Indecent Exposure

Last month's blog pinpointed my next topic as Relationships and Time Management. I even wrote the message. However, that is not what God wants me to write about this month. As a matter of fact, when He gave me the title, I was shocked and said, "Nope!" But I'm going to be truthful and write as the Holy Spirit leads me.

Let's look at the following scripture:

"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25).

 
 I want you to think of Adam and Eve's pure state in the Garden of Eden before they sinned. Once you visualize that thought, I now want you to fast forward to how our society is today. If you were to walk out of your house the way Adam and Eve were created, you would get arrested. Why? Because time has changed. Prior to the fall, the appearance of man - which was nakedness - reflected outward and inner integrity. They were not created to live with guilt or shame.

However, man's disobedience polluted what was deemed as normal and acceptable in God's eye, to what is now interpreted as indecent exposure. Legally, this term is defined as "intentional exposure of part of one's body in a place where such exposure is likely to be an offense against the generally accepted standards of decency." In many states, it requires three elements:

1. Exposure
2. Intent
3. Obscenity 

So, while outward nakedness in public is forbidden; spiritual nakedness is what God is looking for in us. During our intimate times with Him, He is not looking for us to come before Him with fig leaves - trying to pretty ourselves up, or trying to hide imperfection with perfection. He wants us to disclose our state of ugliness, when we are spiritually unfit and need His help.

The Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy as rags (Isaiah 64:6). So, we all have a level of being unfit. Yet, God is sovereign, loving, graceful, and merciful, and still desires to have us come into His presence. 

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

When you look up the word boldly in its original text, it constitutes the following elements:

1. Freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech
2. Openly, frankly, i.e without concealment
3. Without ambiguity or circumlocution
4. Without the use of figures and comparisons
5. Free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance
6. The deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity

 As a matter of fact, as you read a few verses before, you see that God's Word is designed to cause indecent exposure spiritually.

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

I am now in a season with a new circle of influence. Someone asked me on Sunday during my church's Holy Spirit Encounter, "Are you okay?" And as I answered, "I'm fine." They said, "No, you're not!" Next thing I know, that person wrapped me in her arms and allowed me to cry, speaking words of encouragement. Another person asked, "Are you okay?" Again, I said, "Yes, I'm fine." Well, that person looked at me like I had four heads, and I knew she could see the internal struggle to fight the tears.

Truthfully, I'm a bit upset at times. I often say, "God, I used to get away with it before. My pain and struggles were hidden behind my smile." When I shared my feelings with a friend, she said, "That means God is opening you for healing and wholeness. But most importantly, God's allowing it to happen in a safe environment for you - with people who can handle you being stripped and still love you anyhow - despite feeling ugly and unfit."

So, I encourage you today to know that God's presence is a safe environment to become spiritually naked and unashamed. It's a safe environment to cry, to show brokenness, to disclose your wounds, to release your anger, to become free from unforgiveness, rejection, abandonment, and whatever hindrance you have in your way. I also pray that God surrounds you with people who can accept your indecent exposure spiritually and not exploit you in a time of weakness and vulnerability.

As I conclude, let's consider the following analogy. Imagine yourself soundly sleeping in your bed, tucked in under the warm covers. Suddenly, someone walks in your room and snatches the cover off of you. I don't know about you, but I would feel startled and disturbed. My immediate reaction would try to snatch my covers back.

Well, that's what God is capable of doing to us at times when He's allowing us to be broken in order to be molded in the palm of His hands and made whole. It may seem like He does it brutally; but it's done with love, forcing us to see our current condition. So, when that happens to you, don't fight God and try to snatch the covers back to continue hiding. Drop the fig leaves! It's only through complete transparency that He can heal, restore, reform, mend, and deliver.

God bless you! Thank you for reading!

Are You a Spiritual Hoarder?

