John 3:19-21 (NIV) This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Okay! Now we have reached the Scripture that helps us deal with all of the problems we face. This is calling for a paradigm shift. When we are around Christians we really want to appear godly. This Scripture isn't suggesting that we get bold in our shortcomings and show everyone how worldly we are. Most of us have seen Christians try to become "transparent" and then the object of the race to transparency became to not be ashamed of how bad we are. That is taking pride in our worldliness. But, on the other hand most Christians are trying to do one-upmanship in holiness. It doesn't matter how bad the person is when away from Christians. They all put on their best halo, Christian smile, Christian language, and Christian behavior and do holiness in front of their Christian friends.

WARNING: DON'T DO THIS AT YOUR CHURCH UNLESS YOU KNOW THEY ARE READY FOR IT.
What this Scripture is saying is to be truly transparent. Not so people can see how transparent we are about how bad we are but so we can be ministered to. If we refuse to come out into the light and let these issues be worked on, prayed about, and held into accountability; we will be stuck. Habits and addictions aren't overcome by a solo trek to God. Victory is accomplished by God's people working together to help everyone grow in God. Most Christians will not be able to find this type of Christian support in their church.

If we open up like this in a lot of churches, our church will have a barbecue dinner and we will be their main course. While most of them have been delivered from a lot of sins, few have been delivered from gossip, backbiting, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and "white" lies. Unfortunately, this type of transparency and Christian support typically can only be found in addiction groups. But, if we carefully select a group of trustworthy Christian friends, we can create a true church environment that facilitates deliverance from our habits and addictions. But, be careful! One gossip can kill a group like this. I attended a men's church prayer group that said: "What's said in here, stays in here." Later I found out that the men were routinely telling their wives a lot of what was being said. Make sure everything stays inside the group meeting.

1 John 5:4-5 (NIV) For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Transparency without faith in the power of God is a worldly system in itself. Groups, no matter how wonderful they may be, do not automatically contain within their numbers the transforming power of God. Unless the group knows how to take to God each issue brought before it, it will only be a place to air out our problems. There will be sympathy, understanding, acceptance, and no judgment. But, there will be no deliverance.