No Mask For His Glory

A mask can be used to conceal identity, the truest version of who you are. There are many masks that we use to obliterate, and protect ourselves from: harmful words, shame, guilt, and physical/emotional abuse.

Imagine a girl burdened by the pain of feeling excluded from field games during recess, no one seems to pick her to be on their team, she internalized this...brewing with anxiety, and fear. She doubts that she is worthy of friends, and whips out a mask to offset the lack of acceptance. In her adulthood she has the same anxiety in friendships/relationships, she will say anything, pretending to like certain people... to be loved.

She never dealt with the old wounds from rejection, she just continued allowing this to be her new normal. She is starving for attention and affection. People identify her now as the life of the party; while in contrast she is a bookworm, and a true introvert, loving the outdoors, simply longing for security, acceptance, and love.

She has settled for cheap thrills, a party that never seems to stop, she’s tired of the facade, but decides to continue playing this game of “everyone is going to like me now”, anyway.

Her mask went on the minute her true self was let down.

Is there a moment that you can remember when everything changed. You went into the situation with innocence, and sincerity ...but left realizing that life is not easy, and people can hurt you.

A part of your personality became fragmented by the whispers or shouts from others. You neglected the true parts of who you are to survive in a cold tormented social playground.

You reasoned that if who you are is not worthy of who they think you should be ...then you must change, being altered by a mask.

I envision maybe you began to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, and even your mannerisms took a plunge into an adaptive state. But God wants you to acknowledge that this is not you. There are protective layers that have been amidst you for years, and social media has made it even more difficult to get to the truth, the roots of your identity. These roots have been severed to sustain in such an evil place.

Imagine a young boy that came from a childhood of verbal abuse, divorce, and alcoholism. He attends school and immediately cites the difference between him, and everyone else. He is made fun of for his homely wardrobe, and dirty tennis shoes. He always smells of cigarette smoke as his mother is a chain smoker.

He decides that if this is how the world is going to be then he’s going to take on a mask of indifference. He never cries, but just denies his emotional distress on the inside, it shows in his actions. As a high-schooler he is known as the bad boy, he could care less about homework, he drinks, sneaks out, and is on the pathway to be expelled from school. He goes against the rules, to offset the hurt, and the rejection.

As an adult he manages, but has layers upon layers that he refuses to acknowledge, all rooted from an unstable home life, and an absent father. On the inside he is meek, loving, and gentle. He use to hold a teddy bear to fall asleep as a child, but now he nurses himself with business acumen, and a little church on Sunday.

Fast forward to now, he seems okay looking at his profile on Instagram, and Facebook, but he never healed, the mask now has layers, aged with materialism, and pride.

God knows the load you’re carrying, he sees you sitting amidst: anxiety, rejection, fear, pain, abuse, pride, and doubt. Today, right now...he is intervening on your behalf, let it all go.

In order to do this the first step is to identify the mask, why do you do the things that you do? When did you start doing this? What did you learn to do in order to get others to like you, or not like you?

If you don’t deal with your past the enemy will use it against you.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

The enemy doesn’t play fair, he will expose your insecurities. Are you are fighting from someone else’s identity? How can you fight if you don’t know who you truly are on the inside? Are you fighting from a place of spiritual infancy? God desires for us to grow in our faith, and biblical aptitude, but the mask must be removed in order to grow into who you are called to be.

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth (Ephesians 4:14).

Have you ever met someone that was on fire for the Lord, and then 12 months later you see them renouncing their faith, now attesting to no longer knowing what they believe. The enemy attacks you in the weaknesses of your true identity, not who you pretend to be. You may portray yourself as being overly anxious, but Satan knows the root, and shakes up the unstable ground upon which you stand. We must go through the process of uncovering what was lost, and being recovered by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let him recover you today, let go, and begin the process of healing. You are in there somewhere, let the shadows fall beneath you, under your feet, and shower in the light of hope, destiny, and God’s purpose for your heart.

Prayer:

Lord we pray for healing to begin and the acting.. to cease, to end.

We acknowledge that apart of our true identity is undercover, help us

remove the veil, and remember the point of rejection where we suited up

to survive in the harshness of the world. Let the tears show, and expose the holes, and cracks.

Break up dissension in our hearts, and reunite us with our true selves.

Reunite us with you Lord, let the facade fall away.

In the mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray,

Amen.

Thinking Point’s

How would you describe yourself? How would someone else describe you? Is there a disconnect? What was the earliest memory of rejection from your youth?

Action Point’s

Create a rejection timeline starting from your earliest memory to the present. Pray over this list, and journal about these experiences, and how they have changed you.