Stripped Naked

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

I think some don't like to explore the Word of God for themselves, rarely opening their Bible, merely going through life on the 'second-hand exposure' to God's Word because they are a little intimidated by it. Why do you suppose that is? If we were honest here, some might admit to not really knowing where to start - thinking there must be a 'plan' on how to read it, but not sure of the plan. Others will admit they have 'started' reading it, more like little spurts here and there, but it was not very 'clear' to them, so they just stopped. Trust me on this - Satan is most pleased whenever we find any excuse to not get into God's Word than when we dedicate ourselves to consistent time in it! 

Why? He knows the power of those Words - the power to expose what has been hidden. If we come into some knowledge we didn't possess before, we might just begin to rely upon God's truth more than his lies. That bugs the heck out of him! He will do everything at his disposal to keep us out of God's Word because he doesn't want us to be part of the opposition. He is most content when we put up very little resistance to his temptations and his 'illusions' of truth. As soon as the Word of God gets into us, we become a force to be reckoned with - a threat to his rule on this earth. 

God's Word is alive and powerful - it has creative power. It also has 'destructive' power - dividing right from wrong, exposing what has been hidden, and dealing with what needs to go. Our commitment to get into God's Word isn't to be taken half-heartedly. It is the very thing we need to get at our innermost thoughts - those things that we have come to believe that need to be exposed to truth because they aren't true at all. There are lies we have told ourselves and others that have been told to us. We embraced them as truth, never putting them to the test to find out what God says about the matter. 

In time, those innermost thoughts became desires and desires acted upon might just have become sins we have had to deal with time and time again in our lives. No wonder God tells us to get into his Word. He wants us to be free - no longer bound by what should never have entrapped us in the first place. Let his Word get into you even just a bit - consistently taking in portions of it until you begin to feel like things once hidden are being stripped naked. When this happens, don't be surprised when God's power takes over. His Word is at work and your heart will never be the same again. Just sayin!