Christine Caine - Shame Off You - Part 1
There is nothing like a mean girl at school and you know it, I know on the other side of the screen many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And if there's one thing that peeves me off, I've got two daughters. Its mean girls, when they come in is how girls can shame each other is absolutely unbelievable, off the cuff statements about body size and body image and how you look and the clothes that you wear. Shame, it's a crippling feeling, whether it's placed on you from someone else, or whether it comes from your own heart. It has the ability to debilitate, to stop you in your tracks, to be a powerful roadblock in the path of your destiny. But what if I told you that it's possible to live free of shame. Growing up, shame was my closest companion, but not any longer. I'm Christine Caine, and I have a personal mission to equip and empower people just like you to connect with your God given purpose and potential. I am so glad you're joining us today. Let's dive straight into the message.
Awesome! I am so glad that you have joined us all today. I am so happy that you have tuned in on a great week. I know that God has a word for you, and he's going to set people free today. You know, I grew up in a very staunch Greek kind of orthodox home, and shame was just something that was part of our household. I'm not even thinking that my family in any way meant to do this intentionally. But things would happen. And maybe you know what I mean, when I would do something and someone would say, well, Christine, you should be ashamed of yourself. You know, if you thought the wrong thing, or I can't believe you said that, you should be ashamed of yourself. And I think a lot of us have grown up in different settings, whether it's at school or at home, and nobody was even necessarily trying to be ugly. It was just like something that comes out, you know, shame on you, you should be ashamed of yourself. And you add to that, being abused for a whole lot of years and being different.
I remember even being at school, I was the little ethnic kid. You know, my parents came from Egypt into Australia after the overflow of king Farouk. And there was a lot of shame because I didn't look like the other kids, I didn't speak like the other kids. I had a very strong accent. I didn't speak English really until I was five. And so I felt, I knew there was something different. And shame kind of makes you feel like that there's something wrong with me, there's something not right with me, and our culture does not help. You are standing in the supermarket aisle ready to put your groceries through the checkout, and you've got magazines shaming you left, right and center, whichever way you look like, even just the covers of them telling you that you do not look pretty enough, you're not thin enough, you're not smart enough, you're not celebrity enough. It's sort of like everything is telling you, you are just not enough. And then with the advent of social media, it's taken it to a whole new level. Like there's no doubt about it.
The shaming that happens on the internet is absolutely unbelievable to me, the way people just shame other people in public, and rather than covering people, and being gracious and being loving, and sometimes you can just get literally sucked into the culture without even realizing it that just the way we interact with each other, instead of covering and bringing love and bringing grace and bringing mercy, we are heaping shame on one another. And shame is so destructive, you know, you could be on the other side of that screen, and even as I've said that word shame, you're cowering and the hair stood up in the back of your neck because that's all you have ever known. That's all you've ever known, people have told you that you are not enough, you are not good enough, or you are too much, couldn't you just tone it down a bit, you're just too much, you're just too this or too that, or not enough of this or not enough of that.
And a lot of us we carry shame into our life. And shame causes you to pull back, it causes you to cower, it causes you to feel inadequate. You never bring your full self to the table because you're really worried about what people are going to think. And maybe they're going to think that I'm too much because my parents or someone at school said you know, you're just too strong, you're just too bossy, you're just too this, and people are smiling here in the crowd because obviously someone has said that to many of us. And you'll find that the enemy will often come and try to shame you in the very area that God wants to use you, to catapult you and propel you into God given destiny and your God given purpose.
So we are on assignment to get rid of shame. And the world would continually say, shame on you. And I'm here to declare and decree over the next three weeks, shame off you, in Jesus name, we are going to set people free from shame. We're going to get back to the beginning because I like to go to the beginning when we look at this. And sometimes you've got to go back to the start, to find out how you got here, to find out how you even came under this cloud. Genesis chapter one, verses 27 to 28, the scripture says, so God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God he created them male and female. He created them, God blessed them, and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground". I love it that in one version, it says, "And you can have dominion over every creeping thing".
