Who Told You that You Were Naked?

“Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” Genesis 3:11, NLT

This verse was brought back to my attention today as I was reading a post on Facebook. When I read that verse, I don't hear a judgmental, angry God, but a simple question from a loving Father. Yes, He confronts the sin in the next sentence, but not with unneeded anger, and certainly, not with unwarranted judgement. 

Who told you that you were naked? - Both a natural result of disobeying God and the shame resulting from the lie of Satan. They realized they were naked because of the shame they felt. They had been naked all along, but not in shame and sin. 

We must learn that with God nothing is hidden. We are always, in that since, naked in His presence. He knows our thoughts and our hearts. He knows our desires and "secret" sins. He knows our anger and unforgiveness. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is hidden from Him.

And...yet...He still loves us! He still wants a relationship with us. 

Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat? - God simply confronts our sin. There is no need for anger most of the time. We are usually well-aware of our sin and choices to disobey. We are usually already heaping guilt upon ourselves. His Spirit simply comes and confronts our sin so that we can be cleansed. 

I think this is where I have trouble with what some believe. I believe God confronts sins or problems of any kind because He has the solution. I believe God offered forgiveness to Adam and Eve. We read in other verses later in Genesis that they acknowledge God regularly. They taught their children to make offerings to God. Why would they do these things if God simply cast them out of His kingdom and presence forever? I believe their faith and hope in God saved them just as it saves us. They lost the garden, and maybe they lost that daily walk with God in the garden too, but they didn't lose God. Just like Abraham's faith was counted to him as righteousness, I believe it was for them as well. Unrepentance would have kept them from God, but I believe after their little blame-fest when confronted that they repented. They accepted God's gracious gift of clothing and worshiped him outside the garden. They put their hope in a future Messiah who would take away the sins of the world.

I just needed to share that with you even though it is off point a little. 

So, back to where I was going with this...who told you that you were naked? You see that question carried more than just the fact that they were indeed naked...even with those sad little leaves attempting to cover themselves. They were still naked, ashamed, and hopeless. They had failed. They had disobeyed. They had done the only thing they'd been commanded not to do, and the consequences were eternal and far-reaching for all mankind. 

But Satan had added the lies and accusations to it: That the situation was hopeless, that they could and needed to hide from God, that they could not be reconciled to God, that they were now unlovable and useless to God's plan.

It's interesting that we read the conversation between Satan and Eve before they ate the fruit, but we don't need to read the conversation afterward because we are all too familiar with it! We know in our deepest hearts that Satan then turned on them and accused them. He told them they could no longer be loved by God. 

Satan still tells us this on a daily basis in one way or another. He's trying to get us to bite into the same fruit of hopelessness and despair. If he can get us to do that, then we won't run to the Father who can forgive and cover our sin. We won't trust in God but try to sew leaves together to keep looking good to the world around us. We continue to live in fear that someone is going to find out the truth about who we really are and what we're really like. 

It's a trap. It's a lie. It's not what God wants for us. Living that way is living a lie! The truth will set us free! Let it!

Don't blame anyone else, just come to God and confess. Let Him cover your sin with His love and forgiveness. Let Him show you His ways, and let Him set you free from the shame and lies of the enemy.   

Prayer Is So Much More

Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward
    on a firm footing.
Psalm 143:10, NLT

Prayer releases us to ministry--the kind of relational prayer that makes us one with God makes us one with Him in ministry and releases us to minister in His power and strength.

Be strong and courageous!" God says. An impossible command without His Spirit--without being in communication with God. But with the Spirit and prayer, that strength and courage is given as a gift from God.

Look at the disciples. The night of Jesus' arrest, cowering in the dark, denying their association with Him, falling asleep instead of praying. After receiving the Holy Spirit, they spoke with power and lived out lives that revealed God.

We too often relegate prayer to the level of a chore, an obligation, or a wish list, and those are not what it is meant to be. It is our lifeline to our First Love. It is our opportunity to commune with our Heavenly Father. It is a time of intimacy where God ministers to us and we experience Him in relationship.

Our two most important real LIFE lines are prayer and the Bible. They should be the most exciting, amazing experiences in our lives, and we are lulled into the deception that they are boring, lifeless, or out-dated.

Lord, break through the lies of the enemy that we have accepted. Help us to understand the TRUTH and LIFE found in Your word and prayer daily.

They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Mark 14:32-38, NLT

Organic Discipleship

I started writing a book awhile ago, and I was originally thinking of calling it "Discipleship for a New Age."

