Stop The Voice of Shame – The Shame Project

Too many thoughts

Last Post – Healing the Shame from childhood.

I learned a lot about how powerful our thoughts are when I went through a season of severe anxiety, panic and OCD. Out of a desperation to be set free, I had to learn how to recognize the difference between a warped thought and a healthy thought. We are so used to living with our way of thinking that we receive all the ‘voices’ in our head as truth. This is a scary reality, because when we allow thoughts to enter into our minds without judgment on our part, we run the risk of being unsuspecting victims of our thinking.

 

 Let’s dissect God’s word on this subject…

 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

 

In this scripture Paul is addressing the battle of the mind, there are 3 main battle points, arguments, pretensions and warped thoughts.

 

Let’s define some of them…

 

An argument  is an exchange of opposing views.

 

Who’s views do these arguments in our mind come up against?


 

 

A Pretension is a claim to ownership or control.

 

 

Who would oppose God and  want to try to  claim ownership or control over our minds?


 

 

A warped thought is a distorted thought that is rooted in a lie.  

 

We can gather from the above scripture that Satan uses lies, arguments, and pretensions to control and gain ownership over our souls.

 
 

Yes, Satan uses us as a pawn to oppose God with.

  

Scary isn’t it?

 

Well, we do not have to be afraid, because God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and sound mind (self -control) 2 Timothy 1:7

The good news is that we have absolute authority and power over the thoughts that infest our mind, especially those shame thoughts we think all the time without knowing it. But before I show you how, let’s jump to what a shame thought may sound like in your mind.

The word "SHAME" theme written in vintage, ink stained, wooden letterpress type on a wood grained background.To do this I want to use a powerful story from the gospel of Luke. This will be a reference  scripture throughout this series, so if you have a chance to read through it all, great! 

Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him (Jesus) to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner (prostitute) ; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” Luke 7:36-39

 

According to this Pharisee what should the ‘prophet’ Jesus, have known?


 

The voice of shame is the voice of the Pharisee. “if you really new this person, you would know what sort of person they really are.”

Shame will always put you in your place, reminding you of your weaknesses, sins, and flaws. 

Shame keeps us hidden, and isolates us from other people, because if they knew who we really were they would reject us. It is hard to begin to recognize what this sounds like as a thought, because we perceive it more as an emotion or a part of ourselves. (internalized shame) But there is a thought, there is always a thought behind our shame.

 

I am going to be brave and give you a list of some of the conscience shame thoughts that I have had recently…

I will never make a positive influence on my kids if I don’t change and be more like that other mom.

I will never fit in with these dance moms, they’re so much better than.

What mother picks up her daughter from her dress rehearsal in her pyjamas, I’m a joke. (True story)

Sure you have a new dress for the writers conference, but they’re all going to see right through you that you have no idea what you are doing.

I talk too much, no wonder my friends don’t invite me out as much anymore, I am annoying to be around.

 

 

So what do we do when these kind of shame thoughts dominate our minds?

 

Let’s go back to this verse We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

 

 What do we do to arguments and pretensions?


 

What do we do to every thought?


 

We demolish every argument and pretension by setting it up against the truth of God.

We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

Its starts with recognizing the thoughts that oppose God and we do this by knowing the truth of God. When we know God’s truth we can compare our thought to it, and if it opposes God we cast it out as a lie. 

 

Here are some examples of the base behind every shame thought taken from : bhevolution.org

  • I am defective (damaged, broken, a mistake, flawed). 
  • I am dirty (soiled, ugly, unclean, impure, filthy, disgusting). 
  • I am incompetent (not good enough, inept, ineffectual, useless). 
  • I am unwanted (unloved, unappreciated, uncherished). 
  • I am weak (small, impotent, puny, feeble). 
  • I am bad (awful, dreadful, evil, despicable). 
  • I am pitiful (contemptible, miserable, insignificant).
  • I am nothing (worthless, invisible, unnoticed, empty).

Okay now let’s compare to the truth of God.

  • I am perfectly and wonderfully made in the image of God
  • I am considered righteous in God’s eyes because of Jesus
  • I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
  • I was chosen and adopted into the kingdom of God
  • I was made for great things and God will give me the strength to accomplish it
  • I am forgiven and under no condemnation
  • I was created for such a time as this
  • I am God’s greatest creation, and his thoughts towards me are love

 If we can truly grasp the truths that we just read, we can use these words to tear down any false voice of shame that comes to oppose us against God.

We don’t have to be pawns anymore!

 

What are the two most recent shame thoughts you had?


 

 

What truth could you respond to those thoughts with?


 

 I am convinced that 95% of all of our shame, negative emotions, bad choices and mental illness starts with our thought life. This is where it is all lost or won. You have absolute control and power over the shameful thoughts that bombard your mind, and when you begin to take them captive and interrogate them, you will find a greater freedom than you ever have before!

Next Topic – Our Sin and Shame

 

 

 

 

 

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