Preacher: Jonathan Kongolo
The beauty of testimonies reminds us that God is still working and moving.
Have you ever heard of the phrase “Live your truth”? It seems that living in truth has the ability to set you free, and it is human nature to constantly search for understanding and try to learn and know about the truth. But what is it about the truth that brings a sense of liberation and freedom when it is found?
In John 8:32, Jesus indicates that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. Having knowledge of something means that you come into awareness of what it is. The word says we will discover this truth and it will, as a guarantee, set us free. Our truth is Jesus Christ (see John 14:6). Because Jesus is the truth, when we get to know Him, we are made free because of the power that is in His name and in proclaiming it. He came to save His people from their sins ( Matthew 1:21) and his name is testimony that God is a Saviour. The truth about our Saviour is able to liberate us from personal struggles and things that are holding us back.
Since finding the truth means coming into Christ, we also have to become a people of truth. There is a truth that we should be made known to us regarding our personal struggle, the things we hide and keep secret. This is the truth about the things other people do not see, and the false image we portray about ourselves. The Bible in Psalms 139:7 shows us that there is no place we can go from God’s presence because He sees everything including that which is hidden. So even in our attempts to hide our depression, sickness, addictions, we cannot hide them from God’s presence.
What are the things you are dealing with and happening to you that people do not know? Our reputation feels like a currency where it is protected so we do not feel judged for the things we go through. There are things we have personalised and made them out to be truths of our own. Proverbs 28:13 – 14 shows us that concealing your sin [your personal struggles, what you are failing in and what you need assistance with] does not lead to prosperity. Any battle fought in darkness is bound to be a losing one so when we bring our truths to the light we get assistance and receive victory.
The truth is a liberating light and we delay our freedom every time we conceal the truth. When we step into the truth, we are set free. But it is impossible to receive assistance when you conceal the truth of your reality. How often do we step out and ask for help? When we step out into the truth, we are made to walk in the freedom that is a promise and reality for the children of God. Every time we conceal the truth of our struggles we are delaying progress.
The irony about keeping things to yourself is that you may be sitting in a room where people can assist what you are struggling with and not get help. How long do we reach out to a leader in the church about the things we struggle with? Personal struggles are different. Peter, for example, was able to walk in the water going toward Jesus. Then came a reality that made him afraid and instead of concealing what he was feeling and what was happening around him, he screamed “Lord save me” (see Matthew 14:30). Who knows what would have happened if he did not call on Jesus. The name Jesus is saviour because He can save us from any situation. When we start to understand what this name means, we are able to approach Him concerning the struggles in our daily lives. Whenever we see a situation, depression or worry creeping in our life, we have to scream for the Lord to save us. As long as the Lord is present with us, we have peace because His presence has the ability to bring peace to a storm.
We want to search, discover and know things. We need the truth. What is the truth that we know and carry inside of us? When you know where you belong, nothing can shake you because you will know the will and purpose and intention of God. We need to start believing that God is loving, caring and wants us to be free. The enemy has distorted the word of God and what we know about His image and the moment we believe this it leads us away from God. If we do not believe the truth about God, we will not approach Him. Jesus told us to cast our cares to Him because HE CARES for us (1 Peter 5:7). God’s intentions towards us are always pure (Jeremiah 29:11). He is the kind of God who will purely and wholeheartedly take our struggles.
Proverbs 28 also speaks about the consequences of hardening our hearts. That when we do them we fall into trouble (verse 14). We are to confess so we may be healed (see James 5:16). The word does not speak about being careless when exposing our struggle to just anybody but it refers to “one another”. James was writing to believers and as such we need to reach out to fellow believers so we may pray for one another. This is not to create a ministry of gossip, but to pray for one another about our struggles to God to help those who need. There are people God has anointed and equipped them for your sake. God is able to do it and He is so intentional does not send us to a place without preparation or people who are able to assist.
The Lord does not do anything by chance, He has prepared you for this moment. The enemy makes us think that no one understands or relates to what we are going through and this is what keeps us trapped and in silence. Once you step out into the truth, there is no bondage or anything that can hold back. If we say we are without sin, personal struggle, weaknesses, the truth is not with us(1 John 1:6-9). We have a lot of personal struggles -depression, hopelessness, addiction, pride. There is more freedom when we open up and expose the works of the enemy instead of trying to hide and pretend that everything is okay. God does not just know our struggles simply because we struggle, but He knows it from a personal level. He will come down through His son Jesus to our level and walked like us. Jesus faced everything with the same strength and struggles we faced. We are under the impression that we have to be perfect Christians, but we can be the most broken and still be perfect for God. God’s hand can stretch out to where we are and save us. There is nothing we have gone through that can shake God. It is His will for us to be free. It was not our desire but God’s, to be free. In all pursuits, search to know the right truth. Buy it, protect it, carry it and spread it.
