But being vulnerable goes beyond this.
Vulnerability is the core of all true emotions and feelings
It is us taking the risk to expose ourselves emotionally, allowing ourselves feel truly, being willing to expose our truth, being willing to allow ourselves be seen just as we are without fear or shame of the reality of who we are
There is something about exposing our truths, usually they are shameful, scary, they are things we'd rather not open up about
A lot of us pretend to be all that we are not and this happens for so long that we live in denial of our reality.
We start thinking ourselves to be all we are not
To be vulnerable is to be exposed without wanting to cover up, holding nothing back.
Ready to face the (our) truths that confront us in this place.
It is the courage and strength to see ourselves as we really are even as we depend on God's Grace in becoming all that we've been called as
To be vulnerable is to strip ourselves, to let loose our guard.
It is in the place of vulnerability that we share our brokenness in order to display the surpassing power and sufficiency of Christ and the gospel.
It is in this place of vulnerability that we are transformed increasingly into the likeness of Christ
Let me break it down,
To be vulnerable is to accept your weakness enough that it points us to the sufficiency of Jesus and our strength in Him - "We cannot accept strength if we do know that we are weak"
Vulnerability in itself is not what is bad, it is what we see when we are vulnerable that we usually don't like
Why are we talking about Spiritual Vulnerability and Sincerity?
It is a big part of our Christian life though most people don't know
Especially for those of us that have grown to a certain stage in our spiritual walk
We do not know how to be children anymore before God.
We can't believe that with all of our knowledge, we still did certain things so we cover up or pretend those things didn't happen
Sometimes we give excuses for those things
We forget in these moments that we actually do not have any strength to do the right thing
We forget that Christ is our sufficiency and especially in days as these, we should hold on to Him
We forget that we are open before God, nothing is hidden and He still loves us regardless.
Instead, we form hard guy, hard guy
We lose our spiritual fervor. We realize we've not been praying, though we still hear from God and get revelations whenever we study but we know there is no fellowship.
We can't just accept "a whole us" is going through this, so we pretend as if all is well
And when we speak with people, we lie about our spiritual lives too. This one comes very easy
We do not open up, Not to God, not to humans or communities we belong to
Same with when Christians make mistakes/sin
We shield ourselves
We hide in our weakness instead of baring and allowing Christ be our strength
Looking back now, I just wonder
Did I really think God wasn't aware? Like who was I deceiving?
What was I protecting or hiding?
Hebrews 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Gen 3:9 God called to the Man: "Where are you?"
10 He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."
11 God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"
Not one thing is hidden from God. Not even our thoughts
Imagine going to a doctor and lying you have fibroid when it is pregnancy
Does that stop the pregnancy from growing?
If you insist from now till next year that it is fibroid, does it change the baby to blood clots
Pretending that pregnancy is fibroid does not change the pregnancy is fibroid
Man had sinned
And the first instinct was to run into hiding.
Sin always wants to be covered.
Of course it is shameful and the enemy uses this as a tool to help us cover it well
But we are not doing is covering it, we are actually hiding in it.
Now look at God's reaction to sin from the verse we shared.
While sin is saying hide me, hide me
God is calling out, Where are you?
He really is not seeing your lust issue. He is not seeing your anger issue. He sees beyond that
Because of Christ's covering, He sees Him in you. And though He knows all that you think you are hiding, He is not focused on that. His Where are you? is not to beat you up for all you've done wrong
God is calling us to stop trying to cover our sins cos that's a failed attempt even before we start
He is calling us to Christ as our covering Garment
There is a reason Adam and Eve still hid after covering themselves with fig, the fig was not enough covering.
Even the hiding place they found did not take away the feeling of embarrassment and shame
Christ is our only hiding place
When we allow ourselves to be vulnerable. We see how our lost condition. But God confronts us with something so much better, the truth of who we are in Him
It's like me coming to Nonso that I don't have clothes. All I have to wear is rag. (Note that Nonso has bags of expensive clothes in my name). He will not shout at me for wearing rags.
He will show me the clothes that belong to me
These are your clothes, the belong to you. Put them on
He will help me put them on
I will leave better than I came, with expensive designer wears instead of the rags I came with.
I leave knowing I am much more than I thought I was
Back to Adam, If Adam's response to God's call was Sincerity, we might not be here to be honest.
