MASKED

Introduction

This book is for the broken and poor in spirit. It is for the layperson who realizes he or she is more than a number; the evangelist who weeps more for the church than the lost; the pastor who realizes the church is not his or hers, but God's; the prophet who sees the condition of the church; and the apostle who knows what the church should do. This book is for a remnant, which is rising up out of the ashes of despair and hopelessness, declaring, "We are the church." What shall this remnant do? The Bible says in Isaiah 61:4, "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."
The purpose of writing this book is to bring healing and revelation to the body of Christ. May this book minister to the very depth of your soul, and bring you closer to your destiny.

Honking Horn

When I was a young Christian, while diving on the expressway, someone would always beep his or her car horn at me. "What did I do?" I wondered. These people even had the audacity to smile as they dove past me while blowing their horns. This would irritate me to no end.
One particular summer day while driving, a car filled with young adults got behind me. The driver literally laid on his car horn. I switched lanes so he could pass me. Instead of passing me, he switched lanes directly behind me. He continued to lay on his horn. I switched lanes again, this time to the far right lane. He deliberately followed me, blowing his horn mercilessly.
In an attempt to get rid of him, I took the first exit I saw. To my surprise, he veered off the same exit. My irritation had quickly turned to fear. I made a sharp turn; he followed suit. I made another turn, and he did the same while still blowing his horn. I decided to pull over and face my fear. To my amazement, he didn't stop but slowly drove past me, smiling. The passengers' outstretched bodies limply hung partially out the windows of his vehicle. I watched in astonishment as they waved their hands in unison, yelling in harmony, "We love Jesus." I continued to watch as the vehicle drifted out of my sight.
I could feel my heart pulsating as I place my hand over my chest, as if I could suppress the poundings. Then I heard the Lord say, "See how they love me." I immediately remembered the bumper sticker, the one I had so proudly placed on the vehicle several months earlier. The bumper sticker read, "If you love Jesus, honk." How often had others beeped their horns at me while I wondered in disgust what their problem was? I had quickly forgotten the words on my rear bumper.
To make matters worse, I was in the middle of nowhere. I had no clue where I was. In my haste to escape, I found myself sandwiched between two cornfields. To get back to where I should have been, I had to back track to the expressway.

Spiritual Dilemma

We often find ourselves in dilemma. Our failures are constant reminders of our humanity, not our spirituality. We pray without ceasing, yet our prayers cease to be answered. To make matters worse, we are constantly battling with an enemy we cannot see. We wonder if we are really wrestling with the enemy or God.
We convince ourselves of Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to them the love God"(KJV). Then we question ourselves: Do I really love the Lord? Better yet, does he really love me?
Though teary eyes, we look at the fragmented pieces of our lives and wonder why. Why aren't the pieces of the puzzle coming together? Could it be because we are trying to fit pieces to a puzzle that doesn't fit? Why isn't God's Word working in my life? I have faith. Yet we forgot about the rest of the puzzle pieces. There is more to that verse: "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." According to whose purpose? It should be His, not ours.
What child does not ask his or her parents "Why?" It is an innate characteristic in every child to ask, "Why?" Thank goodness when we ask our heavenly Father why, He doesn't reply with a resounding, "Because I said so." It made no sense to me that people beeped their horns at me until I knew why. I jumped to the wrong conclusion and veered off the right path to escape.
We find ourselves spiraling in a different direction because the path we are on makes no sense to us. So we take an alternative path. Desperate to fit in, we conform to, rather than reform, ideology and doctrine that no longer works for us. To speak out is rebellion, but to remain silent is death. We think this is what our heavenly Father wants for us. The truth is that He wants us to be set free. He wants to remove the mask and take away the restraints.
We instead wipe away our tears, and build a wall around ourselves. We convince ourselves we are fine; we are invincible, because we are Christians. We are the apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelist, and the laypeople. We are the Church. In the interior of our souls, we are in pain and fragile.

The Mask

We feel that we are holding onto God by a thread. Yet, our Heavenly Father has His hand outstretched under us, waiting for us to let go so He can catch us. Instead of letting go, we put on a facade, a mask. This mask is symbolic of our faith. It represents everything we want to be, but nothing that we really are.
We wear our Christian jewelry, earrings and necklaces that intricately and artistically display the cross we bear. Our worn wristband states, "What Would Jesus Do?" Our embroidered t-shirt declares that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord.
These Christian articles are not wrong to wear. Think about where we wear these items. We wear them a church services and Christian functions. Who are we trying to convince of our faith, ourselves, or other believers? Who is trying to convince the unbelievers? We should be, but who are the unbelievers? Sadly, many of our spiritual brothers and sisters are unbelievers.

Backtracking

We need to backtrack to the path we veered off. You know the path, the one that made no sense to us, the path where we were hurt and disappointed for the very last time. We need to backtrack, but not to the employer that wouldn't promote us, the church that wouldn't use us, but that spiritual and emotional place where we gave up believing, trusting, and receiving, from God, and one another. We need to backtrack to that place where we put on a mask and unknowingly walked away from the will of God, before we veered off into a spiritual cornfield sandwiched between "why" and "what if."