Discipleship in the 21^st Century, actually, toward the end of the 20^th Century, began to look very different from the Survival Kit generation of the 70’s and 80’s. When I was first taking a discipleship class, I was a high school student. I had been a Christian for about ten years, and I had been discipled through strong believers in my life, Sunday School, and Training Union…yes, I feel old. However, a college student asked my friend and me if we’d like to take a discipleship class with her, and she took us through a Bible study and mentored us (in today’s terminology). We learned about having a quiet time, what it means to know Christ, and how to pray. We learned about prayer journals and being faithful. Much of what we learned were basics of theology for someone who has grown up in and around the church.

When I started discipling others, I followed the same patterns, until one day I was so blessed to have two young women who had come to the Lord from very different backgrounds (one was from a Taoist background, the other considered herself Catholic but only attended mass about twice a year) ask me to mentor them. They would read their Bibles each day, and then after work, they could come to my house and hang out. We would discuss what they’d read, and I would answer their questions. While fixing dinner, we would discuss the Word of God and deal with any issues that had arisen in their process of following Christ.

This was the most authentic, rewarding discipling I’d ever experienced. It was also the most challenging. I was living out my faith, teaching by word and example, and we were discussing topics that I have NEVER seen in any discipleship book. Some of the topics, quite frankly, made me blush.

However, one of the topics that I had never even thought to cover was reincarnation. I guess I just assumed they would know that it didn’t fit into Christian teaching; that we did not believe in reincarnation at all, but that was not the case. Having no background in the Bible, one of the young women assumed that reincarnation stopped when you became a Christian. She believed she would go to heaven, but she did not have any idea that reincarnation, as she’d been taught, was not true.

The other young woman had the strong and happy conviction that she would someday be an angel. This is a popular teaching North American culture often embeds in our movies and stories. When she realized while reading the Bible that it was not true, she was crushed.

These are things I never would have thought of putting into a discipleship training manual. But these were topics that were important in our discussions.

Today, just as in the New Testament, we need to seek more opportunities for what we would refer to as a more “organic” disciple-making where we literally allow people to come alongside us as we live out our lives daily, mentoring and learning together.

Some key components to this type of discipleship are:

      1. A commitment to read the Bible: These two young women were hungry for the Word of God. They devoured it daily without any reading plan. They just had a desire to know God and understand Christian living. The mentor and the mentees must be reading their Bibles. We could have read the Bible together each day when we met, and sometimes we did, but usually they read on their own, and we discussed what they’d read.

      2. Time: This type of discipleship is not a once-a-week Bible study, although that can be a part of it. These young women were in my home almost daily. They ate dinner with us most evenings during the week. It was a commitment for me and my family as well as for them. And the fruit of discipleship made it so worth it.

      3. No limits on topics: You must be open to discussing ANYTHING. You never know what ideas, problems, hurts, or beliefs a new believer may be wrestling with. We can’t help them grow if we are afraid to tackle tough topics. We also must be ready share and explain the tough requirements of following Christ. Jesus said to count the cost. We need to help them do that.

     

      4. Pray together: Let them know where you are struggling too. Let them see that coming to Christ doesn't place you in a protective bubble. When young Christians learn that they can minister and that you trust them to minister to you, they often grow faster and are more serious and committed in their faith. Plus, it is terrible to see those who are spiritual sponges but never share their knowledge and experience. We need to help young believers start ministering from the beginning of their walk with God. I’m not saying we should pour out all our dysfunction and stress upon them, but there should be some reciprocity in the caring for one another.

      

      5. Ask questions: Don’t be afraid to ask questions; ask for their thoughts on current events or, if you dare, politics. This may reveal some areas that need to be addressed in their thinking. However, stick with the Bible. For example, just because you think one political view is more “Christian” than another doesn’t mean you are right. We should be careful not to go beyond what the Scriptures teach. We are trying to connect with this person and help them connect more with their newfound faith and their new loving Father. I try very hard, very consciously, to state when something is just my opinion or personal conviction about something that the Bible does not state clearly one way or the other. I explain why I believe the way I do. I’ve had those I’ve mentored explain why they believe the way they do as well, and we’ve been okay with that. It’s not always comfortable, but we can disagree peacefully and still continue to be friends and fellow disciples. This teaches them the strength in fellowship.

    

      6. Pray for wisdom in all things: You will need it. Never be afraid to admit that you aren’t sure about something. Let them know you need to do more research or ask your mentor about something that has you stumped. Once one of these young women asked me about a story I had totally forgotten in the Old Testament. I couldn’t remember the context or anything. I had to tell her I would go back and read it again and get back to her with an answer. I did that and clarified her misunderstandings the next day. It turned into a great teachable moment where we discussed how God never contradicts Himself. If a verse seems to be contradictory to other Scriptures, we are misunderstanding something. That was the case with this story.

