Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast
Reverend Ben Coopers podcast, offers an inviting space for listeners to explore Christianity and spiritual growth with wisdom, humor, and a deep commitment to biblical truth. Through Rev. Ben's engaging conversations with guests, the podcast not only explores the timeless wisdom of the Bible but also tackles the pressing issues of life, faith, and hope in a way that is accessible, thought-provoking, and enriching. Whether you’re seeking spiritual nourishment, answers to life’s big questions, or simply a place to reflect on your faith, the Rev Ben podcast is a valuable resource on your journey.
In each episode, Rev. Ben guides listeners through profound theological reflections, personal stories, and practical insights drawn from the Bible and the broader Christian tradition.
Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast
How Christ Releases Us from Our Past - (#1052)
Title: Let It Go – Breaking Free from Guilt and Shame
Guilt and shame are silent destroyers—stealthy burdens that weigh down even the most faithful believers. In this powerful episode, we expose how these toxic emotions keep people spiritually stuck, exhausted, and unable to fully embrace the freedom Jesus already secured for them.
We begin by clarifying the critical difference:
- Guilt says, “You did something wrong.”
- Shame says, “You are something wrong.”
Understanding this distinction is vital, because guilt can sometimes lead to conviction and growth—but shame distorts your identity. And despite Romans 8:1 declaring that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” many Christians continue to live under the shadow of condemnation.
Using the powerful image of a train pulling unwanted carriages, we illustrate how emotional baggage drains spiritual vitality. Whether it’s mistakes from the past or trauma that wasn’t your fault, the weight of guilt and shame can derail your walk with God. This episode speaks directly to abuse survivors, assault victims, and anyone who’s internalized blame they were never meant to carry.
But the Gospel is good news. We share redemptive truth from Isaiah 43:25, where God declares, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” When God forgives, He also forgets. Yet we often continue to replay scenes of failure and pain in our minds.
The path to freedom isn’t denial—it’s acknowledging your wounds, inviting the Holy Spirit to heal, and choosing to replace the enemy’s accusations with God’s Word. We talk practically about how to:
- Uncouple emotional “carriages” of shame from your life
- Confess safely with trusted spiritual companions
- Let God's truth redefine your identity
This isn’t self-help—it’s spiritual transformation. You don’t have to drag guilt and shame behind you anymore. The price has already been paid. The chains are already broken.
Christian podcast about guilt and shame, biblical freedom from condemnation, Romans 8:1 explained, difference between guilt and shame, healing emotional wounds through Christ, Isaiah 43:25 message of forgiveness, overcoming Christian shame, spiritual identity restoration, Holy Spirit and memory healing, breaking spiritual strongholds podcast, letting go of emotional baggage, train and carriage spiritual analogy
https://www.pastorbencooper.co.uk/
https://www.rbchristianradio.net/
Thank you for watching Good morning. Good morning wherever you are across the earth. We thank you for joining us this morning in the world of podcast or whether you're on this broadcast with us. We just want to say good morning. It is thursday, the 3rd of august, and it is almost 20 to 12. It's hashtag christian straight talk, simon and myself, as we gather around the word of god, as we gather around jesus christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Wherever you are this morning, you know, never give up, never giving. God is with each and every one of us and we are going to have a look in the book of romans. Simon has got a great topic that we're going to have a chat about and as we spend 45 minutes here hashtag christian straight talk share all this sort of stuff out. You can find us on patreon, buzzsprout, spotify and so many other platforms. God bless every one of you and good morning, simon. We're in.
Speaker 2:Good morning Ben. It's great to be back with you across the mics and it's been another challenging week. Mate hasn't it.
Speaker 1:It's been a blinder. It's been a blinder. I've been hit with the old bat of life many times this week.
Speaker 2:I think that's a good way to describe it. Yeah, the old bat of life, Bat many times this week. I think that's a good way to describe it. Yeah, the old bat of life, Bat, whack, wallop.
Speaker 1:Because it does kick you out of the backside. It does give you a serious whack about it, doesn't?
