Silent Killers: Shame Sample

Who’s voice are you listening to? 

Imagine that you get a phone call from a number that you don’t recognize, and on the other side you hear the voice of someone you know. You didn’t know the number that was showing, but you know the voice that is coming through the phone. From the beginning, the devil has been a liar. In Genesis, we read that he lied to Eve about what God said to her. Through this lie, sin and shame entered the world. The Bible says that the devil is the father of all lies, and that he cannot do anything but lie. 

Every day, the devil tries to get us to believe that what God says about us is not true. He uses shame as a tool to get us to live beneath the story that God is writing for us. If he can shame us through lies about ourselves (how we think about ourselves or what we think other people think about us), he can keep us from stepping into the true identity that God has given us. When we know who God has called us to be, we can walk in the confidence that God gave us to fulfill our story. In John 10:27, Jesus says “my sheep know my voice.” As believers we are His sheep; we are the ones He cares for; we are the ones He has saved and redeemed. As we get to know Jesus, we get to know His voice and what He says about us. With that knowledge, we can deny the lies of the devil and shame cannot keep us from being who we truly are in Christ. 

Action Step: Identify which voice you have been listening to. Have you been listening to lies from the devil? Or have you been listening to truths from God? List out the lies that have caused you to feel shame. For every lie, list the truth that counteracts that lie. Write a prayer asking God to redeem each lie with His truth.