Letting Go of the Shame

Have you been afraid and not know why? 

Do you shy away from new experiences and situations? 

Are you afraid to ask for a raise or anything you want? 

Is this starting to sound like an informercial? 

Ok :) Let’s get serious. Sometimes believers are fearful and it stops them from living the life God has for them. Sometimes, they even become paralyzed by fear. they wont ask God for what they want. Nor will they ask others.

Why? 

I think on the surface it’s fear. But even more so, shame. 

I believe fear is a public manifestation of private shame. Shame can be a noose around the neck which chokes the life out of your future. 

Maybe that shame comes from abuse you suffered as a child. Perhaps it was an embarrassing  situation or event. Maybe it was a marriage or business failure. Maybe you were fired from a job. Maybe you had a repossession of a vehicle, foreclosure or an eviction. 

Regardless of the reasons, you may be carrying around shame. That shame may seem harmless. But it can be destructive if allowed to hang around. 

Every seed reproduces after itself (Genesis 1:11). Meaning that shame will keep reproducing after itself. This is why some people never seem to transcend their circumstances. They take one step forward and 3 steps back. It’s the shame. They never got rid of it. 

Let me give an illustration. 

A person may have carried shame from childhood. They succeed in some ways but usually fail in one or more areas. No matter what they do, they can never get it right. They can never get out of debt. They can never get fully healed. They can never meet the right person. 

Why? 

It comes down to shame. 

Consider the woman with the issue of blood. (Luke 8:43-48 for reference) 

She had been ill for 12 years. Spent all of her money on doctors and never got healed. When Jesus was in the midst of a crowd. The woman with the issue saw him and came up behind Jesus. This is the first sign that this woman was dealing with shame. 

Levitical law (Leviticus 15:25) stated that any woman with a discharge of blood for any reason other than her menstrual cycle was considered unclean. This made her an outcast in society. 

Those who know the story know the woman touched Jesus. Who at that point realized virtue had flowed out of him. 

Verse 47 says when the woman saw she was not hid. She touched Jesus in secret as long as no one saw her. She came to him trembling. 

You can only imagine the shame that had built in this woman over the years. 

Once she confessed to Jesus that it was her that touched him, her shame was gone and her illness went with it. 

I believe that when you send shame out of your life, sickness, lack, poverty and every negative life situation goes with it. 

When you are ashamed, you start believing you deserve to suffer. You believe you deserve to have lack. You start believing that you deserve to be alone. 

You start accepting a lower life when you have to do no such thing. 

You were made to be the head and not the tail. Above only and not beneath. You should not be bringing up the rear in any way, shape or form. (Deuteronomy 28) 

I asked earlier if you were afraid to ask for things because of shame. Many people avoid situations where rejection is a possibility. The more unknowns exist in a situation, the greater fear of rejection. To fear rejection is to fear growth. You shouldn't let rejection (real or imagined) rule your life. 

Rejection brings along shame. The two hang out together. Rejection isn't something you can avoid. It’s always a possibility. But shame is definitely something you can get rid of today. Even if you do get rejected, shame doesn't have to be a part of it. 

There’s nothing shameful about rejection. 

It happens every single day. 

More often than not, rejection is a good thing and may turn out to be a blessing. 

So don't be afraid to ask for what you want. 

One more illustration I want to show. 

When God got ready to take the children of Israel into the promised land by way of Jericho, He told Joshua this: 

Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt." So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.

Joshua 5:9 New Living Translation 

Interesting how, these former slaves were about to conquer a new land, but first the Lord had to take away their shame. 

Think about this: 

Remember the generation that were actually slaves as adults had largely died in the wilderness due to their unbelief. 

Joshua and Caleb were the only adults from the generation that exited Eqypt actually crossed the Jordan. 

These were men of faith that weren't afraid to cross the Jordan the first time. So it is reasonable to say that the shame had been removed from their life.  

So why did God have to roll away the shame? Because these people that were entering the promised land as leaders were once slaves as children. What happens to us as children can be burned into our psyche. If you grow up as a slave, you could easily think that this is a normal way of life. 

God was calling them to conquer. But they had a heritage of slavery. This heritage had to be removed so they could take over Jericho. 

You may be ashamed of your childhood, but you no longer have to be so. 

Under the old covenant, God had to remove the shame. But in the new covenant, you remove off of yourself. 

God will put the word in your heart that you don't have to be ashamed anymore. but you have to decide whether to live unashamed. 

Do not allow yourself to be in bondage to past mistakes. We all make mistakes. The key is to stop repeating them and grow. When you get rid of the shame, you will stop reproducing situations to cause to feel more shame. 

You can break the cycle of shame once and for all!!! 

Going from Faith to Faith (Bill Winston)

I had the pleasure of listening to Bill Winston's sermons at Kenneth Copeland's Southwest Believers Convention this past July. It certainly was a blessing to me. Lately, I feel as if my faith is being tested like never before. I began to realize that this testing is not in a vacuum. God is taking me to a higher faith in Him. It started with finding out that my student loans had run out for grad school. This was especially discouraging as I have 4 classes left in order to finish. There was not a doubt (then or now) that I would finish. I've already settled that. But I began to seek God about what all of this really meant. Other financial problems arose which I won't discuss because they are coming to pass (!). It was then that I began to see how my faith has been latent for quite some time. Sometimes we get distracted and our attention leaves God. As a result, our faith suffers. I think my faith had went backward in early 2014. I had some victories here and there, but the toil of life was really beginning to wear me down. Up to mid-2014, I had never been this tired.

