Latest / First15 Devotional / Living Fully Known
Transcript
- 0:04[SPEAKER_00]: As we are called to the light, we are called to be fully known.
- 0:09[SPEAKER_00]: Many of us shatter at the thought of complete, total vulnerability and false subject to the lie that we could never be fully loved if someone saw all of us.
- 0:22[SPEAKER_00]: Today we'll explore why being fully known before God is so important and life-giving.
- 0:29[SPEAKER_00]: May you walk away today, free from shame and fear, after having faced a holy God vulnerable, and having encountered his unconditional love.
- 0:40[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the first 15 podcast.
- 1:13[SPEAKER_00]: Our Scripture for today comes from Luke 8, verse 17, Scripture says, For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will
- 1:33[SPEAKER_00]: To live in secrecy before God, man and yourself is to live in darkness.
- 1:40[SPEAKER_00]: We are made to be fully known.
- 1:44[SPEAKER_00]: We are made to be open and vulnerable.
- 1:48[SPEAKER_00]: It's only in the place of living fully known that we can truly receive the depths of God's love for us.
- 1:56[SPEAKER_00]: It's only in being fully known that we discover who we really are and the immensity of our need for God.
- 2:05[SPEAKER_00]: Our culture values perception above reality.
- 2:10[SPEAKER_00]: We work tirelessly to create an image of perfection in the minds of others that requires a constant covering up of who we truly are.
- 2:22[SPEAKER_00]: We work to build up a facade, a false outer shell, and attempts to keep in darkness, that which we fear will cause rejection.
- 2:32[SPEAKER_00]: But the greater our facade, the less we are truly loved.
- 2:38[SPEAKER_00]: When someone loves an image we've created, that we know isn't truly us, we can't receive that love.
- 2:46[SPEAKER_00]: When someone complements the image of perfection, we've worked to create.
- 2:51[SPEAKER_00]: We are all the time thinking, if you only knew who I really was, you wouldn't be saying those things.
- 2:59[SPEAKER_00]: To be fully loved is to be fully known.
- 3:04[SPEAKER_00]: The sobering truth of Scripture is that God already knows the secrets of our hearts, and will one day bring them out into the light, whether we desire it or not.
- 3:16[SPEAKER_00]: Hebrews 413 says, and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
- 3:30[SPEAKER_00]: Luke 817 says, for nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
- 3:44[SPEAKER_00]: God knows the importance of everything being brought to the light.
- 3:49[SPEAKER_00]: His chief desire is full relationship with us and he knows full relationship only occurs
- 3:59[SPEAKER_00]: While God knows the secrets of our heart already, we will not receive the fullness of his love here on earth until we willingly open them up to Him.
- 4:10[SPEAKER_00]: God patiently waits for us to make ourselves fully known to Him, all the while beckoning us with His loving kindness.
- 4:19[SPEAKER_00]: He declares his good nature to us through Scripture, circumstances, and his spirit, knocking on the door of our hearts that we might let him in to love us, heal us, and set us free.
- 4:34[SPEAKER_00]: Take time today to open your life to God in guided prayer, and with his help tear down whatever facade you've built up.
- 4:44[SPEAKER_00]: Engage in the process of living fully known, by offering up the parts of your heart you've never wanted to bring to the light.
- 4:53[SPEAKER_00]: Tell them of your secrets.
- 4:56[SPEAKER_00]: Make some space to reflect on your life.
- 4:59[SPEAKER_00]: What do you work tirelessly to keep in the dark?
- 5:04[SPEAKER_00]: What thoughts, motives, or wounds, do you constantly try and hide?
- 5:10[SPEAKER_00]: Trust that your God is a good father.
- 5:13[SPEAKER_00]: He already knows the secrets of your life.
- 5:16[SPEAKER_00]: He will not reject you.
- 5:19[SPEAKER_00]: He is not disgusted with or ashamed of you.
- 5:23[SPEAKER_00]: He simply wants to fully love you.
- 5:27[SPEAKER_00]: May you experience the love of your heavenly Father to greater measures today, as you seek to live fully known.
- 6:03[SPEAKER_00]: As we begin, meditate on the importance of being fully known, take time to reflect on your life, and what living with the facade does to your heart.
- 6:16[SPEAKER_00]: Think about the wonders of being both fully known and fully loved.
- 6:22[SPEAKER_00]: Hebrews 413 says, and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
- 7:08[SPEAKER_00]: And next, what secrets, wounds, motives, or thoughts are in darkness?
- 7:16[SPEAKER_00]: What do you work tirelessly to conceal from others?
- 7:21[SPEAKER_00]: What are you even working to hide from yourself?
- 7:57[SPEAKER_00]: And last, tell God about what you've hidden in darkness, journal, pray, or reflect with him about that which you've tried to hide.
- 8:09[SPEAKER_00]: Open up to him and ask him how he feels about you.
- 8:14[SPEAKER_00]: Ask him how he feels about what you've kept hidden.
- 8:18[SPEAKER_00]: Take time and simply let him love and enjoy you.
- 8:23[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 8, verses 37 through 39 says, know in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
- 8:33[SPEAKER_00]: for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus or Lord.
- 9:33[SPEAKER_00]: There is something so powerful about simply being enjoyed by God.
- 9:38[SPEAKER_00]: When we find that he delights in us, everything changes.
- 9:43[SPEAKER_00]: In the fifth century, St. Augustine said, In loving me, you made me lovable.
- 9:50[SPEAKER_00]: To experience the love of God is to learn that apart from anything we could ever do, we are lovable.
- 9:59[SPEAKER_00]: You are lovable, just as you are, and you can never become unlovable.
- 10:05[SPEAKER_00]: The God who alone sees every part of you, and who alone is true, loves you just as you are.
- 10:13[SPEAKER_00]: May you find security, joy, and peace in the relentless love of your heavenly Father.
- 10:37[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for listening to today's podcast Living Fully-None.
- 10:42[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Josh Miller with 1st 15.
- 10:44[SPEAKER_00]: In the middle of this week on Light, I hope you're experiencing a little bit of the freedom that comes when we allow God to illuminate parts of our lives.
- 10:55[SPEAKER_00]: There's no more peaceful lifestyle than living in the light, even though it can be challenging to get there.
- 11:03[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and may God bless you as you see Kim.