Number 2 of 3 Demons That Haunt Humans, Shame

Shame is another term for feeling guilty.  It is not guilt but the feeling of being guilty.  This is a tool used by Satan to discredit Jesus.  It is a tool to discredit Jesus as Messiah, the one who saves us from sin.  It is a tool used to discredit Jesus as the perfect Lamb of God who “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29).  It is a demon.

Shame is the demon that makes us feel we are the “center of attention” with all those around pointing the finger and shouting “guilty, guilty, guilty”.  We know we are guilty, but we don’t need others to “rub it in our faces”.

In essence, shame is a form of pride but from a different perspective.  It’s not the perception I am better than everyone else, the most common form of pride; It’s the perception “Why don’t people respect me the way I should be respected”.  Shame makes us feel disrespected, unimportant and not valued.

What seems to be the best defense is to shout back, “what about you?  You too are guilty”.  That reaction gives us a sense of reprieve and solace.  All that reaction does is make us like our accusers.  They are accusing us while we are accusing them.  We’re both doing the same.  This makes us equal to them – guilty!

Feeling guilty is a handicap.  It can paralyze us or make us truly ineffective and unproductive in our life.  We become focused on our guilt and our shame and takes away the focus on God.  In essence we are “missing the mark”, we are “sinning”.  The focus is oneself instead of God.  The focus is “what others think about ME” versus “What does God think about ME?”.  God is not the focus, Others, our peers, is the focus.  It is a great tool by Satan and a very effective demon to haunt us.

Shame is an energy drainer.  A lot of time and energy is spent feeling sorry for oneself, how to defend oneself, and how to avenge being accused by those who themselves are guilty.

There is an opposite to shame – mercy.  The Most High God, loves those He created and He cares.  Sin is turning away from God while repentance is turning to God.  When we turn to God, we have a better view of Him.  When we look to Him we can see His outstretched hand as He calls us to Him.  He wants to be our Father.  He doesn’t need us, He WANTS US.  Because He wants us, He forgives us by His mercy.  When we accept His mercy, there is no room for shame (Psalm 103: 12).

One of 3 Demons That Haunt Humans, Pride

Demon is a term we most often refer to as being minions of Satan, those who do his dirty work.  They are believed to be fallen angels who joined Lucifer in the rebellion to overtake heaven and Almighty God’s kingdom.  Demons do a lot of dirty work but sometimes the term demon is referred to as “struggles” we deal with when we are trying to do good.  These struggles prevent us from accomplishing our goal to do good.

When people do bad things, they sometimes say, “It wasn’t me, the devil made me do it”.  This is a good way to avoid taking responsibility for wrongs committed.  It is a way to deflect responsibility of one’s bad behavior.  It is a way of avoiding self; “It wasn’t me”.

With pride, oneself is the central figure of everything; It’s all about me, “What about me?”.  The avoidance of responsibility is NOT what we are talking about when we call pride a demon, something evil.  Avoiding responsibility is NOT avoiding pride.  Taking responsibility is often the right thing to do.

Evil pride is pride that seeks to draw attention to oneself for the purpose of elevating oneself.  The sin of Adam and Eve was seeking to be equal to God so they could live life independent of God, not needing Him.  Lucifer and a third of the angels rebelled against God because Lucifer desired to be equal to God (Isaiah 14:13,14).  In both these cases, the created ones were seeking to be EQUAL to God, not necessarily greater than God.  Nevertheless, they were attempting to elevate themselves, that is evil pride.

Pride is the greatest demon that haunts, and it is the most common demon we deal with.

Pride is also the most subtle demon.  It is difficult to recognize.  God created humans to be in His image.  We were created by Him to enjoy His Creation and His Fellowship.  He is the Most High God.  When we read our bibles, we find there is only one Most High God who is referred to as Yahweh.  Before Jesus was born in Bethlehem an angel appeared unto Mary telling Jesus would be the son of the Most High God.  There is no one or nothing higher, more sovereign than Him.

Sinning is “missing the mark”.  When Almighty God is not our focus or we are not “hitting the bullseye” we are missing the mark because the focus of our attention is even the slightest bit off.  Jesus, our Lord, Messiah and example ALWAYS deferred to his father, the Most High God.