So God has given us girls dominion over creeps. I just want you to know that we have that dominion right here. But why I wanted to talk about that scripture is we see right from there in the Word of God, that you and I are created in the image of God, whoever you are, wherever you're sitting on watching this right now, I want you to know that your great great grandfather was not an ape that went to the hairdresser and had a cut, shave and blow dry. You were made on purpose, for a purpose. You were created in the image of God, you are filled with God given destiny, you are filled with God given purpose.
Now, that may not be the message that the world gives you. That may not be what some parent has said about you. That may not be what some ex-lover or ex-spouse or some other person has said about you. But I want you to know today that you are created in the image of God. Despite of what the enemy may have done to try to mar that image, you and I originally were created by God, in God's image to be fruitful and to multiply. Fruitfulness is the destiny of every believer. God has filled us with his divine seed, the Holy Spirit of God to bear much fruit. John tells us that it is to our father's glory, that we bear much fruit, not just a little bit, but much.
And so if that's going to glorify God, what is the devil going to try to do? He's going to try to stop us from doing the thing that we are put on this earth to do. And if we are called to bear fruit, the devil thinks I will heap shame on you so that you shrink, so that you're worried about what people are going to think about you, you're worried about what people are going to say about you, and you do not end up stepping into your God given destiny and your God given potential. And let me just say, I believe that it is part of my mandate on the earth to see shame come off people so people can flourish and be fruitful and fulfill their God given destiny and their God given purpose, it is so crucial.
You know, I am, at 33 some people know that I found out out of nowhere, that I was adopted, which is quite a random thing to find out at 33 years old, to find out that you are not who you thought you were, that your family has actually lied to you for that whole time, that your parents who you thought were your parents are not your biological parents. And I went on to find out that I was left in a hospital, abandoned, my birth certificate does not have a name on it, it says child's name, un-named number 2508 of 1966. And for many, many years of my life, I experienced abuse at the hands of several different men.
So I don't even know that I can remember a time in my life where I didn't know shame, shame was my constant companion. I never felt like I was enough anyway. And then to find out on top of that, that I was abandoned at a hospital, that I was rejected at birth, that I was just a number not even given a name. The enemy began to play a tape recorder in my head, that said, see Christine, no wonder you were just a number, your mother didn't really want you, she didn't even give you a name. That people like you, they just deserve to be abused. And it's amazing how that tape recorder can play in your mind. And you can think because of what was done to you, or what was said to you or said about you, that you are worth nothing, that you have no value. And when I was still in my mother's womb, the enemy sent an assignment to steal, kill and destroy my life.
But let me tell you, God sent his son Jesus Christ to die on a cross, to shed his blood and to rise again from the dead so that every single one of us can be free from our past and catapulted into our God given destiny and our God given purpose. There is nothing that has been done to you or said about you that is greater than what Jesus did for you. So shame can lift off you and you can fulfill your God given destiny and your God given purpose. Let me just say that you and I are created in the image of God. The enemy tried to tell me for years, that you are a loser, your mother didn't even want you. But I had to go to Psalm 139, and I had to read that time and time until I memorized it. And I don't know if I was the result, I really don't know to this day, whether I was the result of a rape or a one night stand, or some ongoing adulterous affair.
But Psalm 139 says Christine it doesn't matter what birth canal was used to bring you here, before you even got into that birth canal, I formed you in your mother's womb, I knitted together your innermost parts, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. And I want to remind you today that you are a masterpiece created in the image of God. Perhaps your background has been like mine, and all your life you have felt like a loser because you thought you know what, my parents didn't even want me, I'm the result of a rape, my mom had an affair and I've ended up here. And everyone wants to tell you that you are an accident, that you were not created on purpose, that you have no sense of destiny and you should be ashamed of your past.