Enter Bill Winston.

I can't list everything he preached about but the gist of it all was that God is taking believers to a new level of faith. The biggest thing I got out of it was that we have to get our carnal mind out of the way (Romans 8:7). Sometimes we try to figure it out. That is one of my biggest hangups, well used to be my biggest hangup :). Dr. Winston stressed that we must believe with our heart (Romans 10:10). We must essentially take God at His word.

These were things I knew.

I knew better.

But I wasn't doing them.

I realized while I listened to the sermon, that I had trying to figure it all out in my mind. This was why I was so tired. This was why I had trouble focusing. I am beginning a new journey in faith. One in which I will succeed. This time I'm going to do it right. I'll keep you posted on the victories to come in Jesus' name. Meanwhile, take a listen to Dr. Winston. You won't be disappointed.

Don't Hold Back

Today's mini blog is about holding back.

So many people hold back out of fear that they will run out of energy.

Not understanding that tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

I’ll do it tomorrow is no way to live

Life is meant to be lived to the fullest

Sometimes you may be doing something and it seems it isn't working and no one is paying attention

The worst thing you could ever do is quit.

The best thing you could ever do is give it everything you’ve got.

It may not get the result you seek after but you will feel better about yourself.

You will know that you did your part and that is your duty.

You don’t want to get to the end of your life and say “I wish I tried harder”.

Give life all you have today and let the chips fall where they will.

Expectations (Podcast)

Are you paying attention to the expectations you have in life? This podcast will challenge you to pay attention and expand them!!!

The Mind is Only Creative

The mind is only creative.

Learning this will empower you to the point that you will not be hindered again. Getting stuck is a common theme with people. So many people complain about being stuck at a job, in a relationship or on a project. I think the culprit is a stuck mindset.

The mind will only create what you put in it.

The mind is a factory. The raw materials you give it are in line with what you are producing. If you owned a chair factory, you would only have materials that produced chairs.

The quality of our thoughts are largely influenced by what we intend to produce. People are often trying to change the nature of their thoughts, without changing the nature of their aim. You cannot separate the two. If your aim is negative, then the raw materials (i.e. your thoughts) will resemble (and ultimately assemble) that.

Think and Grow Rich, the best self-help book ever written, lists as one of the principles: having a definite chief aim. You may have more than one definite chief aim in life. You may have a 100 aims. But one definite aim will focus the energy in your mind to producing that end.

Procrastination is largely a function of not having a clear view of what you want to create.

Put your mind to work by giving it something to create.

The Power of Your Tongue

The power of life and death is in the tongue

The power to control your life isn’t in anything else. Too many people underestimate the power of their tongue until it is too late. Your spoken word connects you to the promises of God. God promised you many things, but you could be like so many Christians who never experience those blessings because of the words you speak. James 3 talks about how with the tongue, we can bridle (or control) the whole body. Do you have problems with self-control? Do you have issues with anger management, lust, addictions or overeating? The tongue is the key to your freedom. You have to speak control over your flesh. The flesh is unruly. You have to take control of it from your spirit.

Let’s say you are having trouble eating healthy. The flesh wants soda and chips all day. There isn’t anything wrong with that occasionally, but eating like that everyday eventually can produce disease. You know you need to eat better, but what do you do when the urge to snack hits? The best way to handle it to use words to control your body. You tell your body that you will eat healthy foods this week. You actually talk to yourself. In doing so, you begin to regain the control in your life. If you aren’t finishing your work or assignments, you tell yourself that we will finish it all. The pull of life is always toward laziness and apathy. James said that the tongue is like a rudder that directs us into good or bad. So much depends on the words that we speak.

We have to understand that God gave us the power to overcome our circumstances. That power lies within our tongue.

Needing Patience

Of all of the things that the Bible says we need. It is a surprise what comes up. First of all, God promises to supply all we need. Of course, most people file money, shelter and food under these needs. And that's true.

But the rich man likely doesn't need shelter or money. The well-fed person does not need food. But every person needs patience. Humans have an inherent need of patience. I think this stems from our godly nature. We were made in the image of God. And because we are of godly descent, we tend to want things on our schedule.

We want it done yesterday.

But in a fallen world, dealing with fallen people, this is not always possible. We have our schedule, but the other 6 billion people in the world have their own schedule. So we do we do with that? Do we get all discombobulated when things don't go the way they should. Do we fret or freak out? Certainly this is the response for a lot of people. It isn't healthy. Patience is something you will need for life, and for the rest of your life. Patience allows you to keep it together when life happens. It keeps you focused between  jobs, through a marriage crisis, or issues with your children.

We have need of patience.

One of my favorite Bible scriptures is James 1:4. It was one of the first scriptures I memorized. At the time, I was struggling with impatience. But this scripture helped me to understand that everything does not happen overnight. And even though it does not happen overnight, it doesn't mean it won't happen ever.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

This idea of lacking nothing is intriguing. because it is the state that most humans seek to attain. This is done through patience. It is a master lesson that once learned, opens up the world to you. As a business person, patience is a virtue, because it takes time to build a market and a following. Because it isn't just your schedule that has to be taken into consideration, but the schedules of 6 billion people as well. Patience is the great equalizer, because it allows you to wait for things to happen as they should. when you understand that, you truly become complete, lacking nothing.