SCORN SHAME **(Updated)**

I have added this prayer to my post tonight as I desperately need His touch with what I am facing now. Having a hard time:

I come boldly before Your throne of grace. Your word says that You give strength to the weary, so I ask that You would strengthen me Lord, for I am weary. Bless me Lord with Your presence, that my heart might be encouraged. Help me remember Your faithfulness and Your love that I might stand in faith against the issues that face me.

I bind the schemes of the enemy to tear me down, and I rebuke the spirits that have been assigned to harass me, to make me feel shame, to make me feel unworthy. I ask You Lord to minister fresh strength and joy to me. I agree with Your word, that says, Your plans for me are to give me hope and a future, let it be so Lord Jesus, according to Your will. I pray in Jesus mighty name, Amen!

Shame and joy truly cannot live happily in yourself. For most of my life, shame has taken a front seat to my life of joy. Being sexually abused and verbally knocked down as a kid and even into adulthood, it is hard for me to remember what joy actually felt like.

I am slowly understanding that my shame base has crushed my spirit into my adult years when more responsibility was put on me and hard for me to handle, as I was always over-protected by my mother her doing things for me and a father who was impatient, would cut me down verbally because I could not do things right in his eyes many times.

Each day, little by little, my shame is being replaced with a little bit of happiness. Happiness, which I pray will turn into full blown joy one day!

The devotional below is so very encouraging in helping me see how wonderful joy is and how Jesus defined what true joy is and how we can experience it also:

Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, scorning its shame
Hebrews 12:2

Shame does not coexist comfortably with joy. Experiences of shame eat away at the spiritual and emotional foundations on which joy is built. When we are consumed by shame, joy will keep its distance. But shame has a way of getting to us. Our defenses against the clever tactics of shame are not well developed.

Jesus is a powerful example to us of how to resist shame and make room for joy. First, Jesus 'scorned' shame. He did not give it a stature which it did not deserve. Experiences of shame did not define who he was. He was not just the sum of the shame he had experienced in life. His identity and person were securely rooted in God. So, he was able to experience shaming experiences without internalizing the shame.

Secondly, Jesus had 'joy set before him'. Experiences of shame hurt us. Shame is always hurtful. But we are not entirely defenseless. Jesus drew strength to endure shame from the anticipation of joy. Shame can be better endured if we allow ourselves to remember that God has plans for us that include joy. We are not aimlessly adrift in life, headed nowhere, wanderers in a meaningless maze. On the contrary, every day takes us closer to the fulfillment of God's purposes. Justice and righteousness will reign in the end. Jesus' followers share his conviction that joy, not shame, is God's purpose in creation.

Today we can root ourselves in God's love for us. We can scorn the shame. We can remind ourselves that God's plans for us include joy.

Help me to scorn shame, Lord.
Help me to root myself so completely in you
that shame has no power over me.
Help me to see the joy you have set before me, Lord.
Remind me today of your plans.
Help me to draw strength today
from the hope that your plans for me include joy.
Amen

***The picture above brought back memories of the few times in elementary school having been put in the corner and on display in front of my classmates for not paying attention. Talk about humiliation and shame. Teachers had no clue how they could hurt a child inside by doing something like this. Especially when it was never explained why you had to be on display. Can destroy a child later on in life.***