Baring It All

As a little girl I would often fall over and frequently had grazed knees. My Mother would bathe them gently and pick the gravel out of the wound – all the while with my crying and complaining. She would then cover it and we would leave it covered until it healed. I would limp around protecting the wound. Sometimes the wound would fester, and my Mother would insist the plaster must be removed and the wound exposed to the sun and fresh air. I feared this because of the pain. Also, when I was young I loved the Lone Ranger. He fought all the bad guys and came to the rescue of the oppressed. He wore a white hat and rode a white horse. The bad guys wore black hats.

Key – In life we must know who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. God is good; really, good! The devil is bad; really, bad!

In life we can get wounded deeply. Sometimes we cover it, protect and may even try to bury and forget it, but it often festers. Maybe deep down we believe God did this to us or at least allowed this wound. So, we limp in our walk with God. We hear other believers speak of their marvellous times with Father God in the ‘secret place’ or that ‘hidden place of rest’ and we long to go there, but at the same time we fear that place because we are worried that God will uncover that wound; expose it and ask us to address it. We can feel the call to this place of intimacy in prayer and the word, but there are doubts that we can trust Him and the devil whispers in our thoughts that it will be painful. If this is you today, take a deep breath; pull the plaster off the wound and offer it to the Son and the wind of Holy Spirit. Say yes to allowing Him to bathe that wound in the Blood of Jesus and allow Him to remove the gravel that keeps inflicting pain. James tells us to

1             ‘Submit to God’. He is good. He wears the white hat.
2             ‘Resist the devil’. Attack every negative thought against the word of God. Speak the word of God to the wound.
3             ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’ In prayer, use scripture and your imagination and find yourself in a place where you feel safe – see Jesus there and allow Jesus to come and put His hand on that wound.