Dealing With The Fear Of Honesty

In review of James 5:16 it says, “Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

Bottom Line:

Be honest and be willing to admit your faults to others, then pray for each other. Our prayers will have great power and produce wonderful results.

What this means to me:

I am to be honest and willing to admit my faults to others and ask them to pray for me. I am not to keep my faults to myself. In addition I am to pray for others. The prayer of a good friends has great power and will produce wonderful results in my life.

In order to get relief and release from the hurts, habits and hang-ups I have, I’ll need to deal with a fear of being honest with others about myself. I’m learning that there are three common fears that the enemy uses to keep me stuck in my rut and afraid to face the truth.

The first is the fear of my own emotions. Thinking that if I deal with the issue I may not be able to handle my emotions, grief and shame. What I need to keep in mind is that everyone has had that fear. Everyone has felt at some time in their life that they were losing their mind. It’s not as big a deal as I might think. Only rational people have that fear. I’m broken, but I’m not crazy.

The second is the fear of how others might react. Theres the fear of being rejected, or looked down on. Others might think me less of me. I’m afraid to be myself, because I’m all I’ve got, and if people don’t like what they see, I’ll be in trouble. And, then they may offer more help than I’m willing to take.

Lastly is the fear that being honest is useless. I may think what will it do, what’s the point, why even tell anybody else about what I’m struggling with?

The verse tells me to, “Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16 LB). When I can let go of my fears and admit my faults to other people, God has promised me the healing I need.

I’m sure it will help me if I truly reflect on the notion that others are probably having the same type of struggles as myself. I think my biggest fear is that someone might think less of me for having a struggle. Today I will consider what I need to be honest about and then reach out for others.