I'm here to tell you, you do not need to be ashamed of it, because Jesus bore our shame on the cross. And we are created in the image of an Almighty God, we are filled with God given purpose and destiny, and God created us on purpose for a purpose, there is not one accident in this place today. Not one accident in Jesus name. We are all created on purpose by God. Genesis chapter two you can see, we started this series in Genesis chapter one. We're gonna dive into a verse in chapter two, we're gonna go to Genesis chapter 3, so I think at this rate, we should get through the whole Bible about 20 TV shows from now. Okay, so how is that?
So in Genesis chapter two, the very last verse, the Bible says, and the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. Just pause. It doesn't say the man and his wife were both naked and not full of fear, and not full of pain, and not offended and not jealous, and not angry. I mean, God could have used any word, anything he wanted. Doesn't it strike you that in the very last verse of Genesis chapter two, just before we go into the fall of humanity in Genesis chapter three, God wants us all to know, he's just told us in chapter one that we're created in his image, and he wants us to know just before we go into the fall, hey, I made you to not know shame, I actually created you to not know what it would be like to bear the burden of shame. They were naked, and they knew no shame. They were naked, and they were unashamed. It is stunning to me that God would take the time to put that in the Bible, to say you were not created to know it.
So if I was the devil, what is the one thing I would want the only thing created in the image of God to feel? I'd want them to feel the very thing God created them to never feel. So if I was coming after you, I'd come after you with shame. Do you wonder why there's such an assignment on your life? Why the devil heaps so much shame on us? Why shame and guilt and condemnation is that thing that takes so many Christians out of the fight? It's because we were never created to know it. It was never something that we were created to be. And yet some people like me, don't even know a day in their life where they never felt shame. That is how powerful the plans of the enemy are to do what he has always done, to steal, kill and destroy your life. Jesus said, I came that you might have life and life more abundant. But let me tell you, the devil has come to steal, kill and destroy that life. And shame is one of the primary ways that he comes to destroy us, there would not be one person on the other side of the screen that doesn't know what I'm talking about, that has not felt shame in some area of your life. So we were never created to know this shame.
So then we go to Genesis chapter three, which is so powerful. It says, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beasts of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden"? And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die". But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil".
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate, then the eyes of both were open, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves loincloth. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden, but the Lord God called to the man and said, "Where are you"? And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself". He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not eat"? The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me".
He'll always blame her, I'm sorry, it's just the way it goes. That chick that you gave. He said, the man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate it". Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done"? The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate it". It is so amazing. What a story. Therein is the fall. So God says, I want to remind you in chapter two just before we get to this verse, I want to remind you that you were created to know no shame. I want you to think about where in your life when you can remember, maybe have the first recollection of where shame entered your life. Of course, I was victimized from a very, very early age, my earliest memories. And when you are first being abused, you think what is happening to you is wrong. But when it keeps happening and nobody stops it, you start to think there's something wrong with me, that's why it's happening.
And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about right now. You've been abused, maybe sexually or emotionally or physically or spiritually. And the fact is, for a long time you thought, hey, how they're treating me, it's wrong. But over time, you began to think, hey, there's something wrong with me, there must be something wrong with me. I seem to cycle in and out of these relationships where I'm being victimized. I'm here to tell you, it's not that there's something wrong with you, what is happening is wrong. But shame has been heaped so heavily upon you.
Now, your self worth has been so damaged, that you go into every relationship thinking there's something wrong with me. And you self sabotage before you even keep going, because you already think hey, before I get hurt, let me just sabotage everything. And that might happen in the next job that you're in, the next relationship that you're in, and so many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And you hide so much of yourself, and then you hate yourself, because you know you've self sabotage, you know that actually if you let yourself be seen, this could have ended up somewhere, and now you're drinking yourself into oblivion because you've gotten into that cycle of hating yourself yet again. And all you've done is confirmed the self talk that for years has told you, you're not worthy, you're not valuable, you're not good.
