Let It Burn (Handling Shame)

The words I heard in my heart, echoed loud in my ears. “Let It Go”

In that moment, tears flowed down my face, releasing a steady river; years of salty regrets washing over my cheeks. It was as if Jesus, Himself was wrapping His arms around me, instead of my dear friend. Suddenly, in my mind’s eye, I could see the tiniest of flames being lit.

I felt the depths of my soul warm, as the single flame began to ignite dead kindling. Dry, crispy brush of past mistakes that I had shoved into every crevice, corner and closet of my inner being. Pile by pile caught fire, and warmed me to the bone. It’s amazing how much garbage we can carry within us, and still function.

There I stood, a fire blazing internally, and water pouring from my eyes externally. I was being regenerated and restored to a new version of myself. Someone who had been there all along, but was not seen, because she was buried deep under the mounds of roughage and disappearing, like kids jumping into giant leaf piles in the fall.

Immediately, I felt lighter. A new creature was emerging from the ash that remained. The piles became nothing more than tiny, smoldering embers, and for the first time in years, I felt clean. Shame was defeated that day.

Although I had be walking with Christ for many, many years before this event, I still struggled with unbearable regret and self-condemnation. I don’t think I fully understood the massive weight I was placing on myself, making it hard to breathe. If I was a betting woman, I’d wager you also have something you hold onto deep within your soul, not realizing it is slowly suffocating you.

Shame is the playground, where the devil loves to entertain himself to your detriment. In the book of Revelation, he is known as the accuser of the brethren.

“For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” (Revelation 12:10b)

You may be wondering why he is wasting his time, tattle-telling on the Saints before the throne of The Almighty. If we stop and think about it for a moment, I believe the explanation can be very clear. Have you ever had a moment when you knew you did something wrong and would be punished for it? In order to try to deflect attention from yourself, you start to point fingers to someone else. We see this same behavior way back in the garden, when God confronts Adam regarding his partaking of the forbidden fruit. Instead of owning his mistake, Adam throws it back on God, accusing the Creator of giving him a faulty spouse in Eve.

“The woman you gave me…” (Genesis 3:12a)

Deflection-

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” bellowed the Wizard. (The Wizard of Oz, 1939)

I believe Satan knows the monstrous punishment that is awaiting him, because of his rebellion against God, so he tries to avert attention to other’s sinful, mistakes. Whatever the ultimate motive behind Satan’s accusations may be, whispering reminders of past failures in the Christian’s ear, is one of his greatest weapons. It keeps us frozen, unable to fulfill our calling in Christ Jesus. The desire to slink away into the shadows and hide, is magnified each time the serpent hisses, “I know what you’ve done. Let me remind you how worthless you are to God now.”

Let me give you a better word, dear friends.

It Is Finished!

The cross has the final word. (Which is also a great song by Cody Carnes. Check it out!). Jesus’ blood has washed you clean from your sin.

“In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Why, do we listen to a defeated enemy? You do know this dude loses completely in the end, right? What if we started believing what God says about our past mistakes, over the lies the devil keeps screaming at us? How about we grab ahold of scripture that says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) and we decide to take this sentence at face value?

Or (an even crazier thought), what would happen if we started reading the Bible as nonfiction, instead of fiction? Let that sink in for a moment. Too many times, I think we read the Bible as if it is a collection of fairy tales, instead of digesting it as the actual words of God. If we believed all the books to be truth, scriptures like Micah 7:19 would have us shouting for joy and living very different lives indeed. .

“He shall again have compassion on us; He will subdue and tread underfoot our wickedness [destroying sin’s power]. Yes, You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

If that one doesn’t get you excited, what about Hebrews 8:12?

“For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins, and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.”

We, as Christ followers, should be the most confident people on the planet, but instead, our heads are low and we wear frowns of defeat across our brows. We more readily believe the lies of the devil, than the promises of the Father. This cannot be, dear friends, if we are to live fully, victorious lives.

Jesus did not die, so we could keep looking over our shoulders to the past, like Lot’s wife. His resurrection completely destroyed the powers of hell. When you accept His free gift of salvation, confess and repent of your sins, YOU ARE WASHED CLEAN!

I don’t care how many times the devil tries to bring up your old junk, and stab your thoughts with the memories. It doesn’t change the power of the cross.

So what Satan keeps saber rattling and drudging up your past. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

Maybe you know you’ve been forgiven, but you just cannot forgive yourself, so you hold on to the guilt. What does that accomplish, other than calling Jesus a liar, because He said His blood cleanses us completely (1 John 1:7). Yeah- I said it! Time to call it what it is, dear friends. Pride.

If your sin wasn’t too difficult or too evil for God to forgive and forget, why do you keep the shame around like it’s a trophy? I get it, trust me- I know it’s hard to let go of the regrets, but you either believe the blood of Jesus is enough, or you don’t. You either know you are a new creation, and the past no longer defines you, or you don’t.

Jesus was not beaten, mocked, spit on, flogged, and ultimately crucified, so you can live in the constant sob story of what you did years ago, or even yesterday. This is what I learned the day He whispered to my heart, “Let It Go.” The best kick in the face we can give the enemy, is to understand how fully forgiven we are, and live that out.

Release the self-loathing.

Drop the self-hatred.

Stop with the constant, “navel gazing”.

“But you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t understand the terrible things I did.” No, I don’t, but I know the horrendous things I did, and my Savior told me to stop feeling sorry for myself and come out of my self-made prison. Don’t bind yourself back up again, after He broke the chains.

This has been my desperate prayer for years, over the Church. That we would grab ahold of everything the Bible says we are, and torch anything the darkness whispers to us. If the Bride, would let go of shame- the Church would be such a powerful force, I have no doubt we would see an unprecedented revival, such as history has never witnessed before.

Shame keeps us silent. Satan likes it that way.

I am praying for you. That you will be given the same revelation I was so long ago. I am praying someone will be set totally, free from all their past mistakes and regrets. I am asking the Lord to allow fresh fire to fall on all who read this, so any hint of degradation- any tiny, sliver of shame, will be completely consumed.

Isn’t this is the perfect weather for a bonfire!