Speaker 2:it, it really does. And sometimes you think, oh crikey, I'm just hanging on here, I'm a Jesus follower. I'm just hanging on to Jesus by the skin of my teeth here and you know if you're looking at life you know, obviously we know, Ben, that we've got an enemy, and two of the biggest tools the enemy uses is fear and doubt. But they're quickly followed, Ben, by guilt and shame.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, definitely that's what we're going to talk about this morning is really guilt and shame, and our men and women are living, even in churches, ben under guilt and under shame and they're not embracing the freedom that is theirs to have fully through Jesus Christ Ben.
Speaker 1:No, because you find when you come into the church you can't really be yourself, can you? You've got to put on the makeup, You've got to put on a show. You can't just be raw you, Because if you're raw, you and you're carrying guilt and you're carrying shame, and then you're carrying fear and you're carrying worry and you start expressing yourself. There might be a few faces that go oh, hang on a minute, but I think we are living in a time when we've really got to come to the cross of Calvary as believers in Christ and deal with the shame and the guilt, the hurts, the pains, everything. But how do we deal with it? What does the scripture say about all this sort of stuff? Where do we go?
Speaker 2:Well, ben, the scripture is very clear, and that's another thing, really, because what I think is, when we come to the Lord and we give our lives to the Lord and we realise that we're told there's forgiveness, we're told we understand that there's forgiveness for us, but then really I don't think there's enough instruction or discipleship within the church organisation or within the people to then lead us to the right scriptures, to know who we are in Christ.
Speaker 2:Over the last few weeks I've done a number of talks with men and a lot of Christian guys and a lot of these guys are struggling with deep hurt from their past, and one in particular the other day. You know he's struggling. So he said I know I'm forgiven, I know I've been forgiven, he said, but I just can't forgive myself.
Speaker 1:That's the thing, isn't it? And to forgive yourself. You've got to get to your point where you reach a place of you realise, lord, I've got failings in my life, I've got faults in my life, I've got things in my life, lord, that I'm shameful of, of history, and admitting them. But you can't admit them, can you? So need discipleship. We need, we need the god of hope to lead us and to come to the cross and say, father, show me the scriptures, show me your word, because the church isn't really dealing with what I've got to be dealt with. I need the scripture.
Speaker 2:That's the greatest counselor, nowhere to go in, in, in the bible, to be reassured, you know. And so this particular guy has been walking around with this. I mean, we all understand that some of the actions that we do and some of the thoughts we have we feel a little bit shameful and a little bit guilty for. But when you're forgiven, then if we understand the scriptures that tell us that we've forgiven and tell us if you're honest and and that to confess us, if we understand those scriptures, then we will know that that's, um, not we don't have to walk around because it's gone, because god has taken the rucksack, he's taken the baggage, he's taken the rubbish.
Speaker 1:But where does it sit? It sits internally, doesn't it? Nobody can really see the external stuff, can they?
Speaker 2:No, they can't they can't see it.
Speaker 1:It's like they can't see it externally because it doesn't exist externally. It exists on the inside of a person and that's where it sits, and inside of a person, and that's what it where it sits and that's where it festers.
Speaker 2:You know the worries, the fears, the guilts, the shames, the unforgiveness, all this stuff, the pride, all sitting in in the bag and it all sits together. It all sits together in a black rubbish bag that you sling on your shoulder. That's right, and, and the the thing is, the holy spirit will convict you of this stuff, so it brings it to the fore for Amen, for it to be confessed and forgiven. But then we have an enemy who comes in and goes.
Speaker 1:Stirs it, he stirs it up.
Speaker 2:And goes. You know what you?
Speaker 1:did. Are you sure you're forgiven? Are you sure?
Speaker 2:That's a good one. Are you sure you're forgiven what you did? That was horrible.
Speaker 1:You was horrible, horrible. You know you was horrible.
Speaker 2:You treated people terrible, you're going to have to walk with that for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1:You're carrying that.
Speaker 2:What does?
Speaker 1:God think about you. That's what he says.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now, paul's very clear on this. The Apostle Paul's very clear on this. In the book of Romans, in Paul's writing. I've heard it said that Paul's writings are like the Himalayan mountains and Romans 8 is like the Everest, so it's like the pinnacle. So Romans 8 is awesome and really all we have to do is go to Romans 8.1, and Paul's very clear. He says Benny says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but walk according to the Spirit is therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but walk according to the Spirit.
