Afraid of the Shadows

Do you remember being afraid of the dark as a kid? When your parents would turn out the lights and all of a sudden every corner of your room became a place for the scariest parts of your imagination to come alive? Can you recall the feelings of shear panic, the times of trying to cry out for your mom but all you could muster was a faint whisper?

As an adult I know that there is nothing lingering in the shadows of my room at night however, in the shadows of my soul there awaits something ready to devour me. In the corners of my mind lurk the desires that I know are not of God yet they are still there. I have drug them into the light and exposed them for what they are and yet they still spy on me. Waiting for me to forget about them so that they can remind me of their presence in a way that is terrifying.

Just as it was as a child the only way to conquer the monsters in the shadows is to shed light on them. We need to pull our monsters into the light for all to see. It is only then that they will have no power over us. Only then will we be free from the fear, free from the shame, free to rest.

What monster is waiting in your shadows? Are you ready to face it head on? Are you willing to grab hold of it and show it to the world? Yes, it will mean that others know that you are afraid of the dark, but will the knock to your pride be worth the freedom?

Are you ready to come out of the shadows?

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Questions

Last night during our Youth Service I asked students to write down questions they might have about God, being a Christian, etc. After sorting through all the typical "What color shirt would God wear?" sort of questions I found several that I believe show the level of spirituality in students of today.

Things like....

"What is the purpose of life? If there is such a grand heaven that is controlled by one all powerful being, then why life? Are we just like one big entertainment center for God or what? I want to know if God has so much power and is all knowing then why do we exist? Why would he even make a world with so much hate and pain? Why wouldn't we all just stay in heaven? Why are we here and for what purpose?"

So what is the purpose of our lives? The easy answer would be to say its all about "bringing Glory and Honor to God". But come on, how many of us truly live our lives out like this? Now I'm sure there are some but I know for me this isn't the way I process every second of my life. There is something in all of us that yearns to have meaning or purpose. The only way I have found to fulfill this desire for significance is to choose to live my life for something (or Some ONE) greater than myself.

When I choose to surrender my ego to the "greater cause" that is God's movement throughout the world I begin to realize why I'm here.

It's about life-change and relationship.

We may be some grand entertainment for God, however, the story of humanity is not some grand chess game where we are the thoughtless pawns being moved and placed at the discretion of some disconnected player. Rather we are the Masterpieces, the Poetry, the Workmanship (Eph. 2:10) of a loving God who created us with relationship in mind. He made us to experience the fullness of His Love by dedicating our lives to His movement. Sin jacked that all up for us. Therefore we must have a change of life, a connection with God, that comes only when we are called by Him into relationship.

Who am I living for? Why do I do what I do? Am I content to be a slave to my own selfish desires and ego or am I willing to surrender who I am to become the Masterpiece God created me to be?

Predator or Prey?

I have been listening to an awesome webcast today called thenines
its church leaders from all over the world sharing 9 minutes of insight to the American church. One of the speakers was sharing about the power of confession. He shared the following (along with my 2 cents worth as well)

...1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins that we will be forgiven of those sins. But just because we are forgiven doesn't mean that we won't fall into this sin again. The power of sin in our lives pulls us into darkness, that's where sin likes to live. It hides there and waits to grab us when we least expect it. We may wrestle with that sin as it pulls us in and there may even be time in our lives that we escape its grasp for a season, but its still there. Behind every lonely place, lurking near every trigger, waiting, drooling, snarling.

When we are attacked by our sin and we laying bleeding in the dark we have a choice. Do we get up and walk back into the light and lick our wounds or do we lay there waiting to be brutalized again. When we pull ourselves into the light and confess our sin to God we are forgiven for our failures.

Now, here is the dilemma. If we are not healed from these sins we continue to roam the same areas. We continue to flirt with the edge of darkness hoping to stay strong and hoping to fall at the same time. This is where James 5:16 comes in to play.

"Therefore, confess your sins to one aonther, and pray for one another so that you may be healed."

When we confess our sin to God we are forgiven, when we confess our sin to each other and pray for each other WE WILL BE HEALED!

Did you get that? We will be healed! You see, when we confess our sins to each other, we are grabbing that dirty monster that has been stalking us for so long and we are slamming it down by the throat into the light. When we confess to each other our sin monster screams and tries to hide deeper in our darkness. Yet we, by confession to each other, are grabbing its nasty tail and saying to all who are near "Look, here is my nasty part, here is my dirty sin, here is my monster". Knowing that we are forgiven by God should lead us to the boldness to confess to others.

Most of the time we confess to God and then hope that no one ever finds out. That isn't a part of God's plan. Its not about saving face or protecting our reputation. Its about showing all those around us that God has changed us and we will not be ashamed of who we are in Christ.

New Creations

Ones who were the prey of sin and now are the predators of sin. We are seeking to be healed through the floodlight of public confession.

I pray that I will be able to confess as readily to other people as I will to God