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WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN

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Author Nancy Bauer, Washington State

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A MANIKIN IN A ‘JESUS-ROBE’

 

“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can't be hidden.” Matthew 5:15

 

    It’s a slap in God’s face to be unsatisfied with who He created you to be. When we try to become someone else or to create in yourself a fake person, it’s as if you are telling God that what He created in you isn’t good enough…isn’t perfect. Didn’t the Holy Spirit tell God the TRUTH when He finished creating you and then said, “She’s finished…and she’s PERFECT!”

 

  Let me ask you… have you seen anything that God has created that ISN’T perfect? Look at nature. From a blade of grass to the alignment of the planets…each are perfectly made and for a perfect purpose. Why should God’s creation of the human-being be any less perfect?

 

   My friend, Gloria, is looking for perfection. Perfection of God within herself…but without God’s help. Here’s her story:

  

   Gloria was raised by a family that didn’t know much about God.

   She was raised by parents that were very social.

   Her parents’ friends were very important to them. So, if there was an imperfection, it was to be hidden so as to not look ‘unsociable’.  She, along with her family, frequently wore “masks”.

 

  Gloria was taught to ACT at a young age. So, it’s natural that she should ‘act the part’ in every stage of life that she went through as she grew older. Each stage had its own mask. She had these personas perfected.

 

  Late in life, Gloria found Jesus. For the first year, her Salvation gave her the freedom that she sought after. The mask came off……at least for awhile.

 

   As time went by and God started to grow her up by trials, she realized that she didn’t know as much about God as many others in the church. She’d accepted Jesus late in life and had lost all the ‘time’ that the others had had.

 

  The thought of others knowing more than she did, nagged on her. She decided to study…..to find head knowledge…..to be able to “fit in” or “stand out” with her church family.

 

   Jesus’ brothers accused Him of this same thing, of wanting to STAND OUT without being REAL…..”You want attention, Jesus? Then get out and show Yourself to the crowds that are here for the festival. Do all Your miracles in front of them, and make a SHOW, and You will be well known.”

 

   But Jesus refused…and why? The reason was in His answer. He said,  “The TIME for Me has not yet come.” (John 7:2-5)

Jesus waited for His Father to tell Him the RIGHT TIME to SHOW HIMSELF.

 

   When something comes from God, it is true…IT IS REAL! Jesus knew this, and waited for truth.

  If Gloria would have waited for God’s direction…His timing… it would have been real in her, too.

 

  But Gloria continued her seeking without God.

 

  The more she studied the more facts she learned. She grew in head knowledge without spiritual knowledge. Sure, she impressed her friends at church with her facts, but the spiritual knowledge was missing. Where was God in all this? She hadn’t sought God’s Spirit…the teacher of spiritual wisdom, knowledge, understanding and truth.   

 

   Her flesh was trying to control. Her pride was trying to take over. She truly wanted to stand out among her brothers and sisters in Christ. She had decided that this was the way to do it. She PUT ON the ‘Jesus-robe’ without the Jesus CHARACTER. And the fakeness couldn’t be hidden. The truth of GRACE through the Holy Spirit was missing.

  

  We all know someone who is like Gloria…someone who says the right words and maybe, even does the right things….but somehow we can tell it’s fake. The Holy Spirit isn’t revealing the truth through that person. And so, their words and actions seem fake.

 

   These are the people who have desecrated the name of Jesus. They “put on the robe” but underneath that robe they have painted faces with no spiritual life. No truth. Just a manikin, painted to look like a Christian. Could this be the warning we see in the Bible of false prophets? Those who LOOK real……

 

 Mat 7:15  "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

 

   So, where did Gloria go wrong?

   She sought the truth that others had, but sought it in HER own way…..not God’s way. She sought HEAD knowledge and not HEART knowledge; heart knowledge that can only come from the Spirit of God.

 

    When we receive Salvation, God opens a way for the Spirit to move in us.

    It’s our job to make way for Him. It’s our job to seek God’s truth, by surrendering to Him. To allow God to heal us and make us EXACTLY what He created us to be.  PERFECT and UNMASKED!

    In reality, the perfection inside us is JESUS….but we must allow the Holy Spirit to bring out Jesus’ character, not our own.

 

   I pray that someday Gloria will give her mask to God. I pray that God’s very own Spirit will reveal that the work is done…and now she can rest in the completed cross. I pray that her life, under the ‘Jesus-robe’ would be Spirit-breathed. I pray that she would find TRUTH.

 

   Luke 8:17  “Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be found and brought to light.”