Speaker 1:So he's made it clear there's no condemnation for us. That's right. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. So Christ nailed it to the cross. It is gone, it is finished, we are forgiven, we are blood washed, sanctified because of the cross of calvary, and the only people that we can that carry around is ourselves. We carry eternally.
Speaker 1:But the church needs to allow. There's loads of discipleship courses. There's the alpha course, there's this course, there's that course. But what we need is raw, literally out of the barrel of truth, real, proper conversations as individuals, one to one, because you can't express yourself in a large group, in a large room, because it becomes embarrassing and everybody seems to think that if he knows, if she knows what I'm carrying and what I'm fearful of and all this sort of stuff, they will condemn me and ostracize me. They will condemn me and ostracize me. But it means coming to the cross of Calvary and finding someone that you can really walk with and you can really trust and you can talk to, and you're going to journey this journey with them and just let a good disciple person around you will put their arm around you and go. Do you know what? It's going to be all right.
Speaker 2:They will and they'll lead you to the scriptures which prove that you know. And another scripture, another great scripture, is 1 John, 1.9, ben.
Speaker 1:What's it say? Let's have a look, let's see what the Word of God says. What does the Bible say on all this sort of stuff? Let's flick over 1 John 1.9. Let's have a look.
Speaker 1:If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. It's all about jesus. It's all about coming to the cross. But it's easy to say, isn't it? Come to the cross and it'll all be okay. But what is the the pathway to the cross? Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. So to confess our sins, we need to go to that cross, you know. Go to that place, that secret place, open up the word of God and say Father, forgive me because, lord, I feel guilty, I feel shameful, I feel, lord, that I've got pride and arrogance and unforgiveness, because the bag, it just all is like a train, isn't it what we're talking about at this moment in time? Guilt is a carriage, shame is a carriage, Unforgiveness is a carriage, and it's all coupled together, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:All coupled together, and the more we're pulling that train, the heavier it's going, and that will go up a hill and we'll be struggling like mad because it will want to overtake us. So we have to rely on the word of God, which is in the scriptures and that's a scripture you just read out there, Ben. He is faithful and just to forgive our sins but not only that, Ben and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Speaker 1:Amen. So all that unrighteousness is just gone, it's melted like wax, it's finished, it is over because of his holiness and his purity and his love and his goodness. And it's so amazing what the cross does, what the love of Christ does, what the power of Christ. It's not the church, it's the Lord, jesus Christ. He is your Lord and your saviour. And if you are carrying guilt and shame on everything that coupled along with that and your saviour, and if you are carrying guilt and shame on everything that coupled along with that, just get yourself a bible, get yourself the word of god and and he, he has forgiven, he has washed, he has cleansed us, as simon says. The scripture is so true if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. All have sinned and purify us from all unrighteousness. All have sinned and fallen short of his glory?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have been. And guilt says that you've failed. So guilt will want to tell you that you've failed, you know, and put the guilt on you. And shame says you are a failure. So guilt will tell you that you've failed and shame wants you to walk in that failure and keep it you know and keep reminding us A quiet walk, yeah.
Speaker 1:A quiet, dark walk of guilt and a walk of shame. You're never going to be forgiven. You're guilty as charged, you know, and then the world is just operating around you and don't even know what you're going through, don't even understand what you're going through, don't even understand what you're going through and you're carrying all this sort of stuff. But it's learning to leave it at the cross, because it's already at the cross. But it's our mind that carries it, it's our thoughts that carry it, it's our headspace that carries it. But it's been nailed to the cross of Calvary, it's gone and to forgive ourselves is a difficult one.
Speaker 1:A real difficult, one Very difficult.
Speaker 2:And that can only be done really by the Holy Spirit then, because we can't, you know, do it in the flesh. So the Holy Spirit's got to work in us and then we're able to understand that, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:And it says in Psalm 103, 12, I haven't got it in front of me, but it says in psalm um 103, 12. I haven't got it from him. But it says as far as the east is from the west, that's as far as amen, our transgress. He wants to take our transgressions from us. You know, and if you get right around that, really he wants to. He wants to bury them in the deepest ocean, but the trouble is with we go around fishing for them.