      7. Love them: More than anything, love God and love them. Respect them. And encourage them. It’s like growing a garden. The more nourishment, the stronger they become in their new-found faith and the more they grow. Watch a young believer when you encourage them. They respond with joy and enthusiasm for the things of God.

When we look at what discipleship was in the New Testament, we see that this kind of model is closer to how Jesus and Paul did it. In our culture, it is hard to think of doing discipleship this way, especially with our busy schedules, but, if we can commit to it, it is so worth the time and effort. Both young women I’ve mentioned here met with me like this for about a year. Later, one went on to seminary and serves in her church. The other went back to school to become a teacher and helps with children’s ministry in her church. Both are still very active and faithful. It’s been nearly 20 years since we first met. I met them when they accepted Christ and began discipling them almost immediately.

Today we use terms like “pour into people’s lives,” “mentor,” or “be authentic.” This is all a part of simply living out your faith in front of others and teaching them along the way how to live out theirs. This really is what discipleship is.

Repentance, Rationalizing, and Revival

I was just praying and really pleading with God to renew my mind and heart. Sometimes I feel so far from Him and from who He intends for me to be. In that prayer I realized how easy it is to come to a loving, accepting, merciful, generous Father like our God and truly repent of our attitudes and failures. We know that we grieve His heart, but we also know His heart is big enough to forgive and restore. As long as we have a humble heart that wants to be right with Him, repentance is the easy part.

It's the walking in that repentance that is hard. Fighting the same old temptations. Wanting to snuggle with our pet sins and fears. These are where the tough times are. It's so hard to reject those and stand firm in our convictions.

I know, true repentance includes walking the right way, but let's face it...we fail. Even Paul wrote about it in Romans 7.

A friend has written her story, and I was reading it. In her story she talks about asking for God's help over and over to overcome her challenges. She would hold out her hands wanting God to drop the answer into them when the answer wasn't getting something from God; the answer was God.

As I was praying and wrestling with my own heart, I realize she is so right. I need God to be my strength because I am so so weak. I need God to be my strong tower where I can hide from my own sinful pride and my pet sins. I need God to be my mighty warrior when I face the fears I've used as crutches for avoiding painful, difficult things. He is our all in all. He is the missing piece in our emptiness. He is the treasure we seek.

In our strength, we can do nothing. The Bible tells us that in John 15. But in Christ, we can do anything because He is our strength. Nothing is impossible for God. Nothing. Not even overcoming the same old stumbling blocks that have become my comfort zone. In Christ we are not just overcomers; we are more than conquerors. He demolishes our sad rationalizations. He tears down the strongholds we've allowed in our lives. He uproots the bitterness and pain in our relationships.

We don't just serve an awesome, mighty God; we rely on Him for our every need.

I recently watched a video of a pastor who is gay. He realized he could not follow God and follow his own sexual desires. He chose to be celibate and follow God. I wonder if I could be that loyal and strong. How many of us when faced with a painful decision of denying ourselves so greatly would choose to stand with Christ in obedience, not rationalizing our choices and sin?

We do it all the time. Maybe it's not a sexual issue, but look at us. We struggle with the lusts of the flesh whether it's for an improper sexual encounter or a piece of chocolate cake that we know we should not have or letting hurtful words fly because we don't feel like controlling our tongues. Maybe we rationalize that it's not that bad or that it's not hurting anyone else. But sin is like cancer in the church. When we remain unrepentant, we hurt ourselves and the collective body of believers we fellowship with. We weaken our testimony and the work God is doing.

I want to please God and walk closely with Him. I want to leave behind any hindrance to that relationship. I want to get rid of the burdens that keep me from being able to do all God has called me to do. And part of that, a big part of that, is my physical health. If Jesus Christ is Lord of my life, He must be Lord of this as well.

I struggle. I fail. But I am praying for victory and for strength. I am praying for wisdom. Jesus is the answer.

My charismatic friends use the term "pressing in" or "leaning in" to God. I keep picturing a child walking with a parent through a bitter snowstorm. The cold wind hurts and stings. So, the child presses into the parent as shelter against the storm. They find warmth and protection as well as help in walking through it all. I think that is what I need to learn to do more of...pressing in to God when the storms and temptations come my way, knowing that without Him, I would go my usual way.

I desperately want revival and healing for my life, my church, and for everyone. It has to start with my own heart—our own hearts. If we harbor pride, fear, or any other sin, we hinder what God could be doing in our lives. I don't want to stand in God's way from accomplishing all He wants to do in my life.

As the saying goes, "He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all."