I want to just talk about three sources of shame. I'm going to focus on one of them particularly. Here's the three sources of shame - the source is where it comes from, so the first thing it comes from is: our own sin, our own sin. When we sin, we feel ashamed of what we've done. The person who sins messes up their life, does something foolish, we feel ashamed, so there's a certain measure of shame comes because we blew it. In Proverbs 14, Verse 34, it says: righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Sin brings shame. Now you can try and pretend there's no shame in it, but there is. When people blow their lives and get caught up in alcohol, drugs and they find themselves in a mess, there's a shame about it. You can tell there's a shame. People try and hide it all the time. Whenever we sin, there's a sense of shame, something is wrong with us, something has broken us, and so the Bible tells us everyone has sinned, so the first thing is fairly self-evident.
Our own actions can bring shame on our life, so one of the pathways out of shame, is to begin to live in God's wisdom, so you don't goof-up and do stupid things. You begin to live a life that's very productive. The second source of shame are demonic spirits. Notice what the Lord says in Genesis 3:11. Who told you you were naked? Who told you you were naked? It implies in this scripture, although it doesn't directly state it, that someone had told them they were naked. Someone had mocked them, ridiculed them, and laughed at them. It doesn't record that part, but God does ask: who said to you that you were naked? How did you actually know you were naked? Who's been talking to you? Who have you been listening to? So one of the things we see about the devil, and the Bible describes it in Revelations 12 and Verse 10; he is an accuser. The devil himself was once an angel clothed in light. He was cast down, and his angelic coverings and beauty was taken away, and he is clothed with shame and dishonour.
So what he seeks to do, is to point out everything wrong in your life, so you'll find one of the major strategies the devil has, spirits of shame, spirits of fear, all kinds of tormenting, accusing spirits; they attack us, and try and point out where we lack and where we fail. You have to be aware, there is a spirit world around you, and demons will come, and if possible attach to your life, then begin to whisper into your ear. If you begin to listen and take on-board their lies and come into agreement with them, after a while you are in agreement with the spirit of shame. The problem is when you are in agreement with it, it's empowered to operate in your life, and you don't even know that there's a demon there. Imagine walking around, and you've got a demon walking, he's with you all the time, and it's just talking into you all the time.
Any time anything happens, immediately he shames you, and these terrible, painful feelings rise. You feel guilty. You feel ashamed of yourself, feel vulnerable, you feel afraid. You want to run away, want to hide, you begin to bluff and bluster and try and put out a front that you're something different to what you are, in reaction to this demonic assault. So this happens to people, it happens to everyone. No one is exempt from those attacks of shame. No one is exempt from the attacks of the accuser - even Jesus, when He began His ministry. In Luke, Chapter 4, it tells us that the devil said to Him, immediately, he said: if You be the Son of God prove it. In other words I don't really think You're the Son of God, I don't think You are who You say You are. You better do something to establish Yourself. When Jesus was on the cross: if You're the Son of God, come on down, prove You're something, prove You can do it. Do you understand that this is an attack of the devil against people's identity?
Let me show you another example of it. It's found in Nehemiah, Chapter 2. Nehemiah - his name means the comfort of God. He's very much a picture of the Holy Spirit, but he was a builder. He had a mission in life to build, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and demolished, and as with every work of God, immediately you begin the work, the devil comes to do certain things. Notice what he does here. We'll pick it up at Verse 18. I told them of the hand of my God, which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words he'd spoken to me. They said: let us rise up and build. And they set their hands to the good work - so they've got a vision together of building something great for the Lord.