"Ain't No Shame In My Game"

    This slang term used to be a popular one and my younger daughter says it jokingly, but for those of us who have dealt with or are dealing with addiction shame is a very real issue and one that can keep the cycle of addiction spinning out of control. The stigma of addiction is the very thing that feeds the monster of habit. When people feel shame and condemnation they seek something that makes them feel better and that is usually an external thing that becomes habitual and so on and so on!

      One thing I have learned and am finally accepting in my life is that shame is one of the things Jesus took to the cross with Him and He doesn’t know how to look upon us with shame because there is none. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1 NKJV) and “Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame” (Psalm 34:5 NIV). As long as we are walking “in Him” there is no shame or condemnation.

      Condemnation is something the devil likes to try and use against us—he  is the lord of shame. If he can keep you operating under shame and condemnation he knows you will not be effective for God.  Satan will keep telling you that you are nothing but an addict and that you can never be free. He will tell you even if you have already been set free from drugs, drinking, pornography or whatever the addiction may be, he will try to tell you that everyone knows what you used to be and they don’t believe you are or can be changed and set free. It’s a LIE! It’s a LIE! I’m going to repeat it...this is one of the biggest lies you will struggle with, BUT it is a LIE!!! Remember, who the Son sets free, is free indeed! (John 8: 36)

      Don’t waste precious time that should be spent to grow in God and your new found freedom from addiction by believing the lies of Satan. Don’t wallow in shame because any shame you are experiencing is coming from the enemy of your soul and he does not want you free. It is his job to keep you bound so DON’T help him by believing his lies!

      God delights in using broken people, the more broken we are the more glorified He is. Fixing broken people is what our God does. Once we are free it is then our job to tell the world how He delivered and set us free! This is how we grow in what God has done for us, we help others.  We also overcome Satan by telling others how God set us free. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony...” (Revelation 12:11 NKJV).  Words have tremendous power and when we speak God’s word we have supernatural power. By God’s words the entire universe was created and everything in it! God’s words have supernatural power and He is more than willing for you to access that power for your own life.

      Here is the hard part for all of us who have a “dark” past that is less than “shining”. The devil will use people in your life and around you, if you let him, to try and impart shame and condemnation on you, and even though Jesus redeemed us from the shame of our past when He paid the price for our past, and God remembers our past no more...people will never forget and they rarely forgive (even if they say they have). So we must keep our focus on the truth, that we are new creations in Him and without our past we don’t have a testimony to tell the world what He saved and redeemed us from!

       Never underestimate the power of your testimony...your story of how you and God came to be...how you and Jesus first met...the first time you and the Holy Spirit had a Supernatural Experience! All of these are what feed your spirit and destroy the enemy and at the same time you are sowing seed, spreading God’s Good News so that others will see what a great God we serve and WANT Him too!

      I can tell you that I have done enough things to myself and exposed my children (adults now) to enough things as a very young single mom that if I did not have the blood of Jesus to wash me clean every day I would literally die from the weight of the shame. I will share some more of my “past” in later blogs, but for now I want to stay focused on keeping away from the trap of shame.

     There is absolutely no sense at all in seeking freedom from addiction only to succumb to the bondage of shame and condemnation.  Jesus did not endure your condemnation on the cross for you to now wallow in the mire of shame. Shame is/was part of the addiction it is NOT something separate—they are one in the same. Think about that—if you are no longer addicted then there is NOTHING to bring shame upon you!

      If you have been set free from the external addictions, but are still suffering or struggling with shame you must try to remember that any sense or feeling of shame is in your thoughts and your mind but not in your reality. Get your thoughts lined up with your truth; because, we know that God does not look upon us with shame. He sees us as the righteousness of Jesus Christ because we are! (2 Corinthians 5:21) If we see ourselves differently we are not living in Him and we have not let Him truly set us free.

     God showed me in my heart that it was the same as crucifying Jesus His precious son over again each time I chose or choose to allow shame to have a place in my spirit and my heart. Oh how hurtful it is to Him to allow shame to have the spot in our heart and life that is meant for “that very One” who redeemed us and set us free from “that very shame”! He was already condemned in our place! Let’s not continue to condemn Him by taking on the shame He already forgave and set us free from.

      Sometimes I just imagine God is in heaven thinking...what sin, what shame, what are you talking or suffering about? I have already set you free and I don’t remember what you are even talking about! Of course, He knows in the sense that He sees our hearts and knows us better than we know ourselves. But He can’t forgive you twice for something He has already forgiven you for, that would be like saying His work was not a complete work, or it is like asking Jesus to go to the cross AGAIN because it just didn't work for you the first time!!! WHAT? Would we literally ask Jesus to do that? NO!  But each time we do not walk in the complete freedom of our redemption that is essentially what we are doing.

     when I am sharing these things with you they are meant for me as much as anyone else. I struggled many years with shame and to be honest it still tries to creep up in my life so I have to be careful and vigilant in my own freedom from addiction and shame. I have to constantly walk “in Him” to be free from the shame of my past.

        Let’s walk in this new found freedom and new life in Him together and give God the Glory for all He has and is going to do in our lives!  And remember, “Ain't no shame in my (your) game”, Jesus took it to the cross with Him...forever!

      Praise the Powerful Name of Jesus!

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