Naked Dream | Naked Truth

Surely, you have had "the naked dream"!  You know....the one where you are out in public somewhere and, inexplicably, you find yourself completely unclothed?  Scandalized and horrified, you seek cover wherever you can find it.  Why do we dream such anxious things as this?  Who knows? I had a psychology prof who claimed that dreaming was God's way of cleaning out our brains, getting rid of the junk so that we could wake refreshed the next morning.  That's as good an explanation as any, I suppose.

The first time we encounter nakedness in the Bible is in the Garden of Eden.  Apparently, before the forbidden fruit incident of disobedience, Adam and Eve were in the Garden unclothed.  They did not realize this to be an issue.  None of the animals wore clothes, and neither did they.  Life was good. Interestingly, in their first interaction with God after sin entered into humanity through them, they hid from God because they were "naked".  God, who already knew what the Serpent had done, asked them rhetorically, "Who told you you were naked?"  The story is found in Genesis 3.

Our verses for today are Hebrews 4:12-13 (ESV) - -

12For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Unbelievers hate the Bible.  That is why when you meet people who have rejected Christ, the first thing they put to you is how the Bible is "just a book" and "who builds his life on a book?"

The Bible testifies of itself here in verse 12.  Now, literally, in the way animals are "alive", the Bible is not a living organism.  However, it is the living Word of God, in the sense that its supernatural words are as relevant and powerful to people today as they have been for the past several thousand years.  It is through the Bible that we learn of our own sinfulness...as a race of humans, and as individuals.

The Bible exposes us and our sin.  It removes our ignorance about our sinful condition.  It shines a bright, piercing light on the great gulf between us and a holy God.  Such revelation either drives us toward God or away from Him.  There is no "in-between".

Don't be fooled into Satan's lie of "secret sin".  There is no such thing.  It's not a dream, naked or otherwise.  God sees all.

"Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:24 (NIV)

"It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.

Daniel 2:22 (NIV)

If you are an unbeliever, you can throw all kinds of arguments at me as to why the Bible is "just a book", and I can show you proof after proof to demonstrate to you why it is much, much more!  But, you know what?  That's not the issue.  The issue is sin....favorite sins so cherished they are chosen over a living, eternal relationship with the one, true God.

That is the issue which must be settled, the eternal choice which must be made.
And, that's The Naked Truth.

Dear Holy, Loving Savior, I thank you that the first objective of grace is not to cover our sins but rather to confront us with them.  We cannot repent until we first acknowledge that we are utterly sinful and, simultaneously, helpless to rescue ourselves from sin's bondage.  Open our eyes, Lord, and at the same time, soften our hearts so that your saving, transformative grace can flow in.  In Jesus' name, amen.

The Bible - Our Light, our Sword, our Firm Foundation

Good morning!

Have you ever stumbled in the dark?  A few months ago, late at night, I was walking from the bedroom into the dark den with this laptop in my arms.  I was going to plug it in for the night. Unfortunately, because it was so late and I was exhausted, I had lost track of our dog.  Charlie had left the bedroom and gone to lie down on the cooler hardwood floor of the den.  Well, you guessed it. At top speed, I tripped over the dog.  The laptop went flying one way and I went airborne another.  The dog was fine, but I was severely "shook up" and had some monster bruises for several weeks.  The same thing can happen to us spiritually, if we have no spiritual light in order to see where to take our steps each day.

The Bible testifies of itself when the psalmist says:  "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (Psalm 119:105)  In other words, if we will faithfully read the Bible, it will help to keep us from "stumbling" and getting banged up spiritually.  The world at large throws messages at us constantly, and most of them run contrary to God's instructions in his Word, the Bible.  It is so easy to stumble or to get lured off the path we should be on, because our vision gets clouded.  Reading the Word clears our vision.

One of the evidences that the Bible is God's Word is how it is used by the Holy Spirit to radically change lives.  Sometimes, I read on Facebook about horrid crimes that have been committed by individuals, and I see people on Facebook just hatin' on those people because they're so appalled by the crimes themselves.  And, I think, "Yes, that is a horrible thing, but the power of Jesus Christ can change even a person that far gone.  His love is greater.  His love is stronger.  His love is higher than any other." (a paraphrase of Chris Tomlin's song lyrics from "Our God")

Yesterday afternoon, the Hubster and I went to see Dinesh D'Souza's movie, "America".  In the movie, Star Parker gave a little bit of her testimony.  She was formerly a welfare mother who had at least a couple of abortions, maybe more.  But, when she heard the gospel and met the Savior, He changed her. That is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, revealed in the Bible.

Accordingly, when someone is trying to discredit the Christian faith, they always start with attempts to discredit the Bible.They are trying to run away from the conviction of their sin which the Bible reveals. You see, if they can downgrade the Bible to being "just another book", they can rationalize away the conviction that the Bible brings.  The Bible shines light on the dark corners of their lives, and because they love their sin, they hate the Bible for doing that.  They want to be "their own boss", "masters of their own fate".   Eventually, they trip over the rocks of life and then have no one nor any foundation on which to grab hold.  It's heartbreaking, truly.

I cannot possibly, in this limited forum, give an exhaustive, comprehensive dissertation on why the Bible is not only highly credible, but further, that it is infallible.  Many others before me have done a much better job of this.  Josh McDowell, with his book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, is one excellent example.  (I invite readers to comment, in the comments section of this blog, with other helpful tools of this type.)

But, I can promise you this:  if you are doubting the truth of God's Word, and will do a thorough search of the proofs of the Bible's infallibility AND if you will READ the Bible, instead of listening to what the world has to say about it, and pray for understanding.... I promise you that you will be shown the truth.  God's promise is this, from Jeremiah 29:13:  "If, with all your heart, you truly seek me, you shall certainly truly find me.  This is what the LORD says."

Just grab that Bible and start reading.  I love the old hymn, "How Firm a Foundation."  It was written in 1787 by John Rippon, and set to music by Joseph Funk in 1832.  Below are some of the many verses:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you, who to Jesus for refuge have fled?

Fear not!  I am with the, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy GOD and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through fiery trials they pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake.


Christian!  Read the Bible daily to walk in the light and avoid getting tripped up.
1 John 1:7 says this, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin."

Father, Abba, as the old saint said just before dying, let us not add to or take away one thing from your Holy Word.   Thank you for "breathing out" the words to your men of faith so that we could have your revelation of truth today.  Please give us a hunger and thirst for Your Word, Lord, even more than we hunger for the best physical food each day.  Even when we are not going through a "fiery trial", but especially then, teach us to fall on our knees in prayer, with the Word in our hands, so that we may be armed with the Sword of the Spirit.  In Jesus' name, amen.

First of all . . .

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way.
I am not a paragon of spiritual virtue.  Rather, I am a middle-aged lady, trying my best to follow Jesus.

What I purport to do on this blog is this:
1) to share with readers what God is giving me from the Scriptures.
The Word of God is alive, powerful and so sharp that it can pierce you through and through before you even know it! You know, some days, when we dive into the Word, we get more out of it than others. That is frustrating to me, but there it is.
2)  to share with you honestly about what it means to be "resplendent" on a daily basis.  Some days, I am more resplendent than on other days . . .  that is, I allow the Holy Spirit of God to fill me some days, more than others.
So, let's get started!  Thank you for taking this walk through life with me.