Dealing with My Own Shame.
4.13.21
Journal Entry #9
“The truth will set you free!”
To deal with shame, we must move the focus from what we are not to who Christ says we are. Shame attacks our identity and tells us lies that we accept as truth. For example, shame says “I am unworthy of my friend’s forgiveness because I hurt their feelings.“ Instead you could be saying “I am a good friend but I made a mistake and hurt my friends feelings.” Do you see how that mistake attacked their identity and not the mistake for what it was? That is only an example, but we could go deeper. Another example would be, “I was raped and now I’m unclean and will never find someone who loves me.” These lies come from satan. John 8:44 says that satan is the father of all lies. The only way to beat a lie is to find the truth. If you grew up in church you may have heard and elder yell, “TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL.” Lol, it’s very dramatic but it gives my point. The truth is, Christ died for our sins, pronounced us guiltless, and promised that His grace is sufficient for us, as well as free to us. We don’t have to and cannot earn His grace; the only thing to do is believe. Biblical reference:
Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 12:9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me
1 Peter 2:24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
Romans 3:22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
We must identify the shameful lies that satan has convinced us to believe and change our mind. This is called renewing our mind: Romans 12:2 says
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Renewing your mind is vital and a daily practice because the mind is where the devil does his bidding. Do you allow the enemy to turn your mind in to a playing field where he is taking swings at your emotions? Or do you stand up daily and decide to accept God’s truth and not the enemy’s lies?
Here is how we can fight the shame with scripture, write down the shame then look up scripture that proves that shame to be a lie.
Let’s look at an example:
The lie: “I will always have to be reminded of this shame. What I did will never go away no matter how hard I try to forget it.
The truth: For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
Sidenote: In Galatians 5:1 it says we are free… Christ has freed us so stand firm in that! It also says that it is up to us not to submit to thinking we are slaves. We do not have to be slaves to shame and shameful thoughts.
Action: Study and mediate on Galatians 5:1. Whenever shameful thoughts arise; making you feel bad for what happened then remind yourself that Christ has set you free! Place this scripture on your phone, mirror, and whatever it is that you look at daily.
The enemy knows your weakness and will remind you of the shame if you let him! He will try to get you to feel ashamed but now you know the truth! Stand on that truth daily.
Sometimes shame runs so deep inside of us that we no longer deal with the shame of something, but we see life through the lens of shame. The antidote to that is knowing your identity. Our next blog series will focus on identity – so buckle up.
Love Always,
Alexandra