It’s not something to be proud of, but you may be able to join with me and admit that you are a spiritual hoarder, or have been one at some point in your life. Hopefully, if this is true for you, I pray that this blog will provide insight on the harm involved with being a spiritual hoarder. I want to study this unhealthy behavior naturally, and then see how it affects us spiritually. Not only has the television show, Hoarders, inspired this blog; but it’s a personal process I am working through also. It’s not materialistic accumulation I’m trying to eliminate, it’s the spiritual build-up.

According to the International OCD Foundation, compulsive hoarding has ALL three of the following:

• A person collects and keeps a lot of items, even things that appear useless or of little value to most people, and
• These items clutter the living spaces and keep the person from using their rooms as they were intended, and
• These items cause distress or problems in day-to-day activities.

As I watch the show, it breaks my heart to see the emotional and mental trauma hoarders experience. There are also examples of legal turmoil when a hoarder can’t pass inspection and the house is placed on  a delinquent list. It’s like sealing your fingers with crazy glue and trying to pry them open. You’ll find out that’s not easy to do, because you now have a messy, sticky situation on your hands. It consumes your life and interrupts normal activity. It's hazardous to one's health and causes discomfort between family and friends.

The detrimental thing behind being a spiritual hoarder is you cannot see the clutter in your life with your natural eyes. Everything looks clean. You have no evidence to show that you are accumulating junk. Think about it for a second. What does anger look like? What does rejection look like? What does hate look like? What does jealousy look like?

By just looking at someone, you cannot always determine if that person is a spiritual hoarder. We talk about having discernment in the body of Christ. That is definitely necessary. It’s a spiritual gift. But here is the troubling fact. What happens when you don’t have spiritual discernment on yourself?

While you can see the tangible items in a hoarder’s domain, you cannot always see the items in your spiritual domain. It takes the Holy Spirit to shed light on the areas that are of no value, and need purging. The pain that you are hoarding against the people you can’t forgive may feel valuable to you, but there’s a strong chance that it’s useless to those people. They have moved on with their lives, while you are still struggling to free yourself from the crazy glue.

As stated by the International OCD Foundation, “hoarding can be more about fear of throwing something away than about collection or saving. Thinking about discarding an item triggers anxiety in the hoarder, so she hangs on to the item to prevent angst.”

Just like natural hoarding is not resolved by simply cleaning out a domain; that is also true for spiritual hoarding. Look at what happened to the man in this passage of scripture.

“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Matthew 12:43-45).

It is commendable that the man took time to clean up. But something drastic took place. He didn’t fill the empty house with anything. It was not spiritually furnished with the right stuff. When something is empty, anything can infiltrate that space – whether it’s good or bad, pretty or ugly. So, when God purges you, ask Him to fill your empty spaces with proper substance, such as the fruit of the Spirit.

Here is another critical passage.

“Then he told them this story: “The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’ Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods—who gets it?’ “That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God” (Luke 12:16-21, MSG).

This farmer turned a good thing into something terrible. He definitely reaped a harvest, which is a spiritual principle for those who sow. But based on God's reaction to him, it was not God's perfect will for him to store up the amount of goods he had the way he did. He basked in his abundance of wealth. Apparently, everything that he valued was not valued in the eyesight of God. Futhermore, he kept his blessing to himself; he wasn't content; and he glorified himself.

What would God say to you right now if he looked at your barn? Would He be pleased with what you are storing up? What condition are you currently in if God required your life today?

These are valid questions to address if you want to free yourself from spiritual hoarding. What must you do? The first is to admit that there is a problem. The second is to assess the problem, and see how much damage has been done in your life and the life of others who are in your intimate circle of influence. The third is to not expand on your buildup, but shrink it by letting God strip you however He pleases. The last is to make godly replacements. Don’t allow the enemy to furnish you with more clutter.

Just as natural homes are staged to sell quickly and for more money, let God stage your house and be pleased with what He sees. Therefore, I don’t know about you, but I’m working on clearing out my spiritual domain and maintaining a clean temple that consists of godly replacements.

In conclusion, what you’re holding on to may be making you a ‘fool’ (Luke 12:20). So, with this download from God, I want to be wise, not foolish.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for my next topic – Relationships and Time Management.