Overcoming GUILT, SHAME AND THE WOUNDED HEART
More Than a Conqueror
Understanding the problem from God's point of view:
l Sam. 17:45-47 -Facing any goliath in your life whether large or small when you come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the army of the Lord, the Lord will deliver it into your hands because the battle is the Lord's. You don't come in your own name but in the name of the Lord whom you represent.
Hope:
Gal. 2:20 -We are to build a new identity, a new one in Jesus, not through my own plans, efforts or goals. As I recognize my new identity in Christ, I no longer have an identity with my past. But now and forever my identity is in Jesus Who guides and directs my life. My past identifies with the enemy. Now I am to think as Jesus thinks which is that I have nothing but victories which lie just ahead. Victories are an accomplished fact in Jesus.
Col. 3:3 -It is not you anymore but Jesus is you. Your body no longer shields the old nature but surrounds and shields Jesus, the inward man in my spirit. No longer sin controls me but controlled now by the Spirit of Righteousness.
Phil. 3:4-5 -No longer have confidence in my natural and physical attributes. I am now of the stock of David, stem of Jesse. I have been grafted into Jesus Himself. No longer do I count on my own efforts, plans, rewards, position, know-ledge, for those are just things and dung at that. My sense of value is not dependent on things but on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matt. 6:33 -I seek what God wants, and not pursuing after things. I am to be otherwise minded from things, and develop my identity with Christ. God will give all the things that are necessary as a by-product.
Change:
Jn. 5:17-19 -Jesus did not represent Himself but His Father. He did not struggle or strain for His own recognition or peace and joy, but He did what His Father was doing. Likewise, we are to do what Jesus wants us to do for victory is already accomplished In Jesus on the cross. In Christ, we have the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. Go forth and claim the victory.
2 Cor. 5:17 ; Jn. 14:20 , 21 , 23 -Jesus promised that He would live His life through you by the power of the Holy Spirit, this is a reality when we keep His word.
Jn. 16:12-15 , 33 -We don't speak of anything we can do or have done, we are to reveal the nature of Jesus within. The battle of life is not mine but the Father's. If you are living for anything that is outside of Christ, it is dung and useless. All we need in life is to live in Jesus, nothing else is needed. Identity with Jesus, let Him live in and through you. Since He overcame the world, the flesh and the devil, so do you in Him. We go forth in His name, more than a conqueror.
Matt. 28:18-20 -We are living with a new name authority, not our name but His and Jesus name is all and absolute authority.
Mrk. l6:15-20-We represent Jesus Christ and all that He did on the Cross. The revelation knowledge of this truth in your inner man assures victories in all of life's trials and challenges, over demons, sickness, financial burdens and endeavors on this earth.
Guilt Hanging On
Understanding the problem from God's point of view:
2 Cor. 5:21 -Jesus was our substitute and acted on our behalf bearing our sin nature and our committed acts of sins. Remember the effect of sin is guilt, condemnation, shame, bondage, insecurity, inferiority-all of which Jesus bore on the cross, we don't have to carry it anymore.
Hope:
2 Cor. 5:17 -We were resurrected with Jesus, as such, we are new creatures, living in a new dimension, now we are to think and live in an entirely new way according to God's specific directions and plans.
Rom. 5:17 , 20-21 -We are gifted to reign in life. God's grace envelops us and empowers us to think and to do righteous acts, and these acts represent eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom. 8:29-39 -We did not initiate our salvation. God is the One Who called us, and thus, He is for us, all good things from Him belong to us. God cannot condemn us because He sent His very own Son to bear the penalty. It is God's love that initiated all of our salvation, if this is so, who can separate us from this Love?
Verses 37-39-We are more than conquerors by dwelling on God's love, this meditation in time persuades my inner being, and my mind that it is so.
Change:
Eph. 2:1-3 -Man was dead(powerless and without the ability to change)in sin but Jesus broke sin's dominion by being made sin for us. Jesus died with us in Him.
Rom. 4:25 , Jesus rose again to make us righteous; Eph. 3:6 , we rose up together and sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is to be our attitude 24 hours a day regardless of what my feelings are telling me.
Gal. 6:14 / Gal. 2:20 -The cross is my victory in righteousness, by the cross we live dead to the world and alive in Christ. Christ lives in me and I now live by faith of Jesus living in me enabling me to think and to do righteousness.
Guilty Conscience
Understanding the problem from God's point of view:
Eze. 18:20 ; 2 Cor. 5:17 -Each of us is accountable for our own sins. We are freed from what others have done to us by realizing I am accountable for my own actions, by forgiving others then to begin a restoration process in my own life. No longer react to the past but respond in the present to the Presence of a new life in Christ Jesus, Who from now on will guide and lead and develop me into what He had planned for me before the foundation of the world.
Hope:
Gal. 3:13-14 -Knowing Jesus as Lord and Saviour, He becomes my source of life from now on because His blood freed me and cleansed and washed me from generation curses. By faith, by believing God's word as herein stated, the past is paid for, no punishment due because Jesus paid the full price. Now we are free to honor and worship God for providing a new way of life for me which includes blessings, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Gal. 3:11 -A person is not justified by doing the best he can, he is justified by faith, by trusting God to forgive sin, and this He has done by the sacrifice of His Son. We are not to dwell on the past, but to honor and dwell on Jesus and what He has done, not on what the devil has done. By the principle of faith, the believer is saved by faith and lives by faith. Jesus Christ took our condemnation, doom, death, and punishment upon Himself so that we could be free now to honor what He has done. To dwell on the past is to dwell on death.
