FELLOWSHIP FRIDAY

Our series on living transparent lives before God and each other continues tonight, September 16, 2011.

Are you coming out to have a powerful time of fellowship and encouragement?

Over the last six (6) month  we, Women in Fellowship and Encouragement have been shedding all the weight that so easily beset us, that we might press towards the mark of a higher calling in Christ. What are some of those  weighty things that beset us?  The weight that besets, can often be misdiagnosed as pure unadulterated sin issues (lying, cheating, stealing, adultery...); however more often than most times it is an issue in our life that we have overlooked for years, and that those around us are too scared or nervous to confront or hold us accountable for.

For many of us, the weighty matters of our soul is our "dark past", it's the many, many hidden experiences that we convince ourselves that it is okay to hide. It is the abuse in our childhood, the unforgiveness we feel justified in harboring, it is the entitlement to our rights and our sense of justice, it is the neglect and or abandonment we feel as wives and mothers, it is the sojourner through life without friends and family to support, it is the love that always seems to slip by, it is the thank you---you are still waiting to hear, it is the betrayal of a friend, it is the death of a loved one and sadly so, it is the closeness with Christ you feel you can never attain.

Yes, yes, these are some of the weighty things that keeps us from moving forward!  Dearly beloved, I will say to you that these things will continue to be a weighty thing if we DO NOT deal with them. For what has happened is that we have coped by putting up smokescreens, walls, built bridges and walk around in masks for most of our lives. Hence, we never truly experience the love Christ describes in the his command to "love one another as I have loved you."  (John 15:12). Our mask keeps us from being touched, cared for and loved. True communion with Christ and his bodies becomes a cliche or an idea because we have set us baracades around our lives. Fellowship becomes passe, and the very concept lacks desires because you either do not have the skills to do so (you're out of practice), or have the nerve and heart to tolerate the effort and intention needed to thrive in biblically structured relationships.

The weightiness of our lives, lead us to live a lie. We becomes trained actors and actresses. Our daily activities are staged and scripted, because our life story must be people proof.  We dedicated to the art of making known to our neighbors, community and world that we are feeling good, while dying on the inside. We wear smiles as though painted by Picasso himself; yet we are plagued by sadness and grief. We feel hopeless and anxious, so we conjure up ways to live life as a parade. Lies! Lies Lies....

It's time to take off the mask! Peel the layers of the onion and let's reveal the true you. When were are honest- "TRANSPARENT", feeling vulnerable, the holy spirit will bring comfort and healing through those who are assigned to bear your sorrows. When you share your story the Holy Spirit , brings witness to confirm you have never been alone or ever will be. When your reveal the hidden weighty lies, the holy spirit bring light in the dark places and expels the "Lord of Lies-Satan". The Lord is then placed in his right place, as your light and salvation (Psalm 27).

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