: Part I

We are imperfect beings living in a sinful world that encourages catering to your desires and being led by impulse instead of wisdom. Constantly, we are told the lie that we can be whatever we want to be and that is the only way to happiness. The truth is… both are dangerous. There is no real identity outside of who we were created by God to be. We can lie all we want but we will never be happy unless we are in real fellowship with the one who created us and His divine intent for us. That is why finding “oneself” is a constant, endless pursuit if we aren’t looking for those answers in the one who really has them all. Until we do, we will always search for solutions in empty places that only lead to physical and spiritual death.

Today, I want to talk about how sin robs us of our truth. Sin will have us thinking that we are living our best life, while we are actually living our best lie. In Numbers 32:23, we are told that if we do not recognize when we sin against God, our own sin will find us out. In other words, if we aren’t walking in God’s truth, the way we live will tell the story for us. Satan’s biggest strategy is deception. Let’s make no mistake, he is good at it too. If we aren’t careful, he will have us out here looking foolish. He wants us to forfeit our inheritance because he has already forfeited his. He is so serious about trying to stop us that he plans his attacks while we are in our mother’s wombs. He isn’t playing and neither should we.

When I was growing up, I had a strategy for everything. If my aunts, cousins, and I got in trouble, when it was time for a spanking, I would volunteer to go first because I knew if there were five behinds left to spank then mines wouldn’t last that long. Interestingly, others never caught on to what I was doing. In fact, it became routine. Whenever we were asked who was going first, everyone would automatically look at me. If I got in trouble at school, I would come home and tell it on myself first because I knew that my punishment would be worse if someone else beat me to it. Plus, I’ve always had this strong spirit of conviction. So, it has always been somewhat of a struggle for me to not make things right when I’ve been wrong.

Eventually, I adopted that same practice in my adult life. I have found 1 John 1:9 to be very real. The verse says that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteous if we confess our sins. So, I have tried to do this as much as possible. One of the reasons why is if we confess our sin, it is very hard for the enemy or anyone else to use it against us. The enemy can’t torment us with sin that has been exposed and confronted. He can’t condemn you from something that you have come naked before God about on your own. This is how he gets us. He has us thinking that no one knows about our sin but God does. It is interesting that we do so much to hide things from a man when God sees it all. When we get naked before God, we become vulnerable and that makes room for Him to come in and work on us. When we expose our own weaknesses, we create opportunities for the Father’s power to become perfect in our lives. He can handle all of us. He can handle every horrible thing we have said or done. He can handle every horrible thing that has been done to us. He cannot heal what we aren’t willing to reveal to Him. It’s like when we undress in the natural. When we take our clothes off, every part of us is exposed and we must be the same way before Him.

The enemy wants us to walk in pride and deceit. In fact, he wants us to get comfortable in it so we can let our guard down and get farther away from God. Once we do, he snatches the cover off for the whole world to see. He is not concerned about us. He only wants to steal, kill, and destroy us. Therefore, the key to living a life of God’s truth is being transparent. We need to always be aware of our weak areas, those areas in which we struggle. When we do, we can stand naked before God. In return, He will cleanse us and clothe us in His righteousness.

Are there any hidden sins in your life? Is there anything that someone knows about you that could be used to incriminate you? If so, get naked before the Lord and take back your freedom.

Be Free!