Christian Stress Management: How to Defeat Feelings of Shame and Inferiority

We can learn about the devices the enemy uses from the way he treats and talks to God's people.

For example, when Goliath was talking to the Israelite army he said to them:
"Why have you come out for battle?" (1 Samuel 17:8-10)

By asking the Israelite army why they came out to battle, Goliath was insinuating that they did not have a right to be there and yet as an army, they had every right to go to the battlefield and fight.

This subtle trick of trying to make a person feel unworthy is one of the tricks that the enemy uses to try and make God's people feel ashamed, inferior and that they do not fit in or have a right to be where they are.

David's own brother Eliab also tried to use this shaming trick on him when he went to the battlefield because he asked him, "Why did you come down here?" (1 Samuel 17:28)

David was being asked this question as if he did not have the right to go to the battlefield to take food for his brothers and talk to the people that he found there.

Notice also that these questions are being asked in the battlefield, a place where one fights and either wins or loses things. This makes the battlefield a great place for the enemy to try and chip your self-confidence because once you begin doubting yourself and feeling inferior, you reduce your ability to fight effectively and win the battle.

We can see this clearly from the Israelites when they went to spy out the land of Canaan because they encountered other enemies who were also giants and this time they did the enemy's job by shaming themselves because they said, "We saw the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight." (Numbers 13:33)

This land of Canaan was also a battlefield in the sense that it was the place there were supposed to go and fight in order to posses it.

However, as a result of shaming themselves and making themselves feel inferior to their enemies, by thinking of themselves as grasshoppers, the Israelites were unable to fight for their Promised Land and they begun crying and talking about going back to bondage in Egypt. (Numbers 14:1-4)

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he Proverbs 23:7

Therefore if people (enemies like Goliath and frenemies like Eliab) are trying to make you feel inferior or ashamed for doing something that is not wrong, or if your own negative thoughts are doing the enemy's work by making you feel inferior and ashamed of yourself, understand that this is just another device of the enemy.

Understand also that you must defeat this device if you want to fight and take possession of all the things that God has promised You in His word.

So, instead of succumbing to feeling ashamed, inferior or doubting yourself, remind yourself of what God's Word says about you. For example you can remind yourself that the Bible says:

You are the salt of the earth. (Matthew 5:13)

You are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)

Therefore instead of feeling ashamed or inferior, Let your light shine before people so that they may see your good works and praise your Father in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

To be able to let your light shine before people, you have to defeat those feelings of shame and inferiority by using Bible verses like the following as your Christian meditations and affirmations:
1. I am the salt of the earth. (Matthew 5:13)

2. I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14) and I will let my light shine before people so that they may see my good works and praise my Father in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16)