2 Cor. 5:17 ; jn. 3:3-6 ; 2 Pet. 1:1-4 -Jesus opened the door of blessing to all men by bearing the curse for us so that the Holy Spirit can now indwell us and to empower us henceforth to live a new life as a new creature, and begin to live a life that is pleasing to God and the result is peace and joy in lieu of gloom and doom.
Change:
2 Cor. 5:17-21 ; Col. 3:9-10 -Your source of being is Christ Himself. You are to live for Him henceforth which means you are to have fellowship and commune with God at all times. It is being 'in Christ' that makes a person a new creature. He is all that Christ is. We are no longer in death, the past, but in life in the present. Thus, our thoughts, motives, actions are to be consistent with the new life within.
Eph. 4:22-24 ; l Pet. 4:3 -The process of change begins in our minds and thoughts, and our minds to be renewed by God's words. To think on the past is to think on death and corruption. the mind is to be renewed which means to be made new, readjusted, changed, turned around and regenerated.
l Jn. 3:19-24 ; Jn. 5:24 ; Rom. 8:1 ; lJn. 1:9 -Everyone's heart condemns him sometime. God has made our hearts sensitive so that we will correct our behaviour and not destroy ourselves. God knows all our secrets, nothing is unknown to Him, but God has removed all the guilt and condemnation that weighs upon our hearts by loving us and this love was shown when He sent His own Son to die for us and by his death removed all guilt and condemnation. Knowing all things are well with God, our hearts will flow in full assurance and confidence. Now we are free to love God and others, and as we do , our confidence will increase.
Rom. 5:17 , 6:11 -Sin nature has been put away, now I practice the acts of right thinking and right doing because I have abundance of God's energy and power, the enablement to exercise the gift of righteousness.
Cleansed of Guilt/Condemnation
Understanding the problem from God's point of view:
Rom. 15:14 , 6:11-14 ; Eph. 4:22-24 -Effective and lasting biblical change is a continuing process. You are to obey the commands and guidelines in God's word for every area of your life(thoughts, words, actions). As you put-off the old continuing pattern of sin and put-on the new practices of righteousness and holiness, you are renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Hope:
John 12:31-33 ; l Cor. 6:19-20 ; lJN. 4:4 -Satan's power to charge men with sin, to cause us to be separated from God, to enslave men with habits of sin and shame is now "cast out". The believer, cleansed by the blood of Christ, becomes a holy temple unto God, fit for the presence and power of God's Spirit. Man can now conquer the enslaving habits of sin in the power of God's Spirit.
l Jn. 3:18-22 -God loves everyone, even those who do evil. Like God, we also must love those who oppose us, do evil against us and stand against us. When we do, our hearts are assured before Him because we are loving all men as God loves all men; a clean heart is one that loves as God loves.
Rom. 8:1 -Take all the evil we have ever done and all the condemnation we feel and senses, God knows every ounce of heaviness and guilt and condemnation we feel and He has removed all guilt and condemnation forever from our hearts by loving us so much that He would give His Son to die for us. We are to rest in this, our hearts to flow in full assurance and confidence knowing that all things are well in God.
Change:
Matt. 7:5 ; Heb. 4:12 ; 2 Cor. 10:3-5 -To put-off sinful habits, you must first identify them in light of God's word, then you must repent, confess, and put them aside.
Gal. 5:16 ; Col. 1:10 -As we put-on righteous deeds in the power of the Holy Spirit, you glorify God, show your love for Him and please Him in all things.
Eph. 5:15-16 ; Col. 3:23-24 ; 1 Tim. 4:7-11 ; Heb. 5:14 -To continue the process of biblical change, you must faithfully practice your daily responsibilities and discipline yourself toward godliness. As you continue to be a doer of the word, your senses will be trained to discern good and evil.
Condemning Self
Understanding the problem from God's point of view:
Heb. 4:2 ; John 6:63 -To hear the word of God is not enough though certainly necessary. I must mix what I hear with faith, I must believe it to be true, and finally I must obey what it tells me to do.
Hope:
2 Cor. 5:17 ; 21; Phil2:8 -Believing and receiving Jesus as my Lord means I must commit myself to live by his standards, not mine. The past is done away with, I am not to build my life on what has happened to me, but to live my life according to God's principles and directions, reconciling my mind and activities with God and His plans for me to be a blessing to others, to help others be reconciled to God who had terrible things happened to them as well. We are to be controlled by the new nature within us, not a combination of the past and present.
Gal. 2:20 ; l Cor. 15:57 ; Matt. 6:24 -I will not pray for peace, power, success, or fruit, neither will I seek promotion, honors, recognition, or acclaim, these are all by-products that God gives to as I seek to please God daily by doing what He wants me to do. When self reigns, I am at war with God, that leads to frustration, anxiety, and misery, Therefore, crucify the self life and be at peace with God.
