Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day. (Joshua 5:9 NLT)
Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes you celebrate by killing the fattened calf! (Luke 15:30 NLT)
Read: Joshua 5, Joshua 6, Joshua 7:1-15, Luke 15, Psalms 81:1-16, Proverbs 13:1
Relate: As a very young child, I took on the shame of the actions done to me by an uncle. As an adult, I learned that this shame I felt while I was too young to cope correctly had developed an insatiable need in me to prove I was worth something. This unhealthy coping mechanism failed me as I found that no amount of success could remove the sense of shame.
I took on shame for failure I could not control. After two miscarriages, I felt I was not capable as a woman and a wife. This, connected with the pain of other losses, led to my own shameful spiral into a place I am certain I will never return. How can I be certain I will never return to that place? The answer lies in the rolling away of my shame.
The Israelites had carried the shame caused by their fathers’ cowardice and failure to trust God. Their bodies wore the physical representation of their time in Egypt in that they had not been circumcised to mark themselves as the chosen people of God. Their fathers had undergone this ritual but had failed to take the land God was giving to them. Because of this, the Israelites lived in the desert as those still under the weight of Egypt. They did not live in the victory that had belonged to them. In order to move into victory, the next generation had to allow God to remove the shame caused by their fathers. Joshua and the men of Israel had to make a decision to follow God’s instructions in complete obedience. The text says that after they did this God rolled the shame of their slavery in Egypt away. It is then that they were able to eat the crops of Canaan and conquer the city of Jericho to enter the promised land.
In my own life, I had to decide to cut away the shame that was holding me back. Through prayer, an open heart for God’s unconditional love, and counseling, the shames in my life have been rolled away. Like the prodigal son who had squandered his money on prostitutes and eaten with pigs, I decided I could not stand to live in the filth of shame. I returned to the embrace of a heavenly father that celebrates me. I have no desire to return to eat with pigs when I can feast with a loving king and live in the victories planned for me.
React: Shame is something we feel for the actions we have done, actions done by those associated with us, or for actions done to us. Shame creates a barrier in our lives. Our shame prevents us from acting boldly. It causes us to hang our heads and live in the defeat of past failures (both our own and the failures of others).
God is not waiting for us to come to him so he can reprimand us, rub our noses in our mistakes, or remind us of the things that cause us shame. Instead, he wants to instruct us in how we can be free of the shame that holds us back. We have a God that wants to take us into the promised land and throw us spectacular parties. All we need to do is give him the opportunity.
Respond:
Dear Heavenly Father, I come before you asking for your mercy and grace to come and fill the lives of those who are separated from you in this moment. I ask you to open their hearts so that they can feel your great love for them. Help them to see that their shame does not need to define them or hold them back any longer. God help them to see that you are waiting for them to make a decision to come to you and that you are ready to run to embrace them. Thank you for rolling away our shame. Amen.
THE RIVER WALK 
This is beautiful. Thanks for sharing. God Bless You.
What a powerful testimony. Have you come to a place where you’ve been able to forgive the one who took from you what was not theirs to take?
Tony, I have had to come to a place of forgiving him several times as I have found myself processing the childhood experience at different points in my life.
I have found that forgiveness is a process as well. Healing as well as forgiveness takes time.
I praise God you have opened your heart for healing and that through your wonderful writing you inspire others to do the same.
Rebecca,
Wonderful post. Thank you for having the courage to share it.
If one stands at the end of shore and pours a glass of water into the ocean, can that person dip the glass in and retrieve the same water? Of course the answer is no.
God’s forgiveness for us is greater than that ocean. All we need do is give it to Him and free ourselves from the burden that is no longer ours to carry.
That freedom from the shame and dangers of sin, whether of our own doing or thrust upon us by another, was purchased for us all from all eternity, on Calvary.
-Alan
Lovely… thanks.
Reblogged this on danniyvonnephotography and commented:
Life changing words are here. They’re definitely inspiring
Shame is something that can keep us mired in the mud and never allowing us to grow to our potential. Leaving the mud is one step after another, uncertain at first and stronger as we go. To become the truly beautiful people we are, we have to believe and trust – leaving the past behind and growing,
A powerful post. Thank you for sharing.
I love that song. So many things in life I’m ashamed of.
Reblogged this on ChristianBlessings and commented:
Romans 8: 1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.…”.
No more condemnation – no more shame! Praise the Lord and glory to His name!
Beautiful post. Wonderful reminder, especially to those new babes in Christ getting tossed around by every wave of false teaching; God chooses to look at you and see the righteousness of His Son. We are clothed in Him.
2Co 10:4 — 2Co 10:5
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
I feel led to post this addition.
Notice that the word, “stronghold”, is used in the above scripture.
The Lord showed me that a stronghold is built one brick at a time. The brick in this instance can be a thought, a false accusation, a a lie someone has spoken to you about yourself,etc.
As I said above, a stronghold is built one brick at a time. Each time we accept something about ourselves without challenging it with the truth of God’s word, we, in effect, lay a brick in the stronghold. Eventually the bricks become the filter by which we see things. These strongholds built by lies unchallenged by God’s word become more real than the truth of God’s word. I know as I’ve experienced it myself.