I Dare You To Be Bare

This month’s blog entry was written by a guest, Elaine McArthur, founder of Beauty For Ashes ministry in Brooklyn, New York. Her Bio is at the end of the article.

Transparency or being naked in the presence of God is something that He desires from all His children.  Think about your current relationships and how you may share intimate details with one person and not the other.  One of the many things I love about God is the fact that when you tell Him something about yourself, even when that something is a confession of having violated His Word, there is no condemnation.   Romans 8:1, states “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Nothing you tell Him or confess to Him is held against you, Hallelujah!!!! Self-transparency before God is what He loves. It is similar to the way an earthly father feels walking through the front door after a long day at work and his child runs into his arms. Among all of your relationships, your relationship with God should be the one in which you feel totally comfortable exposing your nakedness and being fully transparent.  Practicing transparency before God allows a spiritual exchange to take place between you and Him. God will reveal Himself to you and in turn, you’re compelled to surrender and confess all your insecurities, fears, and anxieties, trusting He will take care of you. In Isaiah 46:4 it states, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you”. (NIV) The exchange that takes place is comforting, liberating, empowering and by faith it allows Divine access to God’s throne. Building a transparent relationship with God is to our benefit, not God’s. It will produce a bond of trust, love, and faith. There is so much that demands our time these days, but I challenge you to sit daily before God and watch what He’ll do. Start with dismantling all your personal achievements, academic degrees, your economic status, titles, and worldly accomplishments and just sit at His feet and listen to what He has to say to you. So, you might be asking, “How do I become naked before God”? I’m glad you asked. Here are a few ways to practice or enhance transparency with God:

1. Prayer is the vehicle through which we can strip naked, bare our true selves before God and not be judged. If you have never cultivated a prayer life, start in small increments of time, and increase as you grow more comfortable being in His presence. Psalm 145:18. NIV
2. Find a Scripture and meditate on it throughout your day, allowing God to use the Scripture to transform your heart. II Timothy 2:7. NIV
3. Find a Church in which you are comfortable and where you can be taught the word of God. Romans 10:17. NIV.
4. Learn from select Godly friends that you trust. Ask God to send the right persons your way. Proverbs 27:17.
5. Listen to your favorite worship music- something about music that sest the atmosphere for the presence of God. 1Chronicles 25:6. NIV.

Your relationship with God builds intimacy, intimacy produces comfort, comfort produces transparency, transparency produces healing and healing produces liberation.  So, the next time you’re praying, I dare you to be bare.

Elaine McArthur was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. She studied Laboratory Technology and has been working as  Laboratory Technologist for the past 32 years. She also pursued a degree in Health and Nutritional Sciences from Brooklyn College.  Her study in Health and Nutrition along with her Christian faith confirms for her, that God is not only interested in our spiritual health and wholeness, but God is also interested in our physical, mental, and emotional wholeness as well. Her life commitment is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, using wholeness, health, and wellness as a vehicle through which to reach the lost, broken, and hurting.  In her spare time, she loves cooking, fashion, studying the art of makeup, exercising, and keeping connected with family and friends.  Elaine has been married for 30 years to her childhood sweet heart James and they have one daughter named Ashlee. Her favorite quote, the one by which she lives, comes from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.