Speaker 1:We're fishermen, we're pulling it up in the nets.
Speaker 2:And Jesus is saying no, leave it where it is, that's right. It's dead and gone. I forgot about it. It's gone. You've forgiven. That's not registered, but it's our mind where the enemy comes in and wants to keep prodding and pushing and going. You know what you did, remember what you saw, what you did, what you said.
Speaker 1:What you engaged in, what you thought, what you watched, what you allowed yourself to go in. That's why Jesus says drop your nets, come and follow me, because all the time I've got nets in my hand, I'm catching the shopping trolley of what was, I'm catching the dirty stuff of what was. I've got to leave the nets. Jesus says drop your nets, come and follow me. You know, come to me. All of you that are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. If you're carrying guilt, if you're carrying shame, they are bolted together, you know, and we've got to deal with each and every one of them. We've got to ask God will you undo the bolt from each one, lord? Because, lord, I need freedom. In the name of Jesus, lord, I've got to be free today from the guilt. You know, guilt will eat you. Guilt will drive you to be the person that you're not. Guilt will shape you. Shame will shape you. You'll be holding your head down.
Speaker 2:You'll be not able to look people in the eye, you'll not be able to to walk right because you're fearful of what if they all know how many times ben actually this question. I mean, you meet people in the hospice who are on the real the days, or sometimes maybe only weeks to live or whatever, but how many times do people go? You just don't know what I've done.
Speaker 1:Oh, you hear that a lot. You hear that a lot in there and even out of there and even within church and even people on the fringe of searching. You know when people are searching. Jesus ain't going to forgive me because of you don't know what I've done, you don't know what I've been through. You don't know what I was like. I was angry, I was a manipulator, I was all for myself, I was all about me, and that's not what a church person looks like. Well, hang on a minute. It's not about the church person. It's about what Christ thinks of you and in his eyes you are saved and you are loved. And there is this. Wherever you are in the culture of life, God loves you and there is nothing that is too big, too insurmountable for God to deal with. That guilt, that shame, can go within a blink of an eye and freedom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that saying, if I get it right, it's nothing you can do can make him love you more, but nothing you have done can make him shut the door. Wow, so that is the truth. I remember a guy writing to me from a prison saying I don't think God can ever forgive me because I had a fight and I knocked someone's eye out, you know which was a real, you know horrendous thing to do. But you know, the truth is that if you're truly sorry for what you've done, if you truly repent for it, then there is forgiveness for you, ben.
Speaker 1:That's the thing, isn't it? Coming to the place of rest, coming to the place of the cross and saying, father, I repent, lord, and leaving it. It's learning to leave it, and we leave it by the power of words, don't we, lord? I got caught in a fight, lord, there was a serious injury and it's speaking out. It's speaking it out and it's just sitting down in a chair and just saying, lord, this is the day where I've got to hand it over. Get it out, get it out of your being, get it out, speak about it, share about it, Otherwise this stuff will define you, you know.
Speaker 2:This stuff will shape you and define you into being that. And when we hang on to stuff, Ben, sometimes we tend to be a victim of that stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very true.
Speaker 2:And we want to say oh, you don't know what I've done, you don't know what I've been, so I've done that. And so we become the victim of that and that defines us, whereas Jesus is saying no, you've got to leave that with me, and then we've got some great things for you to do, but while you're hanging on to that, we can't move forward with you.
Speaker 1:Because you're hanging on to it and I've already nailed it to the cross. So I'm not condemning you, because the scripture says very clear in Romans 8, verse 1, there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2:Then Hebrews 8, 12 says for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
Speaker 1:Wow, what a God we serve. What?
Speaker 2:a king, what a forgiving God we serve.
Speaker 1:He's merciful, he's encouraging, he's forgiving, he's sovereign. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords and he is worthy of all praise. And wherever you are this morning across the earth, whether you capture this stuff through podcast or whether you capture this through visual later on this broadcast, you know the scriptures are loud that God is merciful, there is favour on your life, there is hope. It is just our head, but in our head controls us and we've got to get free. You know who the sun sets free is free indeed this morning. So don't let the guilt, don't let the shame, don't let any of that historical event characterize you, because it's finished. It's finished. I'm a new creation. Yeah, the old is gone.
