Hearing His Voice

Today I'm praying to overcome hypocrisy in my life. It's easy to note the hypocrisy of others. Now, having noted their hypocrisy, it leads me to turn to myself and ask the Lord to begin removing my hypocrisy.

I hear His Voice saying, "What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs." Luke 12:3 NIV. It would definitely be the end of my hypocrisy if everything I had done or said in secret was made public. And I would have no control over it. I would no longer be able to hide from it. I would be extremely embarrassed.

I think that Christians are all very much like the crooked evergreen tree. We do have sins and we struggle with them. But, because those sins are covered by the blood of Jesus, our sacrificial Lamb, we are still evergreens. We will live forever. We will never lose our inheritance waiting for us in Heaven.

I hear His voice telling me this freedom from hypocrisy is a necessity in order to have real fellowship with my Christian brothers and sisters. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." I John 1:6-7 NIV

That feeling that I have that I am only relating on a superficial, Pharisaical level, might leave me once I knew that my shield of hypocrisy is gone and that other people see the real me. I hesitate to have intimate fellowship with other believers when this shield of hypocrisy looms up between us. I don't really know you. You don't really know me. I'm not really walking in the the real Light of Jesus. That Light would be penetrating to my core and you would have to forgive a lot of my sins. You would have to acknowledge that I have a lot of ugly things, cleansed by the blood of Jesus. I would have to relate to you, and you to me, knowing but forgiving, all that we are. But, when the revealing of my hypocrisy takes place, you may see things about me that you can't forgive. It would end our fellowship unless we could acknowledge that the blood of Jesus covers even these unforgiveable things that I've hidden all these years.

But how do I live a life where there is no hypocrisy? I don't believe I can. I don't believe anyone can. It doesn't stop me from having that desire. It doesn't stop me from praying about it. So I'm starting today by praying for God to begin the process of delivering me from hypocrisy in my life.

I hear the Lord saying, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:17 NIV

I love that! I love the idea that "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." KJV. Because I started learning the Bible from the King James Version, the Lord often speaks to me in King James English! If I'm praying and I lapse into King James English just understand that I'm not being pompous. It's just the way I learned the Bible. It's the language in which the Lord first began to speak to me.

The effective and fervent prayers of a righteous man avail much. I know there is none righteous but God. However, this passage goes on to explain the human element. Elijah was a human being just like me. He was equally as sinful. Equally as hypocritical, maybe. He prayed. God answered his prayer. Me and my brothers and sisters in Christ, are made righteous by the blood of Jesus. His righteousness has been imputed to us. We are capable of being those righteous people who, through effective and fervent prayer, can deal with confessions of sin. We can deal with the sin of hypocrisy. God will answer our fervent prayer,

I'm interested in learning how other Christians cope with hypocrisy in others, our church and ourselves. How do we overcome? How do we pray? How do we have intimate fellowship with other Christians? What is your experience? To enter your thoughts and prayers in regard to the subject please scroll to comments section.