Get REAL

Welcome back to week Two of Living with Me. If you're new, or didn't get to all of last weeks posts, please scroll down and read them. They're not long, but in order to keep going here, I want you to take a look at them.

To start us off this week, I want to give you a quote.

The Impostor must be called out of hiding, accepted, and embraced. He is an integral part of my total self. Whatever is denied cannot be healed. -Brennan Manning, Abba's Child

Remember that big long list of things that we quizzed ourselves on to see if we listen to our Impostor? 'Member that? Yea, I do. But, here's the deal. We can keep going on and on about how broken we are and we can keep beating ourselves up because we don't live up to par; and we can snub our noses at those who don't fit our mold; and we can love Jesus while we struggle with with materialism, greed, anxiety, lust, envy, and fear and we will still be saved.

Or,

We can be all those things and stop for a moment, realize it, examine it, accept it, and love ourselves in spite of it, just like our Savior does.

Like it or not (and we clearly don't like it) we are who we so hate being. Our Impostor IS us. My Impostor IS me, but you have

...taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator...Christ is all and is in all. Col. 2:9, 10

It's time to do something about, and with, and for our Impostor. The enemy has lied to us long enough that we are either not worthy of the blood and forgiveness, or we would be desperately better off with the ways of the world. It's time to get REAL.

R-Recognize that you have "Me" to live with. Just be strong enough to say, Yes, this is me.
E- Examine what things, ways, attitude and lies are set up against the Truth.
A- Accept that, yes, this is me. This, Lord, is me.
L- Love yourself enough and trust Christ enough to be transformed.

He did not free us so that we would walk ourselves into more bondage.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Man, this is hard for me. I have such an appetite for applause and such a fear of being over-looked that I forget that my full identity, peace, and satisfaction is found in Christ! He set me free from what would hold me captive to this world and I chose to burden myself with it!

Oh, people, we have got to get REAL. If we aren't, then we are fooling only ourselves. He knows the struggles. He knows the lies. He sees the hypocrisy. He hears the foolishness. He feels the pain. He understands the doubt.

He cannot transform what we do not bring to His feet.
He cannot heal what we do not let Him touch.
He cannot free us from what we hold so dear.

Go back to the Quiz. Look over your lists of what whispers in your ear. Think about what is in the deepest places of who you are and then...tell Him. Get real with Him. Lay it all out there. He is your best friend, your greatest lover, your biggest fan, your softest teacher, your Most Honorable King. Tell Him. He is not surprised and welcomes your honesty. Remember what Manning said at the top up there: Whatever is denied cannot be healed.

Do not deny yourself the opportunity of complete healing, freedom and finding the Real You. Watch as your Impostor bows to the King and His authority. Watch as You find yourself in Him and He lives Himself in You.

Pray for each other this week. It could be a hard one for some of us.