The Great Debate with Self Condemnation

Why is condemnation such a powerful weapon of the enemy?

Because truth and facts are used.  The enemy has real evidence against you. And he uses it in such a way as to keep you in his territory. In this place the enemy wants you to argue. Wants you to try and come up with reasons and excuses. It WANTS you to DEBATE. If you can learn not to enter the debate, you have won!

In this article, I am going to share how to be set free from the stronghold of self-condemnation.

Once the “crime”  the sin is committed the enemy will start gathering evidence and buildings the case against you. It has evidence and truth to build this upon. It will take many past mistakes and areas where you have repeatedly failed and imprison you with an overwhelming feeling of how much of a failure you are as a person, as a Christian. 

The two places it traps you the most is making you feel powerless to change, being overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of just how many places you have messed up. Self-condemnation loves to gather evidence of everything wrong, while it blocks you from remembering everything that is right. Where you have succeeded, grown, overcome and had victory.

If the problem has not been corrected, the case against you is even stronger as you become full of despair and hopelessness on HOW to correct the mistake. This is why people with addictions are living a life of imprisonment.

Condemnation then turns to its partner, SHAME. 

Instead of being able to turn to God and become free, shame will tell you how upset, disappointed and disqualified you are from receiving a pardon. Especially if the problem has not been fixed. You will feel like you are not able to approach God until you clean up your own mess.

This is where many get angry, upset, and turn hard and cold towards condemnation. But that includes feeling this way towards God too. Becoming very angry at “His” rejection and unwillingness to love you, help you, and walk beside you. You feel He pressured you to change, but left you to do it yourself, knowing you could not. Self-condemnation will help you become very angry at a “loving God who demands you to be righteous, but won’t do a thing to help you.” This is the LIE of self-condemnation and its intent. To turn you away from God and partner with its agenda. 

NOTE: This is where our spouses become very snared by the lips of the strange woman, her soothing words help ease the guilt and condemnation and help them believe that divorce is the absolute best way, the only way. 

If you don’t get angry at God, you may feel like you are outside looking in. That you can only get so far in the doorway and you are an outcast. You love Him so much and want His love for you. That door is open to you, but for some reason, you just can’t get IN there.

In the prison of shame and condemnation, you will always be trying to argue and reason, always defending and trying to make your case against the enemy, and you will lose because you can’t argue against the evidence. You may even try to deflect and blame as a way of escape. This is enemy territory. His courtroom. He is cunning and very manipulative. 

How do you get set free?

“Jesus is helping me.”  And NOT a single other word of debate! Period!

You do NOT have to explain yourself to the enemy. To be free, you believe the truth. JESUS IS HELPING YOU!  You do not explain why you did what you did, if you deserve to be free. STOP engaging with self-condemnation. Leave that courtroom and stop trying to convince the self-condemnation of anything.

Jesus is your Savior, now believe it. You trust in it. You speak it, declare it. You lean upon it fully and as condemnation continues to try and argue with you, you continue to declare that Jesus is helping you and will continue to help you. 

Why is He helping you?

It’s because of WHO HE IS, not because of who you are.

This is the truth you have to stand on against the enemy. HE IS A SHEPHERD! He doesn’t abandon His sheep. Hunts down the lost from the fold, because of WHO HE IS.

Each time you feel the magnitude of how much has to be done to change what is wrong, “Jesus is helping me.” is your answer.

Each time you feel ashamed and disqualified from being helped until you correct and become worthy of His help, you stand on the truth that Jesus Himself said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:17 

The power the enemy has held you captive with is the truth of the situation, so you need to be freed by an even GREATER truth. 

You ARE loved. You ARE redeemable. You ARE forgivable. You ARE valued. You ARE NOT what the enemy says you are but ARE what God says. 

This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. 1 Timothy 1:15

Wait-what? You mean you can be the worst of sinners and worthy of FULL ACCEPTANCE??

YES!!! Because you are HIS! Adopted, chosen. You are the apple of His eye. A beloved treasure.

Dearest beloved, don’t allow the enemy to bring you into his courtroom ever again. Don’t allow him to present his stack of evidence against you and draw you into a debate. Let Jesus be the only One that you have conversations with about yourself!

Standing with you, 
Sheila Hollinger