Phil. 3:13 ; 2 Cor. 4:17-18 ; Rom. 6:3-6 -My past is taking care of by the blood of Jesus, now I look forward with the mind of Christ, new and fresh. Begin new thoughts, led by the Holy Spirit, daily learning to deal with life as Jesus did, growing daily into Him. Life is but suffering, but I learn obedience thru suffering, and these afflictions are really nothing but light afflictions and temporary, compared to the glory that awaits me in eternity.
Change:
Rom. 12:1-2 ; Matt. 7:24-27 -You are to be rooted, built-up and established in the Lord Jesus Christ and are not to be conformed to the world. You must practice God's word to grow into maturity, otherwise, disaster awaits following one's feelings or reasonings.
Matt. 7:5 ; Gal. 6:1-5 -Practicing God's word begins with judging one's self daily, and removing sinful obstructions from your own life first, then you will have the privilege of restoring others who have going through what you experienced in life.
l John 2:3-6 ; lTim. 4:7-8 ; John 16:33 ; 15:10-11-You must obey God' word consistently to grow increasingly into godliness and to realize true peace and joy.
Self-Condemnation
Understanding the problem from God's point of view:
2 Cor. 5:21 -Jesus was our substitute and acted on our behalf bearing our sin nature and our committed acts of sins. Remember the effect of sin is guilt, condemnation, shame, bondage, insecurity, inferiority-all of which Jesus bore on the cross, we don't have to carry it anymore.
Hope:
2 Cor. 5:17 -We were resurrected with Jesus, as such, we are new creatures, living in a new dimension, now we are to think and live in an entirely new way according to God's specific directions and plans.
Rom. 5:17 , 20-21 -We are gifted to reign in life. God's grace envelops us and empowers us to think and to do righteous acts, and these acts represent eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom. 8:29-39 -We did not initiate our salvation. God is the One Who called us, and thus, He is for us, all good things from Him belong to us. God cannot condemn us because He sent His very own Son to bear the penalty. It is God's love that initiated all of our salvation, if this is so, who can separate us from this Love?
Verses 37-39-We are more than conquerors by dwelling on God's love, this meditation in time persuades my inner being, and my mind that it is so.
Change:
Eph. 2:1-3 -Man was dead(powerless and without the ability to change)in sin but Jesus broke sin's dominion by being made sin for us. Jesus died with us in Him.
Rom. 4:25 , Jesus rose again to make us righteous; Eph. 3:6 , we rose up together and sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is to be our attitude 24 hours a day regardless of what my feelings are telling me.
Gal. 6:14 / Gal. 2:20 -The cross is my victory in righteousness, by the cross we live dead to the world and alive in Christ. Christ lives in me and I now live by faith of Jesus living in me enabling me to think and to do righteousness.
Rom. 5:17 , 6:11 -Sin nature has been put away, now I practice the acts of right thinking and right doing because I have abundance of God's energy and power, the enablement to exercise the gift of righteousness.
Diseased Attitudes
Perspective:
Gen. 1:26-28 ; Matt. 6:33 ; Rom. 8:29 :We are made in the image and likeness of God Himself, that we are containers and revealors of God's love to others, to the beast of the field, and to nature itself. Man was created to fulfill God's purposes on earth by means of God's Spirit, by His word, being expressed through man's earthly body to be a blessing and to destroy that which opposes . It is man's responsibility in Christ to subdue Satan.
However, as the result of the Fall, mankind slipped from God -consciousness into the hell of self and self-consciousness. This fallen self dwells in misconceived feelings and attitudes, those that arise from listening to the self-in-separation and to the voices of a fallen world. That self is to be 'put-off -we are not to practice the presence of that self ( Eph. 4:22-24 ).
Hope:
Col. 2:10-12 ; Col. 3:10 ; Eph. 4:22-24 ; Phil. 4:19 :Christ completed us, and we are completed in Him. Daily we put-off the old man and put-on the new man, and through these experiences we realize what and who we are in Christ, we are identified with Christ, and live from that expectation and realization, once again.
Rom. 6:3-6 : We must differentiate between the self that collaborates with the principle of evil and selfishness, the false self of flesh and its appetites, and the true self that abides in Christ and lives and collaborates from the justified new creation and lives eternally.
2 Cor. 3:18 ; 2 Cor. 4:10-12 :We are not called to self-realization or self-actualization but to identification with Christ. Our true self, at any stage of our becoming is in Christ. Jesus took upon Himself all our darkness, rejection and depression and gives us in exchange His light and life. We are to do the same in our relationship with others.
Change:
Gal. 5:1 ; 1 Pet. 2:23-24 ; 1 Pet. 3:14-17 ; John 14:27 : Our peace and joy is not dependent upon others, things, or possessions. We are not what others have done to us or failed to do. We are children of God, the true self, freed of self loathing and hatred. We are now in Christ the true center, the place of quiet strength, the center from which we know and see ourselves to be white-robed in the very righteousness of Christ Himself.
