I believe the Lord is urging us on to go deeper and more honestly with Him in all we are thinking, feeling and doing. As we encounter more of His love He is building a greater confidence in bringing everything to Him without fear of retaliation. In I John 4:18 it says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” By admitting everything to Him, we get insight and understanding from Him if we also stop to listen after opening ourselves to Him. If we are in full disclosure before Him, we can then begin deeper work.
The environment of experiencing His love as He has been revealing more and more is building within us self respect. A person with self respect speaks up boldly and has a voice. Many of us have grown up in environments of judgments, ridicule, rejection, abuse and neglect. As a result we may have lost our self confidence. This affects our ability to be open with the Lord subconsciously feeling like He may punish us for opening more and more of the shadows within. He sees our shadows of anger, rage, fear, confusion, self hatred, cynicism, doubts, dark thoughts. He sees it all and sees all the good stuff too.
Everything we share with Him is like jewels in His hands because this is about trust and intimacy. There is nothing so dark or broken where His love is not greater. He always has an answer of understanding, support and solutions. He says, “I understand.” He can’t be insulted or dishonored by what we say to Him in disagreeing or being impatient with Him. He always says, “I understand.” Like a parent, He embraces us no matter where we are at, whether we are rational or not.
Earthly counselors will encourage full disclosure knowing that without it, progress cannot be made. Often there is so much clutter in our minds, we have to get it out and expel it to reveal deeper things that ultimately leads to change. The Lord is our heavenly psychiatrist who is on call 24/7 and He is free. He is Dr God as it were. It’s time to let Him in deeper and by doing so discovering the depths of His unending love, patience and kindness.
Whatever we are feeling and thinking, He is feeling and thinking it right there with us because we are one. In Psalm 139:3 it says, “you are familiar with all my ways.” So He truly understands because not only is He the God of love and compassion, but also the God of Empathy. This means we have a constant companion who is fully knowledgeable of the good, the bad and the shadows. He is accompanying us through it all to help us make good choices and bring victorious, lasting changes.
I had an encounter with Him about some dark things in my heart I was hesitant to tell Him about, but because He has provided a loving and accepting environment I felt emboldened. Still a bit fearful I felt I had to take a leap of faith and if I died, I died. I was really battling religiosity in my heart to get beyond being politically correct with God. I had a vision of Esther deciding to come before the king uninvited. Apparently she could’ve been executed for this breach of protocol. She said, “If I die, I die.” The king instead extended his scepter to her because he was pleased with her. God is pleased with us and gives us the right to come before Him as His prince, His princess, His family, His bride. I almost expected that a lightning bolt would destroy me as I confessed before Him. Having opened darker things before Him, He said matter-of-factly that this full disclosure meant the deeper work could now commence and that it was a good start. The ground didn’t open to swallow me whole. I experienced full acceptance, understanding and kindness. I felt like I had just finished a session with the doctor. He is totally vested in our deepest well being and our emotional and mental health.
He is drawing us deeper into love encounters so that we can see what the real deal looks like. Disclose away then. Go for it. This partnership with Him will enable us even more so to reach out to the world with His heart for them in a very informed way about what love looks like. This is about the Great Commission.
We love because He first loved us. I John 4:19
Audio sermon to the above word – 01/7/23 at Blazing Fire Church