Adam refused vulnerability and Sincerity and that itself is a sin problem.
When we try to cover up, pretend or make excuses for our sins, we allow ourselves wallow deeper in sin
Some of us take this to our secret place. The place of prayer, which should be the place we open up to God totally, where we hold nothing back. Like even God is not holding anything back o.
Some of us hide there too
The secret place is no place for secrets. Whoever comes to God must come with a plain heart, ready to bare it all. I don't call my friend, Precious, to meet me at a secret place only to end up telling her lies.
Does that make sense?
Is that friendship?
God knows us. He sees our darkest parts even more than we do. He understands us more than anyone else, more than we do ourselves. So what is there to hide?
If God already sees all, why do I still have to be vulnerable and sincere? Can't He just fix all without us talking or going over this?
God knowing those dark areas is not an invitation to shine His light in the darkness.
Without us opening up, His light will be meeting a shielded wall.
We have to come before Him plainly.
Judas had a stealing problem, more like not contented. Though He saw Jesus daily, that problem wasn't fixed. Of course Jesus knew Judas' problem
Judas pretended. I'm sure he acted like he really loved people and wanted to help from the purse he was keeping. He refused to admit or give that part of him up.
How can Judas, that went with other disciples to cast demons come out to say he touches the offering he is keeping?
How?
He rather kept that dark part and it consumed him
God wants us to pour our hearts to Him
This secret brought a certain kind of closeness I can't explain to my prayer life.
Am I liking a boy and I don't really like the way my thoughts are drifting? Bet I'm telling God in prayers.
You'd actually think I was talking to My girls
Sometimes I get tired of praying and I just struggle and struggle cos I must pray. I go back to God. I really can't do this on my own.
I've learnt to never be ashamed before God.
To lay it all bare.
Have you noticed this, when you discuss something secret with your friend, it redirects your relationship. It feels like it opens them to you also. Everyone starts pouring out their hearts
I've seen this play out in my prayer life. I tell God the darkest secrets I have and He shares deep secrets I'd never have known with me.
Secrets about Him
Secrets about Me.
Me in Him
My identity in Him
And I'm just there like, so this is who I am.
Like this is really who I am?.
When we open up to God sincerely, He responds by opening up to us also. We tell Him a secret, He reveals a secret (revelational truth) about Himself or our identity in Him.
Being sincere and vulnerable before God is not spiritual weakness, it comes from a place of trust and deep intimacy.
Knowing we can tell God anything and we will leave the secret place better than we came.
God wants us to be like little children with Him, wanting to share every area and aspect of our lives with Him.
God wants us to gist with Him about everything as we do with our most intimate friends. Sweet part, He also wants to reciprocate this gesture.
In pouring out our hearts (all of it), we establish intimacy.
Make the decision to open up to God sincerely (in every area), like a baby, in loving abandonement. Be vulnerable and sincere before Him. Allow Him draw you close to Him, Lifting your burdens, covering you with a cloak of comfort and pulling you into His warm embraces.
Psalms 62:8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Our out your heart longings. Pause in His presence and just pour it all out
God is the safest place! Don't be afraid of what you will be revealing in vulnerability. He is safe
Trust Him at all times.
Allow yourself to be vulnerable at all times
Come as a child at all times (as that is what we really are)
When we refuse to be vulnerable, it is not usually fear that God is not safe. Sometimes it is pride
Some other times, it is shame. That shame of seeing ourselves as we are
But you want to know how Safe God is, He doesn't even allow us feel that shame when we come to Him.
Christ becomes our covering
He doesn't shame us or go over our mistakes 100 times
He clothes us with the Christ Garment
If you are finding it difficult to pray, speak with another Christian. Pray together with them
My friends and I do this always. Things people would never believe anyone of us can do, the day it happens, no hiding.
We come open.
We pray together
Encourage ourselves with the word.
I keep shouting accountability here, it is because it has helped me greatly.
I don't know how to hide myself o.
Here is to you all
I really do not know what you are struggling with, but I want you to know that God is a safe place. Don't be scared to be vulnerable with Him
I pray for everyone that this teaching is not just read and pass for us.
That we make efforts to do this, the enemy doesn't succeed in tricking us into hiding.
I pray that the revelational truths that hit us change our lives forever and even those that meet us.
Amen
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