Speaker 1:We are brand spanking new.
Speaker 2:I'm a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5,. September new creation, and the old is gone and the new is in Even. In Hebrews 10, 22, he says let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Wow.
Speaker 1:That's a thing Ben.
Speaker 1:Tell me about the conscience, the conscience, the mind the cognitive processing of the mind and the thinking, the conscience, the understanding, this realm that is in our head. That just Lord, help me. Will you remove this, this feeling, father, the guilt, the shame, the consciousness of this? Lord and lord, I need my mind freed up because it's not in your heart, it's in your mind, it's in the backpack of the mind, it sits in the mind, it sits in that back place, the psyche or wherever you want to call it.
Speaker 1:However you want to label that sort of thing, wherever you are, it sits in in your mind and your mind starts to think. And then you want to call it however you want to label that sort of thing, wherever you are, it sits in your mind and your mind starts to think. And then you start to anticipate, you start to think about it, you start to work through it and you start to relive it. You start to relive all the feelings, the stuff, the guilt, the shame, the worry, and you're living this quiet life that no one can see. You're living within your shell, you're living inside and you're reliving everything. When the Bible says you're free, ben, you're free. Simon, you're free. Anyone, you're free leave it.
Speaker 2:Our conscience is inside us. It's a little voice that tells us what's right or wrong or whatever. And if we keep on ignoring that, if we keep on ignoring that, then our conscience will just slowly be what they call seared, so it won't have any effect on us. So we'll be just literally living that life of shame and guilt because the conscience is saying, yeah, you've done that, but we keep digging that up and rather than just, like you said, living that life of freedom and just unpacking ourselves of that stuff and burdening ourselves of that stuff and walking forward and yeah, if you've hurt someone, it can be a big thing, that's the truth. But you know there's nothing you can pray for that person, you can make amends with that person, and it's up to them. Then, whatever, whichever way they want to take it, but you know your forgiveness first and foremost comes from Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:It comes from Jesus, doesn't it? Yeah, he's the counsellor. The Holy Spirit is the counsellor. If you're carrying the truck of and you're carrying the carriages like that locomotive, and you've got all this stuff, you know you're working away, you're pressing into life, you're on the track of life, you're pressing on, you're going to work, you're living, you're pressing on, you're going to work, you're living, you're bringing up your family, you're doing whatever you're doing.
Speaker 1:But you know you've got this secret carriage of of unforgiveness and coupled up with that there's guilt mixed in that, and another carriage of shame and another carriage of of doubt and fears, and you're chugging away and there's hardly any more coal to go back into this locomotive. And you it, you out. Guilt and shame will wear you down and tire you and will exhaust you because you're thinking what, when and how, what will they know about me, what are they going to say about me, what's my family going to say, what's my friends, what's my work, colleagues, what's the church pastors, leaders and you're saying all this sort of stuff to yourself. You're chugging away like an old locomotive and suddenly the coal is not going to be there anymore. If you're still carrying that stuff.
Speaker 2:It's really akin to unbelief, because Jesus said and I remember I was in a church once and they did a little skit Now some skits are complete, rubbish, complete. But this one was quite good and it was a guy there and he was taking a place of Jesus and a young girl came in and she had black rubbish sacks on her back with guilt shame all that sort of stuff and so Jesus was saying bring them to me.
Speaker 2:But she was going no, I'm not getting on with these. And she was walking it's mine, it's my guilt. And so Jesus was saying bring them to me.
Speaker 1:But she was going no, I'm not going to honor these and she was walking, it's mine, it's mine. It's my guilt, my shame.
Speaker 2:It's my shame and I don't want to come to you.
Speaker 1:So the guilt and the shame Ben can even stop you going to Jesus because you're too frightened or ashamed even of facing Jesus.
Speaker 1:But you know something Jesus has seen it, all he's seen it all, but before the guilt and the shame was brought into any action, it was already nailed to the cross of Calvary. Because the Bible tells us that before the heavens were formed and the earth was formed, I knew you. I created you Before anything was in existence, before any word on your lip was spoken, before any action was given. I knew your life from start to finish, but he still chose to save us and he now that shame to the cross. If you could hear a loud bang, you can imagine the the heavens exploding when, when christ went to the cross and that all the shame of my life and your life has been nailed to the cross.
