Revelation 3:19 – “All those I dearly love I UNMASK and TRAIN.”

Revelation 3:19 brings to light that God Unmasks and Trains those He Loves.  Everyone has masks they hide behind.   Everyone has secrets they want to protect.  Everyone has flaws they don’t want to be exposed. Everyone has a measure of the fear of exposure.   God is unwilling to let us hide because He loves us.

God’s unmasking can take one of two paths.  Both paths are momentarily painful, but one contains the assurance of restoration. The other may or may not lead to restoration.   One involves willing surrender in confession, exposing ourselves, and the other involves forced exposure.  Both have a measure of shame, but one is rooted in repentance and pride.

God’s love will not let us hide.  We either willingly confess and surrender to Him, or He exposes us.   Exposing ourselves defangs the shame that is a part of exposure because we have already repented. The other is filled with the shame of exposure and frequently leads to more hiding, more profound withdrawal, and even anger.   It may soften the heart and may harden it.

Until there is an unmasking, there can be no training, equipping, or spiritual empowerment.  God seeks pure hearts to deposit His glory, power, and peace in. Training only comes after unmasking.   Only after denial is removed can approval come.

We want God’s fullness.   We want God’s favor.   We want His peace, but we want to stay hidden and unexposed.   We feel vulnerable if exposed and fear the opinions and rejection of people.   We think, “If they truly knew, they would reject me.”    Our pride elevates our status in the eyes of people higher than our condition in Christ.   The pain of exposure and the pain of shame entice us to hide.  Only as we are fully transparent and unmasked can we enter God’s training program and become warriors for the kingdom.

What would a man give in exchange for his soul?  Having no masks enables us to receive God’s fullness and restore the weak and entrapped.

Galatians 6:1-3 – “My beloved friends, IF you SEE a believer who is OVERTAKEN with a fault, the one who is in the Spirit should seek to RESTORE him in the Spirit of GENTLENESS. But keep watch over your own heart so that you won’t be tempted to exalt yourself over him. Love empowers us to fulfill the law of the Anointed One as we CARRY EACH OTHER’S TROUBLES. If you think you are somebody too important to stoop down to help another (when you really are not), you are living in deception.”   [Emphasis mine]

If we hide behind masks, we become judgmental and use one standard for ourselves and another for others, adding sin to sin.  Unmasking is step one to total victory and the only pathway to training by God!   It is a required step to fullness.  Let’s unmask ourselves before we are unmasked.

May the peace of God’s presence overflow into your lives, and may you learn to live free of Masks and embrace the Training of the Lord.   Victory is ours!