Spiritual warfare: Defeating guilt and shame
Far too many believers are feeling dirty, worthless and ashamed of
themselves. As a result, they feel unclean and therefore unworthy to
approach God and have the living and intimate relationship that He
wants to have with them! Shame prevents us from intimacy with God
because it makes us feel unworthy and distant from Him.
What is the difference between guilt and shame?
Guilt is what takes place when a person realizes their failure. False
guilt, which is what Satan is known to throw at us, is where the sin has
been repented of and forgiven, but he still wants us to feel guilty or see
ourselves associated with our pasts. We are speaking of false guilt in
this teaching, because true guilt should prompt the person to repent and
turn from their sin, but false guilt is what Satan uses to rip apart the
lives of countless believers around the world.
While guilt is seeing what you've done, shame is seeing yourself as a
failurebecause of what you've done. Guilt is lookin g at the sin, shame is
looking at yourself. If you allow yourself to meditate upon guilt, it will
turn into shame. Guilt, if not properly dealt with, turns into a
stronghold called shame.
Meditating on false guilt builds strongholds
If we continue to think about our past failures, it will wear us down
spiritually, and the next thing the enemy aims at is getting the picture
of ourselves distorted. He wants us to look at our past failures so much
that we begin to see ourselves as failures!
Anybody who has been thinking about their past sins for long will
begin to see themselves as dirty sinners and failures. The complete
opposite of what they really are, providing they have repented of their
sins and turned to God!
Shame is one of those things that the Bible s peaks of as an imagination
that must be cast down:
2 Corinthians 10:4-5, "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds ;) Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself agai nst the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ."
An imagination is an image in your mind that is incorrect. If you see
yourself as a failure, when you're actually a blood -washed child of
God... you've got an imagination that needs to be dealt with!
Shame is very destructive to our relationship with God
There is a good reason Satan wants us to feel like failures and dirty
sinners. Feeling that way keeps us from confidently approaching God's
throne and having an intimate relationship with Him! The Bible tells us
that the blood of Jesus was shed so that we can confidently approach an
intimate relationship with our heavenly Father:
Hebrews 10:22, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our
bodies washed with pure water."
God wants us to draw near to Him with a clean conscience that has
been freed from dead works!
Hebrews 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
Even look at Paul, the chief of sinners, he even made it clear that he
was serving God from a clean conscience!
2 Timothy 1:3, "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with
pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in
my prayers night and day."
Worship is an intimate way of expressing our relationship with God.
The Bible is clear that we should approach Him with a cl ean conscience
that has been purged from sin:
Hebrews 10:2, "For then would they not have ceased to be offered?
because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins."
Shame and guilt are based upon deception, which is the oppo site of
truth. So how are we supposed to worship God in Spirit and truth, if
there are imaginations hanging around in our minds that are contrary to
the truth?
John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth."
How do we defeat or overcome guilt and shame?
You need to stop thinking about your past failures. Are you ignoring
them? No! You are ignoring a lie, not the sin, because the sin has been
dealt with and washed away. Therefore, you are meditating on
something that no longer exists! If your sins are in the depths of the
sea, then why are you still thinking about them?
Micah 7:19, "...he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our
iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
You need to stop focusing on the problem (which has been dealt with),
and begin to praise God for the solution to the problem, and think about
how you have been washed clean from those failures! Instead of
meditating on a lie, begin to meditate on the trut h in God's Word
concerning your past failures. Here are some great verses to get you
started:
Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousn ess."
Psalms 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he
removed our transgressions from us."
Titus 2:14, "Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from EVERY lawless
deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession,
zealous for good deeds." (NASB)
Ephesians 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" (The word
'riches' in the Greek here means abundance and fullness!)
Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no co ndemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus..."
Micah 7:19, "...he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our
iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
Psalms 103:2-4, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all h is
benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy
diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee
with lovingkindness and tender mercies;"
Disassociate yourself from your past!
Why do you think God wanted us to be ne w creations? Because He did
not want your past to be a part of you anymore !
2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new."
Psalms 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he
removed our transgressions from us."
Now that our past failures have been forgiven, we need to leave them
there and press forward towards the things God has for us:
Philippines 3:13, "...this one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before."
Not only are we supposed to forget our pasts, but God Himself has
chosen to completely forget our sins as well!
Hebrews 8:12, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
Recently, the Lord showed me a beautiful revelation of the kind of
relationship that He wants with His children. If you wonder what kind
of relationship your heavenly Father wants to have with y ou, then you
owe it to yourself to read A love relationship with Jesus .