And oftentimes, just so that we are not hurt again, we will self sabotage so that we don't feel the hurt. And we block and guard our heart that we think, I'm going to get out of this, and I'm going to do something to mess this up, because it's going to end up one day, he or she, they're going to find out who I really am anyway, and I'm really not worthy anyway. So let me spare them the trouble, and you self sabotage and I'm praying in the name of Jesus, that as a result of this series, a lot of that self sabotaging is going to be finished in Jesus name. And you are going to learn who you are in Christ. You're going to love yourself in Christ, and then you're going to be able to love your neighbor as you love yourself. And a lot of us we do love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we just don't like ourselves.
And so because we don't really like ourselves, we end up treating other people, now whether that's our own families, our own children, our spouses, or our friends, or our colleagues at work, we end up acting out of the very fact that we think we are fundamentally unworthy, and then without realizing that we treat other people the same way, we want to stop that cycle in this series. And the fact is that at some point, we have to acknowledge that, well, part of me has gone into hiding, because somewhere along the line I was shamed, either I was shamed at school, I was shamed at home, or I was shamed in my, you know, my culture or my tradition.
I remember when my mother dropped me off for ballet, I mean, look at me, what part of me speaks ballet, I mean, seriously, and all I wanted to do was play soccer. And my mom was always Christina, only the boys play soccer. Tell that to the girls Olympic team. But anyway, so it was like, only the boys play soccer, and why, you know, Christine you shouldn't do that. And she would drop me off to ballet, and I would rip off my tutu, and the boys would be playing soccer in the field next door. And I would run, and my mother would pick me up, and my ballet shoes were in mud because of like I was kicking soccer balls. And then it would be Christine, why can't you just be like every other girl? Do you know what that shame put on me all over it? Why can't I be like everybody else? Christine, why can't you be normal? She would take me to Kmart and leave me in the Barbie Doll aisle. I didn't want a Barbie Doll, I wanted to read. So I would go and read books and she'd find me in the book, calling Christina, if you are too intelligent, no man is ever going to want to marry you.
Now, you know, I was born with the dinosaurs. So this was in the 70s. But even in the 1970s in Australia it was don't be too educated Christine, don't be too smart. No boy is going to want you if you're too bright, and I wonder what your issue is. Because we've all had those things and subconsciously they go in. No matter what you think, especially when you're a kid and you carry those thoughts into adulthood. And so then you'll sit in meetings and say, I better not say too much because someone's going to think I'm a bossy girl, someone's going to think I'm too much of this, or not enough of that. And God says, hang on a minute, I created you like that. I put those things on the inside of you. Of course, we all need to be sanctified, and of course, we all need to grow in Godliness, and in the fruits of the spirit. But fundamental character, likes and dislikes, God made you like that, you do not need to be ashamed of it. You need to actually unveil who God has made you to be.
And you need to step up into your God given destiny and your God given potential. God put those leadership gifts in me because he knew in the future, I'd be rescuing the victims of human trafficking, he knew that I would be running a women's leadership movement. And so he's like, Christine, I need you to have that, and then the enemy often, the very area that God's going to use you in in your future is the area that the enemy is going to come and try to quench and put shame on you, so you will run and hide, and you will not step into your God given destiny and your God given potential. You are not going to want to miss next week because we are going to unpack how the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy your future, and then reveal how you have been set free and can have the victory in Jesus Christ. Let me pray for you.
Father I thank you for every single person. Father under the sound of my voice. And Lord, I pray for freedom in the name of Jesus Christ. Father, where the enemy has come and spoken words of negativity and fear and doubt and defeat and shame and unworthiness over your people. Father, I rebuke those words in the name of Jesus Christ. And Father, even right now I remind people, that they are created in the image of God, filled with God given purpose, filled with God given destiny, filled with God given worth, and I pray that people would be reminded of who they are in you, and that the negative words of the enemy would be quenched, in Jesus name, in Jesus name. Amen, amen, amen.