My meditation these days has been upon shame in light of how it impacts us, how it presents and where it comes from. What troubles me is how we have allowed shame to be kept a secret among us as believers. Well, isn’t that the nature of shame, to be unnoticed? It is rampant, actually, why? Because we fail to identify it. We cannot ever hope to deal with anything we are unwilling to name and identify. Yet shame is the culprit for why we stumble, why we fail to receive from the Lord all that He promises us. Our Christianity will not be alive and vibrant in our experience. We will be like the student studying to be a doctor, who has committed to studying and knows inside and out the field of being a physician, but has not yet applied what he has learned in going on to a practicum.

Let us step out in practicum in defeating the Stronghold of Shame.

Most of the deeper issues we have as adults stem from our childhood hearts.  Essentially, we believe a lie as adults that came to us as children.  As children, we cannot understand trauma, tragedies or complexities of the human experience.  So we come to our own conclusions through misunderstanding. Through these misunderstandings, factor in that we have an enemy seeking whom he may devour (1Peter 5:8).  We are primed and ready to drink his poisonous Kool-Aid as he perverts our minds with lies.  The enemy begins to sow in our heart his lies and they become our rule book and what shapes our personalities.  We may become overachievers, underachievers, obsessed, fearful, easily bullied, or become the bully, envious, jealous, controlling, untrustworthy or unable to trust.  Alternatively, we may become successful, powerful and gain great things – yet be empty on the inside.  We may become do-gooders, the first one to help and yet still feel unworthy of love. 

The rule book that we have adopted stems from SHAME.

When shame sits within our hearts, it is what rules us, no matter if we are the most godly, loyal and selfless believers in Christ.  We have appointed shame as gatekeeper and guardian over us by default, and are ignorant of this.  The enemy thrives in ignorance.  A hard truth is that it is shame that shapes us even as Christians.  We can know this is true if we can be honest with ourselves.  And are willing to see with the light of truth.  Do we live a victorious Christian life?  This kind of life transforms us from all that was of our old man, to become the new man Christ makes in us.  Unfortunately, many are fooled by a victorious Christian life that is merely outward and is faked.   We may be able to fool people and even ourselves, but we cannot fool God.  Shame will always have power over us, rule us and steal what God’s intention is for us because we refuse to recognize it. 

Shame becomes our light that Jesus talked about, which is not light at all, but great darkness: 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If, therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  Matt 6:21-23

There is hope for us!  We can be set free right now from shame’s power over us.   The good news of Christ is for us.  On the day that Jesus hung on the cross, He secured it for us; He despised the shame that sought to overcome Him.  He did not let it come near Him.  His victory is our victory! 

Let us call out shame today, which has had a place in our hearts for far too long.  See where it has been allowed place us and how we have obeyed it.  Repent of this lie.   Follow the truth:

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Shame has kept you in the dark, and so it has been allowed to govern you.  But Jesus is the Light!  John 8:31-32

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7

When we choose to no longer walk in the darkness and choose the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses all the lies and power the enemy has had over us through shame.   

Deliverance from all that shame has had comes instantly, but now we must diligently secure our victory because the enemy will come with his fiery darts. Eph 6:11-13.  They can be extinguished when we apply the Word against them. 

Let us look at where we struggle, and is our issue’ to see and acknowledge it.  Now, look to the scriptures for the road map that will keep us on the path which is the way, the truth and the life!