The very first emotion that Adam and Eve experienced after their disobedience in the Garden of Eden was shame! According to the Free Dictionary online "shame" is: 1.
a. A painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace. b. Capacity for such a feeling: e.g. Have you no shame? Shame is often confused with guilt, which is a related but distinct emotion in which a specific behavior is viewed as unacceptable or wrong, rather than the entire self.
Many people are prone to shame particularly if they blame themselves for an event that causes harm or a negative outcome. Shame can be a particularly problematic emotion because it relates to how one feels about one's personal worth and value. It is associated with an overwhelming desire to hide, disappear, or in severe cases even die. "I'm so ashamed I could die" is an expression with which we are all familiar.
Shame is self-condemnation and therefore it is not necessarily based on external pressures, comments, actions or disapproval. You know what you've done and you condemn yourself.
It impacts the way that a person feel about themselves as a result of stuff that's happened. It is often hard to see that someone is ashamed, that is, experiencing shame but avoidance of contact is one of the signs that can alert us. In some situations a person might even go into self-denial rather than face their own shame. When God came into the Garden of Eden to meet with Adam and Eve as was His custom, the two decided to hide from Him. When they eventually realized that they had to face their Father, they explained that they hid because they were ashamed of their nakedness. In other words, the loss of innocence and purity, meant the loss of their covering of righteousness. I believe that covering of righteousness causes a holy being to shine with beauty and brightness and its loss made Adam and Eve look so different,so "ugly" in fact that they were embarrassed. They no longer looked like their Creator. Sin had tarnished their very soul and they felt unworthy to be in His presence.
Feeling ashamed is a horrible, self-destructive emotion and can lead to some very negative outcomes. But if we could get pass the shame, pass the feeling of unworthiness and turn to God, He can and will help us to move on from our shame. He will help us see where we have gone wrong and through Jesus Christ, will provide us with new covering, a cloak/coat of righteousness.
God's love for us pre-empt our shame. Before ever we have done a wrong thing, before we sin against Him, He provided for our forgiveness. He planned for our redemption before the foundations of the earth was laid! He sent His only Begotten Son to die in our place. Jesus took our sin and shame and gave us His holiness and a place in the royal family of God again! We just have to ask, be genuinely sorry and turn away from our past.
When we accept God's gift, Jesus as our Substitute, our Redeemer and personal Savior, there is no condemnation. He purifies us and makes us a whole new creature from head to toe! Paul explained rather well in Romans 8:1, "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." That is, no condemnation by any person, by Satan, or by oneself! If Jesus does not condemn us - "And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more'" - then we can surely get pass the shame of any thing we've done wrong, ANYTHING!
We need only to run to Jesus and cast all our cares upon Him knowing that He always cares for us and longs to save us from our shame and our sins.
Friends, brethren,we do not yet know what we shall be like when Jesus returns and we join Him in glory but "we know when He shall appear, we shall be like Him and we shall see Him as He is" in ALL His blazing glory. Revelation 21:3 tells us that "The city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light." This is truly an awesome future! And what's more we too shall shine, reflecting His glory as the moon reflects the Sun! What a wonderful end to shame! Give it to Jesus and share in this divine destiny! Blessings Forevermore. LadyZaidie
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Heart Surgery
One of the things that is often said as a negative comment and sometimes even in a derogatory way is that girls /women are emotional. I cannot disagree with the comment but I do disagree that it is a negative. Of course like so many other things in life too much can be too much at times! But I also know that God is emotional. The best example;He loves!He so loved us that He sent Jesus to die for us so we can be in relationship with Him again! John 3:16 reads:"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Being made in the image and after the likeness of God, all human beings have emotions. The thing is to not be ruled by them to the exclusion of God-given principles and commandments. God is first and His laws must overrule all personal emotions, reasoning, philosophies, ideologies, choices and preferences that seeks to exalt itself above God. The most important emotion that we should and need to embrace, experience and exhibit is love. But love is not just an emotion, it is a principle and therefore it is a choice. Now some people make excuses for their emotions by saying they have no choice;it's just how they feel. Wrong! The truth is we can choose our feelings! We can choose to love or not and we can choose to hate, to be angry or to be happy. It may be difficult at times in certain testing situations but we can! I will tell you how in one word;JESUS. He lived as a man;tempted in every way like all of us but He never allowed His emotions to cause Him to sin! You see that's the main problem with our emotions; we use them as an excuse to sin against God! But Jesus can make us to be like Him so that although we experience emotions,they do not dictate our choices,actions and character. In the next few blogs that I post, I am going to spend time looking at some of our different emotions and how we can deal with them with the help of the Lord.