1 John 1:9 ; Eze. 36:16-36 ; Ps. 51 :We are all sinners from birth. We have no choice but to forgive others and to receive forgiveness for our sinful actions in the midst of being sinned against, and offending others by my sinful attitude. To forgive is not to forgive evil, we do not forgive Satan, we do not forgive demons and evil principalities, but we do forgive 'persons' in the clutches of that evil. Being freed now , no longer controlled or influenced by the horizontal and externals of life , my true self comes into being, enabled now to fulfill God's purposes for my life on this earth.
Wounded Heart (1)
Phil. 3:13-14 - Denial Based Forgiveness- Hiding the past always involves denial, and denial of the past always involves a denial of God. To forget your personal history is trying to forget yourself and the journey God has called you to live. Holy passivity is not the key to quick-cure solutions, such as: loving those who have abused you, not really knowing why you are to love them though Scriptures says to do so. Before this can be done, the pent-up emotions must be dealt with. Dealing with the past is not simply forgive and forget-denial, pressured love or passionless conformity.
Ps. 23 ; Isa. 42:3 - We are to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Walking this path involves opening up and putting into words the condition of our inner being and placing these words before God and to receive His response.
To cover up our shame and contempt, we pretend or deny and thus hesitate to bring it before the Lord for fear He may also condemn us. Damage of the Past-Through denial and not dealing with the past, we set up a complex scheme of self-protective defenses, and it is these defenses which guide our interactions with others in all aspects of living, revealing a distorted personality made up of false defenses, not the true self guided by the Holy Spirit but one guided by sin, the past hurts not biblically dealt with.
2 Tim. 4:8 - God called us to fight the good fight of faith, to reach the crown of righteousness which requires a transcended self, opened and freed from past corruptions in order to live the life God called us to have, a life of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. God called us to an abundant life, not one of pretense.
Enemies- The abused has a natural longing to be pursued, enhanced, known and enjoyed but hates these longings because of the distortions caused by sexual abuse. Their hunger for love leads to a strong distaste for any passion that might lead to a vulnerable expression of desire.
True Enemy- The enemy is not really the longings of one's heart, anymore than it is the abuser. The enemy is sin that refuses to bow to God. The enemy is the internal reality that will not cry out to God in humble, broken dependence. When a person is victimized, her inherent commitment to depend on her own resources swings into action. The determination to make it against all odds begins a frightening cycle involving the elements of shame and contempt.
Shame: Shame involves 4 important elements:exposure, revelation, dread of the consequences, and empowering trust. As a result of the fall, we despise standing vulnerable before God and others. Therefore, we find countless ways to flee from His presence to avoid being seen.
Shame exposes an element of depravity, or shines light on some elememt of our dignity such as tripping in front of a group of people. In either case, a deficiency is revealed and our attempt to be self-enhanced and in control of our lives is revealed showing our weakness and our vulnerability.
If others see our faults and failures, then we would not be wanted or enjoyed for ourselves. Thus, shame and concern for our dignity invokes within us to cover-up our faults. We ignore the issue of depravity and feel shame about our longing for what God intended us to enjoy.
Rejection is a by-product of being seen as deficient and is an element of shame.
Wounded Heart (2) - Shame
Isa. 42:17 , 44:9-11-The 3 elements of shame:exposure, revelation and consequences involves the element of trust as well. Trust is giving up our soul to another with the hope we will not be harmfully used. This power we give to another is the power to determine whether or not we are acceptable and desirable which empowers another to determine whether I am acceptable or not.
This can be misconstrued and becomes idolatry which is placing our longings to another for which only God can provide, putting this longing in the hands of a creature rather than our Creator.
Shame or folly comes about when our false god fails to meet our needs and heal our wounds, then we begin to rely on our own strength rather than on God or anyone else. All of this represents illegitimate shame.
Legitimate shame is when we acknowledge God, God is the One who determines our acceptability. Thus, legitimate shame is facing our failure to trust in God. Trusting God means relying on Him to keep our body or our world intact and to maintain the intactness of our soul. Shame of the flesh tries to deflect sin through contempt and blameshifting as with Adam and Eve.
Contempt/Deflection:
The enemy is ultimately the evil one, and the path to Satan's vision is rebellion or autonomy, or in other words, sin. Self-contempt and other-centered contempt is a mean by which we maintain a
semblance of control over our lives that protects one from dependence on God, and this keeps one from dealing with the problem of sin and God is the only One Who can deal with sin, the flaw of our fallen nature.
Functions of Contempt
Ps. 1:1-3 -To deal with this problem requires more than behavioral change. The issue here is sin, salvation and sanctification. Contempt serves us in 4 ways:it diminishes our shame, it deadens our longings, it makes us feel in control, and it distorts the real problem. Self-contempt is satan's counterfeit for conviction of sin. All abuse is a violation of the sanctity and wholeness of the human soul.
Prerequisites for Growth:
To move toward loving God we begin to alter the process of self-centered stagnation and decay.
John 12:24-25 -Trusting in God involves the loss of our agenda, so that we die to our inclination to live a lie. We forfeit our rigid, self-protective, God dishonoring ways of relating in order to live life as it is meant to be lived. In order to love God's way, we must both honor the dignity and expose the depravity of the person with whom we are in relationship.