Speaker 1:The guilt has been gone, but we are living in a shell, we are living in this vessel and we are desperate to go. God, please. We're looking for affirmation all the time when god says don't look to the world, don't look to yourself, look to me, because I am the way, I am the freedom, I am the life, and we live this life and we suppress ourselves and we carry stuff for so many years. It's so deep within us sometimes and it's so deep rooted we mask it over and God is calling you right now. Come to me, all of you that are weary. Are you weary with guilt and shame? Are you weary with unforgiveness? Are you weary with life? God is saying come to me, and he's the one that can uncouple that train, no one else.
Speaker 2:No one else. No one else can no trick scientist or whatever.
Speaker 1:Nothing, no counsellors.
Speaker 2:And the thing is no pharmaceuticals, nothing. No counsellors, and the thing is… no pharmaceuticals. Well, that's the big deal. You could end up on pharmaceuticals, you know on drugs and you know where that's going to lead. But the crazy thing is that if we hang on to this stuff for too long, even though we might go to church, we might have been baptising, we're going to turn away from Jesus because he's saying come to me, bring it all, bring all that crap and put it at the foot of my cross. Amen yeah.
Speaker 2:And walk in freedom, because you, my friend, have been forgiven of that stuff, so don't hang on to it. So we're in danger of of not even going awful and we're in real danger of not fulfilling our God given destiny?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we're hanging on to the carriage of life and again that train. You know, as Christ pulls the pin out of the coupler and that that train, that carriage is taken off of you, you will find you don't need as much fuel to keep going. But all the time you've got all these carriages of life that are behind you as this locomotive. You've got guilt, you've got shame, you've got the feeling of unforgiveness, you've got fears, you've got doubts, you've got all these carriages all stacked up. And if we carry all these carriages, this train has really got to work hard just to get to the next station. But if you come to the cross, and at that cross Christ takes the carriage of guilt, the carriage of shame, and you leave everything at the station of the cross, suddenly you're still this engine and you're going to move forward, you're going to be lighter.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Not as much power as needed.
Speaker 1:Imagine you don't need as much coal in the tank to get going. You're free. You know what it's like if you've been towing something on your car. You can feel that. Pull back as soon as you uncouple it.
Speaker 2:Ben's come up with a great analogy this morning and it is the truth. It is really like that. And yeah, and so you, you're chugging along in your, in the train and all of a sudden you've coupled up guilt, you've got shame, uh, fear and doubt, and you've got a whole long list and and you don't need to have that, you know. Look, look what he says in isaiah.
Speaker 2:good old book of isaiah, we love the old testament, and we don't care what you say about the Old Testament, we just love it to bits. And he says in Isaiah 43, 25,. He says I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
Speaker 1:I love that. I will not remember. I will not remember your sins. So it comes down to memory. So God has forgotten, god has pushed it away. You are that free locomotive, you are that free train, but my memory keeps coupling up with my history. So, lord, you've got to deal with my memory, because I'm saved and blood washed. And I keep going to the station of life and, lord, I get to this one and I couple up with what I blood washed and I keep going to the station of life and, lord, I get to this one and I couple up with what I've done and I couple up again with unforgiveness. But, lord, I need freedom. It is the memory, it is the remembering. So, lord, erase my memory because you're free. You're free, yeah, you're free from sin.
Speaker 2:You've got your forgiveness, you're done. Walking. You've got your forgiveness, you're done. Walking freedom. I want to want to. While we're on this subject, I want to come onto this because sometimes, even if something is not our fault, we still feel the guilt of it. Now I'll give you an example. I was talking to a fellow, this fella. He was in the military. He'd done some real special stuff in the military, stuff that you know you only see on action films.
Speaker 2:I thought, this fella, he was all over. But when we dug down he had a horrendous time with his father growing up and he said I remember. He said when I was 10 years old. He said I was 10 years old and my father came at me and I didn't stand up to him. And I still feel guilty for not standing up to him to this day Now, because he was looking to protect his mother, his other children his other family, you know, but there's nothing he could have done.
