LIVING AMONG THE NAKED
by Jahan Berns
(Birmingham, Alabama (USA))
Are we walking naked among the naked? God calls us to be clothed and covered in his glory. If you are walking in a shameful state of nakedness, take heart, the Lord Jesus will clothe you if you ask him. His word says that he hears the cry of the naked and clothes them in compassion. I once walked naked but now I am clothed- there is no more shame, no more guilt. I am free to experience the supernatural hand of God. I have been liberated to experience all kinds of divine intervention from heaven. How about you?
A few months ago, the Lord showed me a vision that totally changed my outlook concerning holiness in the church. One particular Sunday, as I was seated in church, I saw the pastor walk to the pulpit and he was stark naked! I looked around me expecting people to register the same shock that I was feeling but to my dismay, everyone went on as if everything was normal. I wept as I realized that God had opened my eyes in the Spirit to see the state of our church. The altar was covered with rivers of shame and they flowed from the podium to the pews, bathing the congregation in their vile waters.
After the service, I walked to one of the elders and told him the vision I had just seen. I was taken aback by his venomous response: "Who are you to speak against the man of God? This pastor is blessed. He has mansions; a fleet of luxurious cars, a personal jet, he is influential in politics, wines and dines with kings". This kind of life is a sign of God's stamp of approval on the man of God. Repent for you have touched the Lord's anointed."
To say that I was taken aback by his response is an understatement. A few months later, I was greatly saddened by the news that our beloved pastor had been caught in a series of multiple adulterous affairs, he resigned his post and so many elders and deacons were also forced to resign their positions because of financial malpractice.
God had exposed the naked state of our church, I only wish that I had been given the chance to warn the pastor about the impending judgment that was about to befall him.
Beloved, if you have been seeing yourself or others as naked, then I want to let you know that God is showing you the state of sin in which you are living. If you have genuinely cried out to God and asked him to show you what is wrong with you, your family, career, job etc. you are in the beginning process of seeing the revelation unfold. The moment you see yourself or someone else as naked, then you must realize that God is in the process of opening the eyes of your understanding so that you can see certain things as he sees them.
We live in a generation that walks naked, a lot of people today walk in the shameful ways of their sin, their conscience has been seared that most of them do not realize how pathetic they are. In Genesis 2-3, we see that sin caused Adam and Eve to be ashamed of their nakedness. They sought to hide themselves away from God's presence. This kind of nakedness carries shame and makes one feel like they have totally lost control of their circumstances and are on the verge of experiencing great judgment.
The greatest cause of nakedness in the world today is the sin of Idolatry. Beloved children of God, the sin of Idolatry will strip you naked faster than all other sins combined. The sin of Idolatry will strip you of your dignity and make you an abomination and a stench in the Lord's nostrils.
When the children of Israel worshipped the golden calf in the desert, the Bible said that this sin was so grievous, that it stripped them naked and they became a laughing stock to their enemies. (Exodus 32:25) 2 Chronicles 28:19 says that, "The Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz, king of Israel; for he had made Judah naked and transgressed sore against the Lord."
We may not literally bow to idols or golden calves but the moment that we exalt anything above the Lordship of Christ in our lives, we have opened the door to Idolatry and once that is done, we are stripped and left to bathe naked in the river of shame. If you fall into a pattern where you habitually exalt a man's ideas, opinions and desires above the Lord's you are guilty of idolatry. In light of this, it is wrong for us to worship our children or spouses.
Not only does Idolatry strip you naked, it also devastates the person you are exalting because you are lifting him or her into a lofty place that was only meant for someone with more power, wisdom, authority and love. No one can successfully play at being God for a long time, even the greatest actors cannot sustain the role.
The love of money is the root of evil-it is also one of the foundations for idolatry in the church. We have learned the art of worshipping the gifts instead of the giver. We have lost our first love and grown cold. The things that moved us and stirred the spiritual gifts in us have been cast aside in our pursuit for material gain. In a desire to feed our insatiable lusts, we have ignored the poor and shut our ears to the cries of the afflicted. The moment Idolatry sets in, the anointing of God lifts and what you are left with is emptiness, turmoil, and frustration. In such situations, most people usually resort to prideful and flashy lifestyles to cover up the shame of their nakedness.
Sexual sin is another cause of nakedness. Engaging in immoral acts of any kind will strip you of all the protective layers and leave you bare and exposed to your enemies. The Bible is full of moving rhetoric examples where God showed his people the disastrous consequences of their adultery. In Hosea 2:2-3 God rebukes his people for their nakedness which was caused by adultery.
We must remember that every time we open the door and let sin rule our lives, we are subjecting ourselves to nakedness. Not only will nakedness bring shame and invoke God's judgment and wrath, it will also lead to exposure. When you are naked, the protective covering is gone and not only does the enemy laugh at you, he is also able to attack you because there is nothing left to cover you. In fact it's a common occurrence for demon possessed people to physically undress. The act of undressing is a deeper sign of a greater problem: spiritual nakedness. Do not be deceived by the enemy of your soul, he longs to see you walking naked, he prowls around like a roaring lion waiting to devour anyone that walks in a state of nakedness.
Did you also know that nakedness invites the wrath and judgment of God? Jesus succinctly warns us that the naked are not going to enter the kingdom of God. In Revelations 16:15, he says, "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." Beloved Children of God, though we live in a generation where people live and walked in a perpetual state of nakedness, we are called to be wash our clothes in the blood of the lamb, and to be dressed in garments of righteousness at all times. God wants you to recognize the state of your nakedness, he requires you to repent of anything that may have caused you to walk undressed. The Lord Jesus is here, he is willing to give you a garment of praise so that once again you can walk as God's Royalty upon the earth.
