Exposed

I awoke from a dream just the other night with a deeper understanding of the struggle most Christians face when it comes to actively participating in Kingdom world changing and exercising their spiritual authority.

It was one of those dreams where you realize that you’re naked or went to work or school and forgot to put on pants. You know the one. We’ve all had a version of that dream at least once in our lives. One where we have spent the entire dream hastily urging on our subconscious self to get to safety. To find a place or something to cover up with. Often failing to do so before we wake up in a mix of adrenaline and relief.

For me in my latest edition (unfortunately, I have had this dream more than a few times), I was preaching a sermon in front of a large crowd of persons both known and unknown to me. It was going splendidly and I was right proud of myself, and that’s when my dream self looked down and noticed my bottom half was sans pants. And it wasn’t just sans pants, it was also sans pantaloons too if you catch my meaning.

Of course dream me hurriedly exited stage left, only to find a locked door and so on and so on throughout the whole blasted room until I woke myself up in an adrenaline induced panic. While I was relieved to realize I was just dreaming, I did sit there awake awhile in the bed with a feeling of just having been exposed. I remember just laying there saying the word ‘exposed’ over and over.

As with most dreams I wake up remembering, I try to use the opportunity to ask The Father; what are you trying to show me? Immediately I thought back to the book of Genesis and Adam and Eve in the garden. I started picturing them just after having ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Meanwhile I kept hearing ‘exposed’ in my mind as I was mentally watching the scene play out.

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
Genesis 3:7 NKJV

We are told in Genesis that Adam and Eve realized they were naked and covered themselves in fig leaves, which always highlighted to me shame before. This time though it was different. I just watched hearing ‘exposed’, as they covered up, and the realization came to me that just before they partnered with shame, they felt exposed. This got me to thinking about how many of us Christians also experience feeling exposed, especially when encountering Kingdom opportunities. And for many, shame isn’t that far away either, or at least the fear of it.

As I thought and prayed on this over the next several days, I really started focusing in on the moment of what I describe as: Kingdom Opportunity Contact. By that I mean the moment when we are presented with the opportunity, as prompted by the Holy Spirit, to exercise our spiritual authority for some person or situation. That authority could be exercised in the way of healing, prophesying, or physically blessing etc. someone, as Jesus and the apostles did, but my point again is in focusing on that exact prompting moment immediately before our response.

We have all been in that moment when we hear/feel/become aware of that prompting. From there we respond in some manner. For the professing Christian, and even at times myself, all to often we don’t respond in a manner consistent with who and what we are, nor in line with what we claim to believe. I have pondered why this is the case. It’s easy to jump immediately to fear or perhaps a lack of faith when attempting to place a label on it. Eventually you’ll get to identity.
However, I started identifying praying through this, that there is this preceding moment happening before fear, or even faith, in the moment of response, for a whole lot of us. That moment is the exact thing that happened in the garden too. It’s my position now that at first it may have everything to do with exposure.

Our old man hated everything to do with exposure. I believe because we carried it down with us through the generations. To have an intimacy laid bare and to be at our most vulnerable state, that’s really what we’re talking about here. For most, exposure is opening a gate in which overhead satan has wrote a signpost saying “Abandon hope all ye whom enter here” unto a dimly lit pathway we have perhaps little idea where is heading. How could that not present an opportunity for partnering with fear and likely conjuring up wisps of past shame to boot? However, let’s remember that satan is a liar and his methods may very, but his tactics do not change. Know this, there are three things satan will always do: 1. satan always attacks your identity. 2. satan always tries to convince you that you’re lacking some amount of the very thing that you need. 3. satan will always try to cause confusion and/or doubt concerning God’s word. This is one of the very first lessons we learn about satan, all the way back in Genesis.

So, in light of this knowledge I went to the dictionary to get a definition of exposure, and I thought what I found was revealing.

Exposure – Noun – : The revelation of an identity or fact, especially one that is concealed or likely to arouse disapproval.

If that doesn’t conjure up visions of Adam and Eve from the moment of eating the fruit, to the tying on of fig leaves, to God calling out where are you, in one word, I’m not sure what does. Man and woman’s first feelings, outside of what the Father had set up for them, the first one they made for themselves, was exposure. And sure, after exposure I’m sure they did partner with and feel shame, but looking in on that exposure moment, wouldn’t that also explain a lot of the inaction we find around us today?

