Allowing God To Undress Us by Pablo Giacopelli
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=220113&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
By Pablo Giacopelli
Allowing God to undress us in the desert is not pleasant nor comfortable yet believe me when I tell you that what is uncovered once he does makes it well worth it. Below I would like to share with you some of the transformations I have been experiencing in my life during the last 14 years as I have roamed into some of the darkest and unhealthiest places within me. These changes have happened as I have accepted the grace to be able to shed the labels that I had come to identify my life with which were of course not true. The pain and the suffering in some of these areas was and still is at times very real yet the underlying message they led me to believe about myself was not.
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Allowing God to undress us in the desert is not pleasant nor comfortable yet believe me when I tell you that what is uncovered once he does makes it well worth it. Below I would like to share with you some of the transformations I have been experiencing in my life during the last 14 years as I have roamed into some of the darkest and unhealthiest places within me. These changes have happened as I have accepted the grace to be able to shed the labels that I had come to identify my life with which were of course not true. The pain and the suffering in some of these areas was and still is at times very real yet the underlying message they led me to believe about myself was not.
Here are some of the places that have been awakened and restored in my heart:
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The label of a slave makes way for us to be revealed as sons and daughters.
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The label of a mighty warrior makes way for us to be revealed as tender lovers.
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The label of religious soldiers makes way for us to be revealed as ambassadors of the Kingdom.
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The label of lost makes way for us to be revealed and found in Christ.
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The label of mentally tough makes way for us to be revealed as sensitive romantics.
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The label of false and polluted makes way for us to be revealed as authentic and pure.
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The label of human doings makes way for us to be revealed as human beings.
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The label of absent and ashamed makes way for us to be revealed as present and vulnerable.
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The label of an outsider makes way for us to be revealed as family members.
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The label of arrogant and afraid makes way for us to be revealed as confident and brave.
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The label of disintegrated and shallow makes way for us to be revealed as whole and intimate.
In spirituality entering a desert is not a choice but something that is an ongoing part of our journey. The opportunity to choose comes when we decide what we allow to happen in this space. Once in the desert, God encouraged the people of Israel to choose life. To choose what was real and true and not what was idle and false. Like them, we too have a choice to make. So if we are serious about discovering our real life in Christ then we must realize that we need to relax and let God undress us in the desert. Is it only then that all that is not true and burdensome about us will have a chance to be shed so that what is good and true can be uncovered.
Meditate – Will the desert be the resting place of our entire life or just for that part of us that is an illusion and false?
Pablo Giacopelli
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=235793&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
"God is on my side" I heard someone say the other day as they shared about a dispute they were having with someone else. As I sat there listening to this person give me all the details about why they thought God was on their side and not on the other party's side I began to wonder. So many of us are so quick to say that God must be on our side because of what we have read and others have told us. Clearly when it comes to the way he feels towards us as our father this is indisputable – He always has and always will be on our side. However, can this be also said when we fight and argue with each other about what after all often only amounts to egotistical pettiness?
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I have driven on many third world countries in my time. South Africa is one of these which I happen to often visit. Without fault every time I have been in a car at some stage of my visit, I have had to experience the impact that the regular power cuts have on the traffic signals in this nation. I remember last time I was there when once again while having to endure along with everyone else another blackout, I noticed something that I had never seen before when I came to a non-working traffic light. There is never an accident when the lights are not working whereas when they are working correctly there are plenty. How can this be? Well here is what my heart showed me.
http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&url=10&view=post&articleid=233389&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
When we choose to live a life where controlling and watching everything we say and do is king, the impact of our involvement is automatically limited as our heart and mind begin to fight between them for the supremacy of our beings. Consider an archer. If he is free to shoot his arrows anywhere he wants he will have the whole of his talent (heart) available to him. He will have no future results in his mind and will therefore almost always hit whatever he desires. Now take the same archer and ask him to hit the apple above your head and you immediately put him in a space where the potential of being divided is available to him.