Personal Challenge #6: Shame (Part 2)

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)

“But you have an anointing (something smeared on you and in you, instead of the stain from sin) from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. […] As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 John 2:20; 27-3:3)

Challenge:

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there are any places – moments/memories of sin where you are hiding from God because of shame. Come before Him. Ask Him to show you His expression towards you in regards to these moments.

2. I had felt that my mistakes were attached to my worth. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there are any areas where you have internalized shame.

3. Are there any places where you need to replace the devil’s misrepresentation of God and an unholy fear of God, with a true view of His love and a holy, reverent fear?

4. Write out some messages that you hear in your head / tell yourself that cause you to feel bad. Discern if the sources of those messages are from the liar, or from the Truth. (Easy way to discern: do the messages push you away from God or towards Him?)

5. Based on the points from Day 22, what are the ‘works of the devil’ and how did Jesus destroy them? There are many points to discern Counterfeit versus Truth:
a. Unholy fear versus reverent fear
b. Shame projecting scorn onto us versus Jesus scorning shame itself
c. Condemnation versus conviction
d. Hiding our sin versus exposing our sin
e. Stained versus cleansed and anointed
Let’s resist the devil, reject his lies, and instead, believe truth and DRAW NEAR TO GOD.

6. Are there any places in your life that you want to expose to the light TODAY so you can live in the freedom that is available to you TODAY? Share this with your sister and know you are forgiven!

* https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/chrisma.html