We’ve all heard it said, “honesty is the best policy.” That’s cute, but the essential time for honesty is when we are facing God. Honesty at the very deepest parts of your being is what is absolutely necessary to have meaningful dialogue with the Master. Hiding the things we fear from Him is fraudulent. Keeping pain a secret from Him is dishonest.

Confession only to the depths that our shame will allow is a counterfeit to truth and real peace. Confession of sin to the Lord should always be to the depths of our being – the very fibers that make up our existence.

Then, and only then is our soul cleansed unto real purity and sincere devotion by the saving grace of the Lord Jesus’ death will cause us to rise in newness, even as He broke the chains of death and rose from the dead.

It is hard to forgive others when we have not experienced forgiveness ourselves. Yet if we do not forgive, the Lord does not back us up with our faith activities. (see Mark 11)

Thus, it is hard to hear the voice of God or understand when He is speaking to us when our innermost beings are clouded, covered, even sheltered in dishonesty in the least.

The answer is, to be honest regularly with the Lord. Your conversations with Him should be brutally honest, knowing, and believing that He will restore the honest soul to a place of victory, a place of exceedingly great joy. If “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God,” then that deep abiding honesty with hearing the glorious voice of the Lord and the result will be mountain-moving faith!

What I’m saying has to do with the root causes, which cause more trouble than we could ever imagine. If fact, we don’t even want to imagine such trouble, yet, we live day to day in troubles caused by rooted bitterness, unbelief, and unforgiveness.

Our new covenant has deliverance if we’ll just believe it. When it comes to your bitter roots, unforgiveness, dishonesty, and the like, God the Father passionately put His stake in the ground with the cross of Jesus Christ. The price for all of that and more.

There’s a line in a Toby Mac song that says, “I can hold your head, but I can’t make your eyes look up!” This tells the story of so many that are close that we love, who are stuck it a troubled life, and the problem is the root. Heal the root and see your life change. You can’t do this on your own no matter how hard you try. You have to do it in an honest partnership with the Holy One.

When you begin, the Holy Spirit will envelop you – surround you – literally. You’ll be surprised how close He has been all along, just awaiting you to get rid of your fig leaves – grave clothes – and get honest with Him.

He will not do it for you. He will do it with you.

Honesty is good stuff. Try it. You’ll like it—a lot.