Scripture of the week:
Isaiah 50:7 (NIV)
“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.”
Shame RX of the week:
If we believe shame’s lie, we are captive to its plan.
We are all familiar with the feeling shame produces in our minds and hearts, but we don’t often consider that there is something behind the shame we feel. Leave out the obvious affect of shame and it’s fruit. There is an agenda that shame has and there is someone causing it – the enemy of our souls – or ourselves.
It is what shame does that leaves us spellbound. It is an accusation on our souls, but an accusation with a purpose. If we believe shame’s lie, we are captive to its plan. Will we believe that our worth is based on any shame we feel? Will we accept that we are defined by shame? And finally, that we cannot overcome it?
If we allow shame to have dominion over us, it is not just defeated lives we experience, but the lives around us are impacted, too. Rather than being on mission for Christ, we become absorbed in self and our shortcomings. Shame is not just focused on attacking our personhood. It seeks to have us bound so we will not have an impact for the kingdom of God. It is a tool wielded by the enemy of our souls to prevent us from living the abundant life Christ promises. But it can be stopped.
When we understand the tactics of shame, we can overcome it. Shame seeks to isolate us, accuse us, label and define us and lead us far away from the grace-filled abundant life that God has called us to. When we wonder what it is that is causing us to feel stuck in shame, we can ask God to reveal the root of that shame.
The Root Reveals the Fruit
We tend to look on the surface and try to find solutions to quell problems that arise to the point where we can see them. But the fruit is simply a bearer of what lies dormant in our hearts. Understanding that pride, insecurity or anxiety, to name a few, are behind the shame we feel know, we can ask God for the humility to see the real pain points in our lives before the fruit continues to steadily worsen.
The Root Reveals the Route
When we examine the roots of shame in our lives, we can see where the roots have taken us and then make decisions to change the route of shame in our lives by choosing to be on the cycle of redemption instead of the cycle of shame (see Shame Off You book, below).
The Root Reveals our Repute
When roots are established, they can determine the course of our lives. And become who we are, or are known to be. Shame tends to make us very self-focused. But roots established in God’s truth and word help us to overcome the poisonous roots that keep us bound in shame. We don’t have to be defined by our shame anymore. It is what we focus on that helps us to ditch shame or claim it. Who would want to claim it, really? We don’t realize that we are choosing that path, but when we set our face like flint with the help of God, we can let go of shame’s plan for our lives and choose God’s instead.
Shame Off You is here! Come read and learn how to be set free from the Cycle of Shame through a biblical approach. Visit any of the retailers below online, or in stores.