The first emotion I will consider is Irritation: Some individuals get irritated at the slightest thing and pretty soon they are angry and going off the deep end. They have no tolerance for anyone and very soon anger takes over and they are sinning against the Lord. By the way, let me just say right here, right now, it is possible to be angry and yet, not sin! Jesus was angry [see John 2: 13-22] but He did not sin. What is His secret? It is His heart! What I have observed over the years is that people who fly off the handle so easily are irritated in themselves, with themselves! It is not who or what that causes the annoyance, it is that their hearts are consumed with so much negativity that anything that is said, acts like scraping nails on a chalk board and immediately sets their emotional teeth on edge. The Bible tells us that the issues of life flows out of the content and substance of our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 reads; "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life". Having said that,before we start guarding we need to be sure we have a heart that is worth protecting. We have to be sure we are not being precious about a heart that is in need of treatment. we have a duty of love and care to ourselves to get a new heart; a heart like the heart of Jesus.
We do so by asking God to give us this new heart; "a heart of flesh" on which the commandments of Love may be inscribed; love for God first and love for our fellow man. "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh" Ezekiel 11:9. But for heart transplant surgery to take place we need to ask the Great Physician for His services. David in Psalms 51:10 demonstrates one such request. He starts by saying;"Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a faithful spirit within me." But there is just one warning;unless we recognize our need and genuinely seek for help,there will be no changes. We can resolve to do better by ourselves but that will only be a temporary, band aid solution. Permanent change and wholeness comes only from the nail pierced hands of the Physician. Every person who has not yet accepted Jesus as personal Savior is a sinner and every sinner is in need of a new heart;the 'one heart' that is like Jesus' heart.
Once our heart transplant is complete, we must be on our guard, watching and making sure that the wrong things are not getting into our hearts to infect and corrupt it again! We have to guard against infection/corruption from such things as hatred,unforgiveness, envy, malice etc. These are from the enemy and the accuser of the human family and God. When a person has major heart surgery they have to change their total life style. They must change their diet, get daily exercise and ensure that they take the prescribed medicine every single day for the rest of their lives. It's the same with spiritual heart surgery. What you nourish your soul with must change; your daily dose of medicine and the things that you do must all conform to the Divine prescription. Manna which is the word of God, needs to become your source of nourishment. Living water that satisfies your thirst and never runs dry is essential for Life and that is the Holy Spirit. The intake of these are the daily requirements of the new heart's,new diet. So is exercise. Prayer is the perfect exercise that will maintain connection to the Physician, build strong spiritual muscles and strengthen the patient to "walk and not faint, run the race and not get tired, fight the fight of faith" and win. All the while Jesus is in constant attendance, right alongside you. Your personal Physician.
Understand that the important thing that we need to take on board is not to use emotional responses or outbursts as reasons and excuses to sin. In our example of irritation, we see that it can lead to anger which of itself is not a sin . However, depending on the heart content and intent, it can result in sin. Ephesians 4:26 tells us; "In your anger, sin not". “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:19-20). Jesus did not exhibit man’s anger, but the righteous indignation of God. He was angry over the lack of faithfulness to God's law, the lost condition of the trading Pharisees, and the defilement of the House of God. His anger came from the wellspring of a heart filled with love and concern for lost, misguided children of His Father in heaven! Out of the heart flows the concerns and the substance of our being! Note also that Jesus had control over His emotions; they did not get away from Him.
Controlling our emotions comes with a heart that is grounded in love and loyalty to God first and last! If you have had a heart transplant you need to keep up the regimen prescribed by the doctor and have regular checks, just to ensure everything remains Okay with you. It is the same with spiritual heart surgery. We all need to check in with the heart Doctor who is available daily - no cost to us! His divine Rx, when followed faithfully ensures that we stay heart-healthy. Love & Blessings. LadyZaidie
Being made in the image and after the likeness of God, all human beings have emotions. The thing is to not be ruled by them to the exclusion of God-given principles and commandments. God is first and His laws must overrule all personal emotions, reasoning, philosophies, ideologies, choices and preferences that seeks to exalt itself above God. The most important emotion that we should and need to embrace, experience and exhibit is love. But love is not just an emotion, it is a principle and therefore it is a choice. Now some people make excuses for their emotions by saying they have no choice;it's just how they feel. Wrong! The truth is we can choose our feelings! We can choose to love or not and we can choose to hate, to be angry or to be happy. It may be difficult at times in certain testing situations but we can! I will tell you how in one word;JESUS. He lived as a man;tempted in every way like all of us but He never allowed His emotions to cause Him to sin! You see that's the main problem with our emotions; we use them as an excuse to sin against God! But Jesus can make us to be like Him so that although we experience emotions,they do not dictate our choices,actions and character. In the next few blogs that I post, I am going to spend time looking at some of our different emotions and how we can deal with them with the help of the Lord.