Speaker 2:He was 10 years old, but he was still consumed because he felt guilty for the actions that had been placed on him. That happens quite a bit, doesn't it, ben? Because when things have been done to us, the enemy's got a real clever way of switching it and going well, it was your fault, you were this, you were that, you shouldn't have done that, you shouldn't have said that and really, probably, you were just growing up or it wasn't your fault.
Speaker 2:Or you know a woman who was sexually assaulted. You know the courts have a way of going. Yeah, but you was dressed that way or it was your fault so they're spinning it the accusers the accuser spins it back onto me.
Speaker 1:The accuser spins the situation back onto me when I was just there at that particular point when actually the the harm was done to me, and then suddenly you find that the weight of it all I should have done this. Now I'm feeling guilty that I didn't act in a certain way. So you've got the guilt of the act and you've got the guilt of what I should have done. So you've got a bag of all this stuff. What if I'd have done this? You look back in hindsight, you look back in the past and you think hang on a minute, lord, help me, will you release me of the past? Because the past sits in the memory. The memory has to go. The memory of them things has to go, because the devil is very clever of the way he turns it back on.
Speaker 2:You turns it back it's you, it's you, it's you it's your fault.
Speaker 1:It's your fault. You should have done a, b and c, but now look what you've created. See, this is the real you. Does Jesus really love you?
Speaker 2:You know I've had it. You know guys go. I should have done more to protect my mum, I should have done more to protect my family, but you was just a child, just a child. You weren't. You know you weren't capable of doing it, that's correct. Yeah. And you know you weren't capable of doing it, that's correct. Yeah. And women out there have been assaulted or whatever. And no, it was not your fault, it was never your fault, it's not your fault.
Speaker 2:I have it many times when guys go well, my father used to beat me and well, it was not your fault, it never should have happened.
Speaker 1:I should have stood up for myself.
Speaker 2:I should have done this. I should have done that.
Speaker 1:No, that's not right.
Speaker 2:It shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't have happened.
Speaker 1:The fault was not yours and it's not your fault, but the enemy spins it back on yourself and then suddenly you've got a double guilt, you've got a treble guilt. You've got all this stuff of guilt sitting in in your head and your heart and you're trying to deal with it. But you've got to get it out your heart and because it doesn't belong in your heart, because your heart has been freed, but it is the memory and the wasteland of the mind and the focus of what was, what was. If people knew what was, will they treat me and and help me? You know, it's the what was.
Speaker 2:That's see what we have to understand is what we're dealing with here, and jesus made it quite clear when he was talking about the devil. He was talking about him in john 8 and he said you, you're a liar from the start.
Speaker 1:You, you know, you're the father of lies exactly you are the father of lies, yeah, but because we care, because we have this way of our emotions, our human emotions, that, coupled up with the guilt and the shame, stirs us when the outside environment is doesn't even see what's going on in your life, and it's caught all in the head, it's caught in the mind and it's just all this stuff just bubbling around in your spirit of years and years and years, and you consciously bury it, but it's still there, it's back, it's right back in your, your head, and really you've got to bring it to the cross because jesus says it's no more yeah, I think that's.
Speaker 2:That's a real big one, and I I think it's a huge one, ben, where things have happened to you in the past and you do bury them. Bury them in the toy cupboard of your soul if you like, but there's stuff in there. So I remember reacting because it comes out. I remember reacting very, very angrily to my stepfather. He was talking about my mum. She was ill and he was dragging his feet really in getting the right treatment. Okay, I went at him like a bull in a china shop and I had that capacity to go a little bit that way and I come off the phone. I thought where did that come from? What was all that about? I just spent a bit of time. Lord, where did that come from?
Speaker 2:And it came from some stuff that I was angry with him about, from years and years ago, when I was just a small child, growing up and I realised that. So you know, the Holy Spirit will help you. He'll really help you.
