FREEDOM

Gal 5:2-1.

‘I am emphatic about this.’
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. (TM)

All Christians have been set free from shame, but not all Christians know it !   Christ took our shame to the cross and dealt it the death blow. In Christ, we also died with Him on the cross, therefore our shame died with Him and now we are risen together with Him to live the resurrection shame free life.

Then how come many Christians still struggle with shame and how can they get free from it ?

First: We need a revelation of who we are ‘In Christ’ (read above). This revelation will totally set us free from shame and keep us free in the future if satan seeks to shame us if we sin. This is why Paul said in Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. (NKJV)

Second: We ‘stand fast’ in our freedom by resisting and throwing off all condemnation. Condemnation is satan’s way of tricking us into thinking we should still feel shame for our mistakes or weaknesses. Paul said in Rom 8:1 There is ‘NOW’ therefore ‘NO’ condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.  (NKJV)

Condemnation takes place when satan seeks to accuse us for our mistakes. He will try to shame us by injecting his accusations into our minds. This shows us that shame is first a way of thinking and secondly a way of feeling and it is all rooted in condemnation.

God has created us such, that the way we ‘think’, determines the way we ‘feel’. Therefore if we think thoughts of fear, our thoughts will trigger the emotions or feelings of fear, worry and anxiety. Likewise, if we entertain thoughts of shame, our thoughts will trigger feelings of shame.

Third: We negate thoughts of shame by becoming conscious of who we are ‘In Christ’ and the freedom we have from shame, and we ‘hold fast’ to those thoughts. As we do so, our feelings will remain in a natural state of peace, joy and rest.

Many Christians are stuck with the shame of past sin because they allow demonic spirits to inject the memories of the mistakes they made into their minds. All they have to do to break free is to remember that:  1) All sin is forgiven 2) The blood of Christ washed our sins away completely. We are now cleansed from all unrighteousness. 3) We cannot now be accused of sin that was forgiven and washed away by the blood of Christ. 4) As we hold fast to these thoughts of who we are ‘In Christ’, we will come free from past shame. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meditation Point: Father, strengthen me to hold fast to be conscious of who I am ‘In Christ’. Open my understanding to see I have been delivered from all shame.

The Glory of the Lord

Rom 8:30 And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory. (NLT)

Today’s ‘good news’ is that ‘shame’ has been eliminated from the Christian life. How did this take place? It took place at the cross.

Remember that the ’1st Adam’ sinned and forfeited the glory of God. For this, he was ashamed; He was now naked and nakedness became the symbol throughout Scripture and all of life of the shame of sin. But Jesus as the ‘last Adam’ went to the cross completely naked. He wasn’t wearing a loincloth as is depicted in paintings.

Matt 27:35 When they had crucified Him, they divided up His clothes by casting lots.  (NIV)

He went to the cross naked and there took upon Himself the judgement for all our sin, past , present and future. He also took upon Himself the shame of our sin and the nakedness that came as a result of sin. He took all of this to His death and when resurrected left it all behind in the grave and rose as the firstborn of a new creation (Col 1:18).

He ascended to heaven, sat down on the throne at the right hand of His Father and  had restored to Him the glory He had before He came to earth as a man (Jn 17:5).

You and I are now ‘In Christ’, therefore together with Him we ‘were’ crucified, died, went down into the grave,  conquered death and rose again as a new creation. We ascended to the right hand of the Father, sat down on His throne and had restored to us the glory we had before the 1st Adam sinned.  All this took place in the past tense, therefore we are now free from all judgement of sin, shame and nakedness (Rom 8:30).

I Realise this is a lot to take in, but if we will meditate on these things, the Holy Spirit will lead us into the truth and understanding of Scripture.

In our next Blog we will look at how to practically and experientially live a life free from shame and it’s consequences.

Meditation Point: Holy Spirit, you are the author of Scripture, therefore, as I meditate on these things, open the eyes of my spirit to see who I am ‘In Christ’.

The Great Cover Up

Gen 3:7

Both of them knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.  (NKJV)

In our last Blog we saw how shame entered into the human race. The word ‘ashamed’ means to be embarrassed, worthless, disgraced, guilty; and shame is a feeling, an emotion. Hence , when Adam and Eve knew they had committed sin by eating of the forbidden fruit, they felt ashamed of their actions and covered up themselves with fig leaves.

Shame will always cause people to cover up. That’s why mankind wear clothes, to cover up the shame of the naked body. Unfortunately covering up was man’s way of making himself presentable before God and became self righteousness.

There’s a difference between ‘covering over’ and ‘covering up’. Covering over speaks of protection, shielding and guarding. Whereas, covering up speaks of hiding, avoiding detection, deception, manipulation and lies.

When we seek to cover up shame, we get into all sorts of dysfunctional behaviour to prevent ourselves from being exposed, uncovered, vulnerable and insecure.

When Adam and Eve covered up their shame by covering their bodies with fig leaves, nakedness throughout the scriptures became synonymous with shame. When a country was invaded and conquered, the victors would force their captives to strip naked and tied chains around their necks and feet before selling them into slavery. The nakedness was a sign of their shame: they were a defeated conquered people, stripped of all dignity and respect.

In our next Blog we shall look at how Jesus took our shame on the cross at Calvary and has covered us again by His glory.

Meditation Point: What areas of my life do I feel ashamed about or to put it another way, what areas of my life do I hide or cover up from God and others.

Clothed in Glory

Ps 104:1-2
Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment.

When Adam & Eve were in the garden of Eden, the scripture says, ‘they were naked and not ashamed’ (Gen 2:25). Why was this?

The answer: ‘THEY HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG’

Shame comes from doing wrong. But let’s start from the beginning and follow shame through from the Old Testament to the New Testament and show how Jesus delivers us from shame.

Scripture tells us that God is clothed with glory, honour and light! Ps 104:1-2 Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with glory and majesty (or honor);  you wear light like a robe. (NCV); And when God created mankind, He  clothed them also with glory and honour Ps 8:1,5. What is man that You are mindful of him. You have crowned him with glory and honor.  (AMP)

Adam & Eve now had face to face relationship, fellowship and friendship with God. Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence (face) of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (KJV) In Hebrew the word ‘presence’ can also be translated ‘face’.

Hence man knew complete love, acceptance and standing with God. They were not ashamed, they were innocent, that is, unaware of any negative emotions such as, fear, shame, guilt and rejection.

God had given them only one command: They could eat the fruit from all the trees of the garden except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and  evil. The punishment for breaking this command, was death! (Gen 2:16,17.)

But that fateful day came when they disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Disobedience is sin, and immediately they sinned, their covering of glory was broken off them. Rom 3:23  Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows.  (AMP)

Now they experienced shame because they knew they had lost their glory for doing wrong; and because they did wrong, for the first time they experienced shame and guilt. This was followed by fear because they knew their punishment for breaking God’s command was death! And to top it off,God later expelled them from the garden, triggering the negative emotion of rejection.

In our next Blog we will look at the devastating effects of shame and it’s consequences for the human race.

Meditation Point: Am I carrying shame because I or someone close to me has done wrong.