The first emotion I will consider is Irritation: Some individuals get irritated at the slightest thing and pretty soon they are angry and going off the deep end. They have no tolerance for anyone and very soon anger takes over and they are sinning against the Lord. By the way, let me just say right here, right now, it is possible to be angry and yet, not sin! Jesus was angry [see John 2: 13-22] but He did not sin. What is His secret? It is His heart! What I have observed over the years is that people who fly off the handle so easily are irritated in themselves, with themselves! It is not who or what that causes the annoyance, it is that their hearts are consumed with so much negativity that anything that is said, acts like scraping nails on a chalk board and immediately sets their emotional teeth on edge. The Bible tells us that the issues of life flows out of the content and substance of our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 reads; "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life". Having said that,before we start guarding we need to be sure we have a heart that is worth protecting. We have to be sure we are not being precious about a heart that is in need of treatment. we have a duty of love and care to ourselves to get a new heart; a heart like the heart of Jesus.
We do so by asking God to give us this new heart; "a heart of flesh" on which the commandments of Love may be inscribed; love for God first and love for our fellow man. "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh" Ezekiel 11:9. But for heart transplant surgery to take place we need to ask the Great Physician for His services. David in Psalms 51:10 demonstrates one such request. He starts by saying;"Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a faithful spirit within me." But there is just one warning;unless we recognize our need and genuinely seek for help,there will be no changes. We can resolve to do better by ourselves but that will only be a temporary, band aid solution. Permanent change and wholeness comes only from the nail pierced hands of the Physician. Every person who has not yet accepted Jesus as personal Savior is a sinner and every sinner is in need of a new heart;the 'one heart' that is like Jesus' heart.
Once our heart transplant is complete, we must be on our guard, watching and making sure that the wrong things are not getting into our hearts to infect and corrupt it again! We have to guard against infection/corruption from such things as hatred,unforgiveness, envy, malice etc. These are from the enemy and the accuser of the human family and God. When a person has major heart surgery they have to change their total life style. They must change their diet, get daily exercise and ensure that they take the prescribed medicine every single day for the rest of their lives. It's the same with spiritual heart surgery. What you nourish your soul with must change; your daily dose of medicine and the things that you do must all conform to the Divine prescription. Manna which is the word of God, needs to become your source of nourishment. Living water that satisfies your thirst and never runs dry is essential for Life and that is the Holy Spirit. The intake of these are the daily requirements of the new heart's,new diet. So is exercise. Prayer is the perfect exercise that will maintain connection to the Physician, build strong spiritual muscles and strengthen the patient to "walk and not faint, run the race and not get tired, fight the fight of faith" and win. All the while Jesus is in constant attendance, right alongside you. Your personal Physician.
Understand that the important thing that we need to take on board is not to use emotional responses or outbursts as reasons and excuses to sin. In our example of irritation, we see that it can lead to anger which of itself is not a sin . However, depending on the heart content and intent, it can result in sin. Ephesians 4:26 tells us; "In your anger, sin not". “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:19-20). Jesus did not exhibit man’s anger, but the righteous indignation of God. He was angry over the lack of faithfulness to God's law, the lost condition of the trading Pharisees, and the defilement of the House of God. His anger came from the wellspring of a heart filled with love and concern for lost, misguided children of His Father in heaven! Out of the heart flows the concerns and the substance of our being! Note also that Jesus had control over His emotions; they did not get away from Him.
Controlling our emotions comes with a heart that is grounded in love and loyalty to God first and last! If you have had a heart transplant you need to keep up the regimen prescribed by the doctor and have regular checks, just to ensure everything remains Okay with you. It is the same with spiritual heart surgery. We all need to check in with the heart Doctor who is available daily - no cost to us! His divine Rx, when followed faithfully ensures that we stay heart-healthy. Love & Blessings. LadyZaidie
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