Ephesians 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

I spent decades hiding from people, not the outward and seeming but the inward and real. I could not be real with people because if they came to know what was in my heart, they would shun me or worse. I was a miserable person, guilty of sins I cared not to confess or show. The last thing I wanted was to have anyone know me, the inner man.

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells me that now that I am in Christ I am a new creation. The old man is dead and the new man has a new beginning. I did not know this new man that I am. I had no confidence in me, I am not what I was, I am not what I will be. How can I show others this new man when I don’t even know who I am in the inner man?

The tendency to hide is no longer necessary but I lacked the confidence in this new creature to change the behavior. I had to discover who I was before I could let anyone in. The natural approach to moving into a new house is to discard ugly things and keep what things are attractive. What I failed to understand in those early days was that all things must pass away, leave everything behind.

V17a That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;

He is the owner, resident, decorator, and by faith the One who invites others in to view this inner man. The same mistakes I made as the old man, I was willing to make again, decisions for myself. Verse 3 begins with; How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; which is what He is doing in this inner man. The essence of any mystery is that it is not revealed until after it is done. And here I was trying to decorate a house that was not mine.

2 Chronicles 13:22 And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.

Who is Iddo? Why does Iddo have a story that tells tales of anyone of more renown than himself? For that fact who am I and why do I have a story about Jesus Christ?

Our witness, our story, the one which is real, relevant, and connects with a lost and dying world is not about Jesus Christ. It is about what Christ has done for us and thru us.  Any skeptic can deny your knowing a man who lived two thousand years ago, but they cannot deny who you were and who you are today.

Never heard of Iddo? Me either. Yet here his name is written in the bible. He is a minor prophet. Well so am I. I don’t have my name written in the bible, but Iddo does. My name is written in another book, one with seven seals, one in which my name cannot be read because only Jesus is worthy to loosen the seals and read my name.

How do I know my name is written in that book? Because I am a witness to what Jesus Christ has done in me and thru me. That fact, like my name in the book with seven seals, cannot be taken from me. The power in the telling comes from a place real and visible for all to see. The lost might not be able to see Jesus, but they can see me.

Read 2 Chronicles 13:22 like this:

And the rest of the acts of Jesus Christ, and His ways, and His sayings, are written in my story.