Honesty
Heb. 2:10 , 5:8-9 -Real life requires death. Death involves the experience of suffering. Suffering is required for growth. Christ's sufferings was in bearing the disgrae and shame of the Cross. As we take up His cross, we can then really see what we are meant to be. The purpose of regaining memories is removal of denial, reclamation of the self, and a movement toward real change. Ps. 139:23-24-Reclaiming the past is a lifelong endeavor.
Repentance:
Repentance is an about-face movement from denial, rebellion to truth, and surrender from death to life. Repentance is an internal shift in our perceived source of life, and it involves the response of humble hunger, bold movement, and wild celebration when faced with the reality of our fallen state and the grace of God. This leads us toward coming alive for the explicit purpose of having more to give to others for their well-being and to God for His glory.
Root Problems
Understanding the Problem from God's Point of View:
Joshua 1:8 , Ps. 19:11 , Matt. 7:20-27 -If you hear God's word and do it, you will be blessed and your ability to discern good and evil will be increased.
Hope:
l Cor. 10:13 ; 2 Cor. 4:7-10 , 12:9-10 -God will not allow believers to be tested or tempted beyond what they can bear. He gives you His grace and strength to endure every test and resist every temptation so that you never have to sin.
Heb. 4:12 , 15-16 ; Jere. 23:29 ; l Pet. 2:3-4 ; Jn. 15:3 , 2 Tim. 2:15-The word of God is the perfect psychiatrist which searches to the zenith of one's being to arouse an awareness of one's immortal spirit; it discerns one's thoughts and motives, it exposes the kind of person one is, it burns and consumes the heart, the conscience of men, crushes the hardness of man's heart, it grows and builds up the believer and is the measuring instrument by which one receives the approval of the Lord.
Phil. 1:6 ; 1 Pet. 1:5 ; Deut. 7:9 -As you study the word, God begins the good work in you, He will keep you by the power of God through faith unto salvation. When I suffer according to the will of God and commit my soul to Him in well-doing, He will see me through.
Change:
James 1:22-24 ; Jn. 14:23-23 ; Rom. 6:11-13 , 17-18 -If you do not become a doer of the Word, you deceive yourself and show your lack of love for the Lord, and deny the reality of His life within you.
Gen. 4:5-7 ; Matt. 15:18-20 ; Eph. 4:22-24 ; Col. 3:9-10 -I am not to live my life based on feelings. All feelings do is to reveal the root of my flesh and my heart. I am to do what God's word says to do, and by acting on His word this changes the root of my being. It is not what we do with things that makes us either good or bad, spiritual or carnal, it is the heart that determines the character of the activity. A man is not made unclean by things, he is made unclean because of his polluted heart. It is the heart that must be changed.
James 1:19 , Prov. 14:12 , Isa. 55:8-9 -Our thoughts are to follow God's thoughts, and our actions are to be controlled and that by reason. The words that I speak and the actions I take are to be under the control and influence of the Holy Spirit.
Paid-For Promises
Understanding the Problem from God's Point of View:
2 Cor. 1:18-22 ; Dan. 8:10-12 -Every promise God has made to me has been paid for by the Blood of Jesus. God has given His absolute promise. I just receive, I do not earn or work for this. I do what God says to do. I do nothing to move God but God moves me. Satan will do all he can to stop the blood. Great boldness and confidence becomes our responsibility to secure these promises.
Hope:
Gal. 2:20 ; Heb. 13:20-21 -Victory in life does not depend on what I do but on what Jesus did. I do nothing but believe. God does all things. I am a servant, not a god demanding God to do something because of my efforts in praying or whatever. God fulfills His promises by His oath not by anything I do.
l Jn. 4:1-3 ; Rom. 3:25-26 -Bloodless religion of traditions, and rituals, man's efforts does not deal with sin, but only the blood and the cross. Religion through tradition and man's wisdom tried to remove the effect of Jesus' Blood and establish a form of self-righteousness instead. It is only by the revelation that the blood remits sin and sin-consciousness, and gives righteousness, perfection of spirit and covenant communication. The Blood removes the stains of sin.
Heb. 9:9 , 14 ; 10:2 , 9-18 -We were bought once and for all. Our shame, guilt, inferiority, all are removed by the blood of Jesus and makes us a holy thing. Blood of Jesus breaks through our limitations of a guilty conscience and sets us free once and forever. I am forever made whole. No finger of accusation can affect me on earth because of the blood of Jesus.
Heb. 2:14-15 ; Rom. 8:1-2 ; Rev. 12:11 -Blood is the final authority which satan cannot penetrate. Blood of Jesus is the perimeter of Jesus' covenant and satan cannot go beyond.
Change:
Heb. 10:19-22 ; l Jn. 5:5-9 ; Col. 2:12-15 -We now have Blood bought boldness to enter God's Throne room. We go in by His Blood which covers us, washes and cleanses us, once and forever, and this by the law of faith in the blood of Jesus which nothing in this universe can stop or penetrate. Law of faith in God's word can be misinterpreted; the law of faith in the Holy Spirit, I can disobey or ignore. But the law of faith in the blood of Jesus, nothing can prevail against it, the Blood supercedes all things.
