Authenticity with Jesus and Others

I have read a few interesting books lately.  One is entitled “No More Faking Fine” by Esther Fleece.  I found this book after a friend sent me a YouTube video of an interview in which Esther Fleece talks about her book.  I highly recommend it – it is 45 minutes that is well worth the time.  Anyway, after watching the interview multiple times and sharing it with many different people I felt the Lord leading me to purchase the book.  It was excellent and very impactful, just as the video was.  Would you consider watching it?  

This book is about lamenting or about recognizing and admitting that we as believers hurt.  “Lament is simply expressing honest emotions to God when life is not going as planned.”  God wants our sad.  He is not distressed by our emotions of sadness – we need only look to David, or Jeremiah or Hannah or Jesus Himself…. For some reason though in the church and as believers we have conditioned ourselves or been tricked by the enemy that to share authentically and vulnerably is a bad thing or at the very least is an inconvenience.  This is so wrong.  I believe that God intends to break us of our pride and our self-sufficiency by using these hurts we experience to enable us to see that He is the only one who is able to meet our every need.  Then we are able to share the hope we find in Jesus with others in a way that meets them where they are because it is real – it is ours and it becomes theirs.  Jesus is our only hope!!

At one point in the book, Esther Fleece makes a few statements that the Lord has used to impact me profoundly.  “The only way to process the loss of the life we had hoped for is to lament.  And one of the kindest things we can do for each other is to offer a safe space where we don’t have to do it alone.  The ministry of presence is one of the greatest gifts we have to offer each other, especially in the midst of heartache.” (p. 188).  This is it!! God has called me to the ministry of presence.  He has been showing me this for many years.  It is crucial that we come alongside one another and live life beyond the surface.  The enemy of our soul tries to keep up from facing life head on with Jesus by convincing us to put on a mask or pretend that all is well when that is not the case.  We all struggle and admitting that is a great beginning or connecting point in sharing Jesus with a lost and dying world!!

Consider Psalm 13. 

1)   LORD, how long will You forget me?  Forever?  How long will You hide Your face from me?

2)   How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day?  How long will my enemy dominate me?

3)   Consider me and answer, LORD my God.  Restore brightness to my eyes; otherwise I will sleep in death.

4)   My enemy will say, ‘I have triumphed over him,’ and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

5)   But have trusted in Your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in Your deliverance.

6)   I will sing to the LORD because He had treated me generously. 

Do you see how David took his “lament” to God?  How he shared fully his hurts, his fears, his doubts and then his hopes and ultimately turned to praising God?  This is a phenomenon only our Lord can do for us!  To go to Him honestly and without restraint is a gift He has given us! (Hebrews 4:16)  And in turn He restores us, our trust, our awareness that He is mighty, that He is in control and no matter what things look like around us or what is done to us – He loves us and He holds us in His mighty hand!!  (Jeremiah 30:17; Psalm 51:12; Isaiah 57:18; 1 Peter 5:10; John 10:29).  It is an ongoing process, a journey.  I want to do this journey His way and not my own. 

Father God, I thank You that though this journey can be awfully hard the fact is that when we belong to You we never walk alone.  Thank You for Your provision at all times and in all ways – regardless of what we see or don’t see.  Thank You that we can bring it all to You without fear and know that You are at work.  Help us Lord to be willing to do the hard things of facing our hurts – those we experience and those we cause – both for ourselves and alongside the others that You put in our path.  We all hurt, Lord, this is just a fact (John 16:33), but please allow us to surrender to You so that You may use our hurts to point others to the hope that we have in You, Jesus.  Help us not to get stuck in our hurts, but to lament and process them so that You may use them for Your glory in Your time and in Your way.  In Jesus Name, Amen.