I have learned that for a marriage to be successful you must renew your commitment to making it work daily. Salvation is much the same way. While Jesus made it possible for us to be saved, we must make a daily commitment to “stay saved”, meaning, living a life that is truly Christ-like, renewing our minds and walking in love.
This commitment can be increasingly hard when you allow areas of hidden sin in your life or when you allow open doors and windows to temptation. As I wrote about yesterday, the cracked window gives way to a rip in the screen which represents generational sin and areas that need healing and deliverance. That rip is like a magnet for all spiritual nonsense and wickedness to come in.
Unresolved issues love to commiserate with others. If you frequently battle with lust, you may notice that you have always drawn other lusty people to you. If you have anger management problems, it is probably never hard for you to find someone else who “has your back” because they are the same way. When you spend your time with people who share your weaknesses and don’t necessarily care about changing, you start to feel as if it is a little ok to be that way. You may know that is wrong to celebrate those faults but it still feels good to do it.
Your flesh starts to have a party because finally, you are with somebody who understands you and is telling you what you want to hear! They tell you not to be so hard on yourself, that it is natural to feel the way you do. Meanwhile, the voice of the Holy Spirit begins to fade into the background as you choose to celebrate your lower nature.
The voice of the Spirit fades only until your friends go home and there is no one else but you and Your Maker. You cannot escape the feeling of disappointment you have because you gave up on yourself. Instead of accepting who God says you are, you heard the voice of your friends who told you it was natural to be less than who you were created to be.
Let’s expose the things that keep us from reaching for our potential in God! Close the window on temptation, cut ties or limit your time with people who do not encourage you to live free from guilt and shame. Meditate on things that are pure so that God can change you from the inside out.
Philippians 4:8 (New King James Version)
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
I asked the Lord to search me and He showed me that there were some areas that I was stubbornly holding onto, not allowing Him to fully penetrate and bring the change that I desperately need.
Sometimes you can be in bondage to something for so long that it begins feels a bit normal to you. You may even find pleasure in it and not want to let it go. You may fear you will lose part of who you are if you give that thing up because you are so used to being that way. You may have even justified that thing by saying, “I have to be me.”
It is such deception to believe that anything short of God’s best is who you were created to be. Accepting brokenness as a part of your identity is a sign of someone who has given up because they have tried to rely on their own strength to change.
We must fully submit to God’s changing Power. We have to lay down our will and be truly ready for Him to come in and clean house, especially if we want to reach our destiny in Him. My prayer today is simply Lord, “Take all of me!”
Romans 6:12-14 (New King James Version)
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
shame: 1 a : a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety b : the susceptibility to such emotion <have you no shame?>2 : a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute : ignominy <the shame of being arrested>3 a : something that brings censure or reproach; also : something to be regretted : pity <it’s a shame you can’t go> b : a cause of feeling shame (Merriam-Webster Online)
Shame is a powerful device effective in making people believe they are separated from the love of God. However, God does not remove His Love from us. The Word says He will never leave us nor forsake us. Shame can only lead to separation from the Lord when we believe what our shameful emotions are saying.
Shame would have you believe that God will never accept you because of what you have done. Shame makes you feel inferior because of your weaknesses and paralyzes you from worshiping God and interacting with Him. Shame causes us to try to run and hide from an All-Seeing, All-Knowing God.
We have the ability to take the power away from shame. One: we can resist temptation: “resist the devil and he will flee”; two: we can renew our minds by studying God’s Word and being in His presence so that we might be able to withstand the enemy and his pitfalls; three: if shame tries to set in we can instead take the situation to God in prayer. We can repent from our actions, seek God’s forgiveness and know that we need not linger in shame and condemnation. We can instead focus on submitting to the Lord so that He can help us overcome our weaknesses.
Depend on Him to change you today.
James 4:7-8 (New International Version)
7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (New International Version)
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Sometimes I think we need reminders that God is not limited in His Love and understanding like man is. There are times when I will
start picking myself apart over some character flaw or weakness and then when I try to pray, I picture the Father as if He has His back turned toward me because I have disappointed Him yet again. While my imagination runs with this scene, it gets harder and harder for me talk to Him or lift a praise. I begin to feel rejected, but the truth is, I condemned myself.
