Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

I remember growing up hearing the many reasons people didn’t go to church; for a long time I agreed with most of them. By far, the two I heard the most were “all the Church want is money” & “The Church are a bunch of hypocrites, they’re all fakin.”  The money issue is a fruitless conversation to have.  However, if there’s one thing that continues to hurt the Church today, it’s our inability to be authentic and transparent.  The Urban Dictionary defines Fakin as “someone who’s scared to keep it real,” and often the Church tends to keep it real fake.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Jesus and His imperfect Church, we the Church just need to be willing to admit that we’re imperfect.

Many profess Christ, then feel a need to maintain a façade of being faultless. However, one of the most powerful sermons is the transparency of a Christian that acknowledges a struggle and the Grace God provided to help them through the challenging situation.  One of my favorite John P Kee songs is called “Testify.”  The lyrics that I just absolutely love are “The things that we want to hide are the things that He wants to use.  If we will testify that thing He will remove.”  So rather than trying to hide it from people, tell your own story then get help while helping others along the way.

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.   You see when we share our “Real Lives” with others we value, the blessing is twofold.  We allow others, who have our best interest in mind, help hold us accountable and lift us up in prayer.  We also allow others who are going thru the same or similar situation to see that they are not alone.  They can then see that if those they know & respect can go thru a challenge and make it; that kind of encouragement can help others and when we testify the body is built up.

The next part of James’ verse is “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  This is really the key; we fake rather than pray; we hide from the truth rather than walk in the righteousness Jesus died to give us.  When we walk in His righteousness; we have all the provisions we need (Matt 6:33), our prayers are answered (James 5:16), our praise is perfected (Ps 7:17) , we are justified (Rom 3:26).  Jesus has given us victory to overcome any and every situation; even if the situation is self-inflicted.

God’s Love and Grace is perfect and cannot be outdone; there is nothing capable of separating us from the Love of God (Rom 8:37-39), not even you……  So stop hiding from your struggle or issue; you don’t have to post it on Twitter or Facebook but you can certainly tell your confidants and let God’s love do the rest.  Remember your victory is just waiting on your testimony….

The things that we want to hide are the things that He wants to use. If we will testify that thing He will remove.