An onion is a unique vegetable because it has several layers. You can peel back layers upon layers of this vegetable, endlessly trying to reach its small core. Like the onion, we tend to have several layers. We would need to peel back those layers in order to get to our well protected core. We accumulate layers throughout the course of our lives. Years of hurt and pain begin to cover our core. We put on the layers in order to protect ourselves from being hurt again but unfortunately, these layers just become a façade to hide the inner us.
My husband and I were talking the other day and we were trying to figure out why some of us struggle so much in our Christian walk. People tend to come to the altar, and while it seems that God delivers them, when you see them again they are yet struggling. My husband said to me, “some people need layers of deliverance.” That immediately clicked within me. I said, “Honey, that’s it!” I had been trying to figure it out for a long time, but I could not come up with a name for it.
Many of us have experienced years of covering up hurt, pain and disappointments. We then expect God to come and deliver us from all of it in an instant. It’s not unlike the ads for weight loss we see on television. A person has piled on weight over the years and now he or she expects a magic pill to wipe away all the pounds. We know that only through the hard work of diet and exercise will the weight shed. In turn, we don’t want to put forth the effort needed to release those layers.
The peeling of our layers will feel uneasy and uncomfortable. It may even put us in a liminal space where anxiety will try to overtake us; persist and allow God to strip and expose that beautiful core. We have spent most of our lives building up these layers and it will take time to shed them. God is patient with us and is willing to peel our layers, but we must be willing to place ourselves in His hands and allow Him to do it. Even though it may be painful, allow God to peel your layers and begin to heal. It is His desire that we be made whole …that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God (Colossians 4:12b).
Children of God, seek Him for layers of deliverance. Be blessed.