Themes Passage:
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
This is a topic that has been on my mind for sometime now. I grew up in the church as many may know by now. For as long as I can remember, church folk are some of the best folk to cover up some stuff. Not that it's a bad thing to not let everybody know your business. However, I think the world would see the church in a different light if we didn't always cover up the things we struggle with. I also think that we struggle with our habits for long periods of time, because we have been covering them up for so long that we are unable to strip ourselves before God and ask for the deliverance we really need.
Let's examine my thoughts for a while, shall we. Okay let take me for instance, ( yall know I am transparent as it can get) as stated in a video on youtube that I posted; I have an ugly habit of profanity. I have had this issue for well over 15 years. I was able to get a hold of the situation about 10 years ago and did well for at least 2 years. I have just recently got comfortable with letting people know that I have this issue. Now, most would say, "Ro you do praise and worship, why would you tell anyone about that"?. My reply is (now), "I'm human, and "doing" praise and worship doesn't make me exempt from sin, in fact Satan attacks me harder". Now this isn't an excuse for what I do but an answer why I tell what I do. I realize at the ripe age of 20, oh I'm sorry 30, that I am never going to conquer this by myself. I didn't conquer this by myself the last time. I had a team of people (accountability group) staying on my neck day in and day out until I got sick of them always correcting my language. These same individuals prayed for my deliverance, as well as myself.
So here is my point, covering up our sins seem to be logical. No one wants to air their dirty laundry. I agree with that, but sometimes you have to in order to get accountability for what you are doing. If you are struggling with a sin and you see you aren't a help to yourself, then GET HELP!. OPEN your mouth and request help. The more we cover up our sins, the more we believe the lie that we are not sinning. This is a very dangerous place to be in. So today, I am not asking you to got tell the world of your sins. No, not all all. Im saying be transparent when its necessary so that you can keep yourself accountable to things. Especially if you are in ministry, its necessary to have accountability. Accountability keeps you in the pocket. There is nothing worst than being ministered to by a person who doesn't abide by their own words.
Supported Quotes
Ministry is......
1. Cultivating a culture of godly accountability for yourself and for those you serve.
2. Developing spiritual believers who are mature and who will become leaders of their own
accountability groups.
3. Grieving over those who choose to defect from the faith and praying for them to return home ~ Dave Earley & Ben Gutierrez
"I'm a "Christ follower" first and a Pastor second". ~ Matthew Willimgton
"One of the fastest roads to moral failure in ministry is a lack of accountability."~ Michael Todd Wilson & Brad Hoffman
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