Clearly in that moment several things were happening. They were accepting a false and incomplete identity. They were all lost in a confusing place of fact (man’s knowledge) and truth (the nature of God). They certainly now also realized that their choice was likely to cause disapproval, for they hid. If I could sum up the old man to its core building blocks, it would be the exact items I just wrote above above. Identity crisis, apparent facts vs existential truth, and fear based relationship. Fortunately the old has gone and the new is come!

So what then? So why then do we see a large number of Christians coming to those moments and either missing the prompting or choosing an old man reaction instead of Kingdom action? Exposure and the tactics of our enemy. I think we have to capture this moment of exposure as it’s happening and take it captive. Let’s say I’m prompted to speak healing over this oppressed person. I feel the Father speaking to me to release my authority and to cast this thing out. Immediately I’m faced with exposure. In milliseconds I’m choosing is it surrender and exposure through the truth of God’s word or exposure through old man identity.

Exposure is happening either way during Kingdom encounter because we will lay bare something inside. We will lay bare our identity, whichever one we truly are believing and partnering with. It’s an Abraham and Isaac moment. Surrendered and trusting or not.

When it’s inward directed, old man or incomplete identity partnership, it’s going to manifest in a way that looks something like one of these:

• What if nothing happens?
• What if something does happen?
• What if I’m just imagining this?
• Is this really God’s will?
• What if God doesn’t show up?
• What am I supposed to say?
• What if I’m just not living/doing it right?
• This is too weird/awkward. They think I’m a crazy.
• Did God really say…?

Honestly ask yourself can you imagine either Abraham or Issac saying/thinking any of these with your current experience and worldview?

This thinking happens because satan is employing his three tactics against us and we actively surrender to partnership with that. We can clearly see all the above question identity (The Father’s and ours), suggest we are missing at least the one thing we need and thus are incomplete, and makes us question if we know God’s word.

When we are surrendered knowing who He is and who we are according to His word, and making ourselves an unblocked conduit, that moment of exposure instead opens us up to have His identity and nature flow through us and allows the spiritual realm to manifest into the physical realm and change it.

We could use this ‘exposure’ moment to realize that any fear partnership here would have us look inward only and find ourselves unworthy, according to our accuser, who again is a liar I’ll remind you, and do nothing. Too many of us are missing opportunities here. Perhaps largely because we’re just not experiencing proper exposure around us.

You and me, we are a new creation. My old man would have seen this exposure as an opening for disapproval, whether from man or God or both. My partnership with that lie would ensure nothing less. Rather, I say this opportunity is really meant to open my new self up so that He can flow out of me, because we are one, and ‘expose’ His nature to every situation. Spill His living water over an unclean situation.

In this world the lie satan pitches is: exposure is becoming vulnerable while thinking you don’t/can’t measure up. Then be shamed and hide.

In the Kingdom the truth is exposure is: you laying yourself on the alter, knowing God himself will provide the means. Come and see.

It’s not about knowing yourself, the right formula or prayers, or even really about perhaps expecting a certain outcome. The Exposure moment is about you making yourself available for Him to expose Himself deeper to you.

Here are some steps you can take in those Kingdom Opportunity contact exposure moments to place yourself on the alter as a willing sacrifice, instead of just becoming the alter itself and moving in the opposite direction:

• Understand that it’s not fear and nervousness you feel in those moments, for that is a lie, instead realize that those feelings are your spirit self becoming excited in anticipation of a move of God.
• Start by reminding yourself of the story of Abraham and Isaac, thank the Father for who He is and for prompting you to help Him move, then ask Him what you need to know in this situation.
• Take the next step the Father illuminates realizing that believing is seeing, not the other way around.
• Know that sometimes the moment can be about you, something elsewhere, and/or not necessarily the other person in front of you.
• Try not to focus on the ‘why’ a play was called in so much as simply executing it, to use a sports analogy. He chose you for a reason – He didn’t get the wrong person for the job.
• Be a grape! Grapes aren’t trying to figure out vine stuff..you shouldn’t be either.

Personally I expect we will see a lot more action, signs and wonders, and lives and communities changed from Christians acting like Christians when we start intently ministering to each other encouraging Kingdom ‘exposure’ as well as having bold individuals surrendered enough to lead the way. I think we’d all like to say we’d be just like Peter when Jesus called out, “Come, follow me”, that we’d all have lept out the boat too, and would have came running after Jesus.

The truth may just be found in our exposure moments though. Jesus beckons come follow me…now it’s our move. What will it be?