This is the trouble with our deceitful desires. The un-renewed mind focuses on thoughts that are not of God, or the accuser brings up your past and suddenly you begin to dwell on the thought of how dirty and shameful you are and think you are not worthy to stand before God and receive His Love.
We are not worthy of God’s Love in and of ourselves, yet He chooses to Love us always. The blood of Jesus Christ has guaranteed us a position in God’s heart. His blood makes us lawful recipients of God’s Love. It is so important to remember how He feels about us because this deceitful flesh tries to rise up and make us think that it is bigger than God’s love.
Those desires could have you thinking that it is too hard to give up a sinful lifestyle. The unstable nature of the flesh will have you thinking that it is normal to be angry all the time and always on the verge of cussing somebody out. The flesh will have you thinking that you can’t kick the habit, it’s just who you are. The un-renewed mind will have you thinking that you can never please God so you might as well give up on having a relationship with Him.
Sometimes we just have to tell the flesh to shut up. It can become so loud at times but that is when we must pray. Talk to the Lord about what you are feeling. He created you and He understands what you are going through. He is not angry with you because of what you did or because of what you want to do. He wants to help you. He wants to transform your life and give you peace.
Do not let the imaginations of your mind and the desires of your body deceive you into thinking that you cannot commune with God and worship Him. In reality, that is exactly what God wants. When you are tempted, do not run away from Him and hide as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Draw closer to Him and His Love and He will draw near to you.
Ephesians 4:21-24 (New King James Version)
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
As we go throughout life, we collect experiences, joy, pain, disappointments, victories, defeats and everything else that goes along with being human. Some of the painful things that we go through, we tend to keep locked away, hidden deep within our hearts.
People around you may not realize how often you refer to those hidden hurts. You may not form any new relationships without first comparing them to that secret person you hold dear. You may not trust anyone because of that secret incident that you vowed to never let happen again. You may be dealing with a secret issue and fear that if anyone knew about it you would be judged and isolated for life. You could be smiling on the outside but secretly want to knock somebody out!
We pack these things away, lock them up and make ourselves believe that we will throw away the key, but instead we daily unlock the trunk, pull out the contents and review what is inside so that we can defend ourselves from any possible new threats.
You could spend so much time focusing on the locked away secrets from your past that they never truly become the past. By constantly reliving the events, the shame and all the other negative emotions you miss out on precious new experiences.
Why not bring the trunk and all of its contents to God? He already knows what is in there. He was there with you through it all and He wants to take that burden away from you. Talk to Him about what those things mean to you. Ask Him to heal the pain associated with every item. If you really want to break free, but it seems too difficult, don’t hesitate to seek help. There is nothing new under the sun that a qualified minister or therapist could not help you with.
Unlock the pain before God and Live!
Romans 8:26-28 (New International Version)
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose.
I know that we are all works in progress, but sometimes it feels like there is too much work to be done! You get tired of struggling with the same addiction or falling into the same trap that causes you to look in the mirror and ask yourself, “What’s wrong with me?”
When you know you have messed up, those familiar waves of disappointment and shame wash over you. You may even begin to feel angry and disgusted. “Why is this so hard?” “How can God use me when I can never get it right?” You may begin to feel like hope is lost.
David was a passionate man who sometimes did things that were far from the will of God, including murder and adultery. David had witnessed firsthand how God dealt with people whose hearts were turned against Him. How grateful must he have been to know God’s power as well as His love, forgiveness and provision, in spite of his shortcomings . As God rescued David from himself, David learned that his “help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 12:12).
The same God who created the heavens and the earth can create something new in you. He can help you overcome those weaknesses and release you from shame and defeat. Like David, you must recognize your own brokenness and realize that only God can fix it. He IS the help that you need.
Talk to the Lord about those weak areas today. Tell Him you want to change but you don’t know how. Ask Him to help you as you determine not to do those things anymore. Stay close to His Word and pay attention the internal warning signals that He gives you to keep you on the right track. Accept the help that He sends you because it will make you better.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message)
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