Heb. 4:14-16 -As soon as I see a need, immediately go to God, don't hesitate or dwell on sin, or a problem, a sickness, troubled thoughts, go boldly to the Throne, see self cleansed by the blood and act accordingly.
Rev. 12:11 ; Eph. 3:10-12 -We give a testimony of what the Blood of Jesus has done and is still doing because it is eternal. The Shepherd is working me through all obstacles and barriers, as I see and look beyond the circumstance of life and see Jesus in charge, the Blood which gives the victory, I act in triumph for the battle has been fought and the victory has already been won.
Power to Do
God's View:
2 Tim. 1:6-7 ; Eph. 3:16 -Because God equips us, we are not to fear the face of man, nor fear the trials that come our way because we are living for Christ, nor fear the ridicule and persecutions because we are Christians. This requires a conscious recognition that God's gifts are within me, and that I must stir them up every day whenever I face life's situations.
Acts. 1:8 ; Col. 1:11 ; Eph. 1:18-19 -The Holy Spirit of God actually infuses power into the believer's spirit. The Holy Spirit only gives power when we need it at the point of ministering. When we begin to live for Christ, the Spirit of God injects power into our spirit.
Jn. 13:34-35 ; Gal. 5:22-23 ; Eph. 5:2 -The Holy Spirit infuses love into the believer's spirit, the kind of love that loves people even if they are sinners and enemies. It is a love that arises in the mind and the will, not in the emotions. This love is a gift of God, God alone possesses it. He gives this love to all men who live for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and who proclaim Him.
Rom. 8:5-7 l Pet. 1:13 -The Holy Spirit infuses a sound mind into the believer's spirit. "Sound Mind" means self-control, the ability to control one's emotions, feelings, thoughts in the midst of trials and circumstances, no matter how severe or stressful. Holy Spirit gives one mastery over one's mind, heart, and life despite the opposition. When a believer begins to live and bear testimony for Christ, he is delivered from fear and is given enormous power to live and love with a sound mind, with peace and stability and security in a dying and insecure world.
Change:
Rom. 8:16-17 ; Eph. 1:13-14 ; l Jn. 2:3-5 -We are to practice walking with Christ day by day, to be in fellowship and communion with Him, realize who and what we are, heirs and joint-heirs with Christ. We are citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, not of this earth. This requires a daily renewal of our mind and our inner life through study and meditation and practice of God's word.
l Pet. 1:15 ; Jude 24 ; Jere. 17:10 -We are to consider who we are and to judge our ways accordingly. As we do , we will be persuaded of God's keeping power. As I turn over my life and my work over to Christ, Christ will keep and take care of it forever and ever.
2 Tim. 1:13-18 ; Rom. 10:17 ; Titus 2:7-8 ; l Cor. 6:20 -Hold fast to sound, health giving words, the words of the Gospel, the words of salvation, the very words of God Himself. A person who loves Christ and sees the people of the world through the eyes of Christ will love as He does. Hold fast the truth God has placed in your hands. The believer must stay close to the Spirit of God and depend upon Him for the power to do good and effective work. The Holy Spirit alone has the power to change man's heart.
The Blood Speaks (1)
Understanding the Problem from God's Point of View:
Heb. 12:24-25 -Blood is the only avenue by which we are made whole. It is the stripes of Jesus that heals us, not my efforts, meditation or healing verses but the blood of Jesus must come first because it is His blood that made us children of God. The Blood speaks forgiveness, righteousness, sets us free, gives us a sound mind, boldness, redeems us and makes us a child of the King.
Hope:
John 20:14-17 -There is no deliverance from dwelling on the negatives, look beyond and see life. Jesus' Blood enables us to say "ABBA". We call God the Father on God's basis, not on my own efforts. I look to life now because God is my Father, and all things now are mine.
Heb. 9:11-12 ; 2 Cor. 5:21 -Jesus' Blood enables us to receive all spiritual blessings. We meditate on this truth that it is through Jesus' efforts that all things are mine, not by self-motivating prayers of my own.
1 Pet. 1:18-21 -Our useless activities did not redeem us but I was redeemed by the Chief Shepherd of my soul from Whom we receive our faith to believe on Him. We believe on God only on the basis of faith God gave to us.
Change:
Rom. 12:9-11 -The Blood removed the accuser of the brethren from heaven. The Blood purchased and protects me. I belong to God , no longer to satan. Now my function is to proclaim who and what I am in Christ Jesus and what His Blood has done for me.
Col. 1:20-22 -Blood makes us perfect children to God, makes us bold, to be always on the offensive, being on the frontal attack, seizing all that satan stole. Person I was is no longer. I stepped out of me into Christ Who makes me holy and to act accordingly.
Heb. 10:12-20 -Made complete and holy already, now and forever. We are the workmanship of God, not by human reason, psychology or human effort. Do away once and forever any sense of sin-consciousness. See self as God sees you, through the Blood of Jesus, whole and complete.
The Blood Speaks on Earth
Understanding the Problem from God's Point of View:
1 Jn. 5:7-9 -The earth knows the witness of Jesus' Blood by the Presence of the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit verifies within us that the Blood of Jesus washes and cleanses us from all sin, that it gives us eternal life, and that we can stand in the Presence of God.
Hope:
Jn. 16:7-11 ; 6:63 ; Rom. 8:16 ; 1 Cor. 2:12-13 -Holy Spirit within us convicts of sin, of righteousness and judgment, gives us life, assures us that we are children of God, leads and guides us into all truth and enables us to proclaim the things of God to others.
Matt. 3:17 ; Jn. 3:34 ; Matt. 7:5 ; Rom. 1:4 -The Father is behind everything:the whole plan of redemption is His plan and His work. It is His Son who came to earth to make salvation possible. Father is bearing witness to his Son through everything that is happening on the earth, in the hearts and lives of believers and in the church. He proclaimed Christ to be His Son at His baptism.
Jn. 1:1 ; l Jn. 1:1 -There is the witness of the word, the Lord Jesus Himself. The word refers to Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world to speak the words of God. the very words God would say to man. The word is the image, the idea, the very expression of God. Through the word Jesus Christ Himself bears witness that He is the Son of God.
Change:
Heb. 12:22-24 ; Matt. 26:28 ; Heb. 8:6-10 ; 1 Jn. 2:1-2 -Jesus is the only mediator who can present man perfect before God by His Blood. He stands as the Ideal and Perfect Man whose sacrifce was and is perfect. Abel's blood spoke vengeance, Jesus' Blood cries us for man to be forgiven and cleansed of sin. The Blood of Jesus cries out for mercy even upon those who would kill, reject, deny and curse Him.
Heb. 12:24-29 ; 13:20-21 ; Titus 3:5-7 -Do not make light of the blood and approach the communion table as a ritual, a routine act. We are to proclaim that we are washed and cleansed, all remembrance of sin is in the grave, now our thoughts are on Him, and we are to act accordingly, in the spirit of love, mercy, and compassion. No longer sin-conscious but God-conscious, and ever so. His eternal Blood is always making me perfect, and working in me to be pleasing in His sight. All I have to do is obey.
Rom. 3:25-27 ; 2 Cor. 4:13-18 -We are the product of God's voice, by the word of Jesus and the Holy Spirit within. God begins and finishes every good work. Our job is to exercise the law of faith in the word, law of faith in Jesus, and the law of faith in the Holy Spirit and the law of faith in the Blood. The word we can misinterpret, the Holy Spirit we can disobey, but the blood can never fail as I dwell upon the shed blood. The Blood never fails.
Build-up Waste Places
Understanding the Problem from God's Point of View:
Rom. 5:17 ; Isa. 58:12 -Being born-again, you are to build-up the waste places and establish God's truths as the new foundation. The garbage of inferiority, insecurity, guilt, shame and condemnation, Jesus took upon Himself on the cross. It is dealt with once and forever. We are freed from all of this, His grace and His gift of righteousness are to predominate in our thoughts and in our actions, the practice and exercise thereof laying the new foundation.
Hope:
Heb. 10:17-19 -You cannot deliver yourself by self-pity, condeming self, by reliving the past. Jesus took care of that by the cross. Your sins were forgiven by His shed Blood. He was made sin with our sin. We became righteous when Jesus rose from the dead, He was raised for our justification. Not on anything you did or could do, all you have to do is accept what Jesus did for you. Through His blood , you are freed from inferiority, insecurity, shame, guilt, and condemnation, freed from your 'past history', Rom. 4:25 .
Rom. 5:15-21 -Grace of God and His gift of righteousness, we are to act and begin to reign in life through righteousness.
Rom. 8:29-39 -God initiated all actions to conform you to image of His Son. Your job is to cooperate and accept these truths and work out these truths in your daily life and activities, being a blessing to others. Nobody can be against you, can place a charge against, cannot condemn you or separate you from the love of God, impossible. Only one who can do that is yourself by failing to act on these truths.
You are a product of the Resurrection. Nothing in this world has ahold on you. You are under the control of the Holy Spirit. Only He Who paid the price, can rule you.
Change:
Heb. 2:9-10 -Jesus tasted death for every man, and by this you were brought into glory. You are the generation of the righteous. You are freed from death, shame, guilt, inferiority. This will not come into play in your lifestyle until you act upon it by your will regardless of your feelings.
Isa. 53:8 -We are the generation of the righteous.
Heb. 12:2 -We are the joy that Jesus saw, and we are the seed from which other generations will come.
Col. 1:21-22 ; Rev. 1:5-6 -You are presented, unblameable, unreprovable, holy, and you, the righteous, are crowned king.
Rom. 1:16-17 . Do not sell out your freedom by returning to thoughts of inferiority, insecurity, shame, guilt by failing to maintain your freedom through right thinking and right doing
Trials and Self-Worth
Understanding the Problem from God's Point of View:
Phil. 4:4 ; Ps. 5:11 ; Hab. 3:17-18 -As a believer walks thru life, he will face the trials of life every day of his life. By rejoicing this places and keeps a person in the presence of Christ, no matter how terrible the trial, he is being looked after by Christ Jesus his Lord. He knows that whatever comes upon him can never conquer and overcome him. By rejoicing in the Lord, he keeps his mind focused upon the Lord, what the Lord has done for him, and this allows God to work in his life delivering and healing him in the present whatever the situation and or problem.
Hope:
2 Tim. 2:15 ; Jn. 14:21 , 15:10 -No person can press on apart from heeding the Scriptures. As we obey Scripture we show our love and loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. As I practice loving God, He fills me with His presence to enable me to love others freely. Thus, I am freed from the fleshly need of others loving me, liking me, or accepting me. My only objective in life is to love God by doing His commandments which requires that I love others. I start with God and I need nothing on earth but to do to others what I would have them do to me.
Jn. 15:10 ; Matt. 10:37 ; Lu. 18:29-30 --Won't seek or need anyone else to love, accept or approve of me when I know God loves me. We are warned not to seek the love of people to fulfill our needs for we will make gods out of them. Our peace and joy are not dependent upon people, things, possessions or circumstances.
l Cor. 1:30 ; Rom. 10:24 ; Eph. 1:20 -No person can secure the righteousness of God by behaviour or words or deeds or through other peoples love and acceptance of me. All one has to do is trust the righteousness of God to cover him and this makes him acceptable to God thru Jesus' Blood.
Change:
Col. 3:10 ; Rom. 6:4 ; Col. 2:6 ; l Jn. 2:6 -What we think, we become the image of our thoughts. If I think of what others have done to me, I will become that. The solution to the image problem is to think on Jesus, and His words, and I will become conformed to His Image.
Mk. 16:19 ; Lu. 22:69 -As I think upon this, the power that raised Jesus from the dead and His power to take Jesus Himself into another dimension of being- the world of the Spirit. Then I am in Him and He is in me. The same power resides in me to live the victorious life on earth.
Acts 5:30-31 ; Phil. 3:20-21 ; Rev. 22:14 -God took Christ into heaven and exalted Him in order to demonstrate that He has the power to take men to heaven and to exalt them. In Christ, I am exalted above all earthly thngs that controlled me and now I can be victorious In Jesus as I walk out who I am in Him.
Where Curses Come From
Hosea 4:6-7 - Ignorance of the devil's schemes, wiles, devises can destroy your life and those associated with you.
Deut. 28:1-68 - Simply put, one is blessed by obeying God's commandments and one is cursed if he doesn't.
Eze. 18:20-28 - Generation curses can pass on from one generation to another by ignorance. You can stop it continuing on in your life by rejecting the past, and beginning to live immediately God's way, and holding self accountable.
Prov. 26:2 - The curse causeless cannot light on you unless you allow it by thinking of the sinful past, influenced by the externals of this world, being seduced by others, and the philosophies of this generation.
Jere. 17:5-8 - Issue here is secular humanism. Human standards of right and wrong are established by a cursed mentality rather than by biblical standards. We are all influenced by the world's system of thought and ethics and as such conditioned to accept curses as normal and rational.
Ps. 7 - Living by God's word we will be overwhelmed by blessings blinding us to the curses, the presence of ill-will that blinds our perception. Therefore, by our words, our motivations and intentions are affected either by blessings or curses. We make the choice, the devil doesn't.
Ps. 10:4-7 - Persons of pride, convinced of their own strength, are cursed. They must push down others, to lift themselves up. Pride must always demean in order to be elevated. To be put down by another is to be cursed.
Ps. 109:2-3 , 17-20 - Words spoken in lies and hatred are due to an internal hatred which invokes ill-will. Be aware of these lies and surround self with the truth. Watch out for deceitful, envious and jealous people. Don't argue with these people for their curse can fall upon you.
·Bitterness: A wanting to cut and to prick, to see others wounded in order to vindicate their own hurt.
·Strife: To be at odds with, to put oneself forward, ahead of another.
James 3:8-15 - Our words are only to be God's words, man's words are useless. Tongue of man has power to inflict death upon another.
Eph. 6:12 - Man in himself has no answers, he must seek God. Evil demons are behind words, not flesh and blood.
Remedies:
Gal. 3:13-14 - By the Blood of Christ, we are separated from all generation curses, being filled with the Holy Spirit, we have His power to keep self free from all curses and instead to confer a blessing upon all we contact.
2 Cor. 5:14-16 - We see others faults and blemishes dead in Christ.
2 Cor. 2:10-11 - Forgive those who have cursed me because demons are behind their words. If I don't forgive I bind them as well as myself.
Lu. 6:27 - Judge not, to judge is to curse which will fall on me.
Heb. 4:12-14 - Declare God's word over my life and over others, and deliver all from curses.
Ps. 64:1-10 - God will deliver us from the curses of others, and cause their curses to fall upon themselves, and possibly redeem them.
Isa. 54:17 - God works on my behalf, and protects me against all curses.
Prov. 4:24 ; 18:21 - Power of life and death is in the tongue. We determine our destiny. Satan cannot put his curses on us unless we allow him by our tongue, by our thoughts and by our actions. He has no authority in my life unless I give it to him.
Prov. 12:18-19 - Use your tongue to heal, to heal yourself and to heal others.
Eph. 4:22-24 - Daily, we engage in spiritual warfare, putting -off evil, and putting-on blessings as we biblically respond to all of life's encounters.
Note: I bind and loose sins from myself or others, sins which gives satan a foothold. Since Satan has been bound at the cross, my job is to command him to leave.