Speaker 2:And I had a mate who was real fearful of everything. He was in his 50s, he'd never flown. He was fearful of this, fearful of that, christian Geiger, I suggest. And when we dug a little bit deep with him we realised you know, it all came out that when he was eight years old he was on a bus, a school bus, and the bus broke down and the driver got off the school bus to get some help and this guy didn't think the driver was going to come back and he was frightened out of his life that he was not going to see stranded again, so he was fighting his friend that that seed had then been watered over the years so that grown up till he was fully blown, fearful of everything, and and when he gave it over, and you know the holy spirit brought it out, and you know the Holy Spirit brought it out and he was able to get it out and verbalise it and get it out and confess that fear, if you like, and he's walking in freedom now.
Speaker 2:So, these are the things even though you may go to church, even though you've been baptised, confirmed, you may have all the bells and whistles on everything.
Speaker 1:You might be on a welcome team, making a coffee, doing doing this, that and the other, but you may still be struggling yes with guilt and shame, fear and doubt stuff like that and that that really shapes us for our life, because that shaped that young man at such a young age and we've got to be careful that it doesn't shape us into the people that we are today, because you are free. Who the Son sets free is free indeed. So it's dealing with the mind, it's dealing with the process of the thinking, it's dealing with the attitude of the mind and going. Do you know what? I'm not having this? I'm actually not having this.
Speaker 1:I am free right now, in the mighty name of Jesus, and I am blessed, and I am not allowing my past, because Jesus hasn't allowed the past to affect me. I'm allowing me to affect me. Christ has told me time and time again from the scripture there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. What a scripture that is Romans 8, verse 1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those that are in christ jesus.
Speaker 2:We're in, we're grafted in, I think I think, if you're sitting out there, if you're listening to this out there, and you're and it's resonating with you because there's a yes there's stuff going on in your life I think you ben's. Right now is the time to say no, I've had enough, no more, you're not going to control me anymore. I'm going to do what Hebrews 12 tells me. I'm going to keep my eyes on Jesus.
Speaker 2:He was the effector of my faith. I'm going to give it all to him and I'm going to walk away from this stuff and I'm going to be a free man or woman. I'm free, I'm free, I'm going to be free and I'm free, I'm free, I'm going to be free and I'm going to not give up and I'm just going to keep battling on, but I'm going to be moving forward with Jesus. This is not going to define me. I'm going to be the man or woman that God made me to be and I'm going to drop this right across.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right. It can't define me, it can't characterize me, it can't make me me. I, you know, I'm going to live by faith, I'm going to live by hope, I'm going to live by the love of god. I believe in the power of the word and the word has set me free. I know the sun sets free, is free indeed. So today, this train is going to be uncoupled of absolutely everything. I'm not going to carry no more carriages of guilt, of of shame, of unforgiveness, of doubts, of fears, each one. Today, lord, I leave it at the cross and I confess my sins. And today, lord, I realize that I am that true, born again, spirit filled, blood washed, child of the living God. And there is hope. When you realize there's hope, that's dynamite. That when you realize you've got hope and you've got a future.
Speaker 2:Listen, my friends. Ben is totally right, jesus is not sitting there, the father's not sitting there looking at you going what do you think you are, what do you, what have you done? Just, he doesn't remind us of that stuff, to, to, to mock us, or or shame us yeah yeah, If that's brought to the fore, it's for a reason.
Speaker 2:It's to get rid of it, it's to move on, it's to bring it to Jesus. But he's not shaking his head, looking at you, thinking, oh dear, you know, I wish we never made that person. No, he's looking at you thinking you're a beautiful creation of the Father and he loves you so much, but he doesn't. He loves you so much that he wants you to come to him. He loves you, he wants you to be closer to him and to be closer to him. We've got to get rid of this stuff. We've got to step out of all this stuff.
Speaker 1:You've got to leave it.
Speaker 2:Anything that keeps you in bondage. You've got to get shot of it, ben. You've got to get shot of it, ben.
Speaker 1:You've got to deal with it because you know Christ wants you to walk in freedom. Christ wants you to be free, christ wants you to leave the shame, to leave the guilt, to leave the worry, to leave the unforgiveness, to leave the pride. This conversation has opened up so much, because guilt and shame, they're coupled with everything else. There's this carriage Each one of them is a carriage to the train of you, and I've got to be free today because I can't go to the next stop of life carrying a carriage full of guilt, a carriage full of shame. I need freedom, but it's the cross. But it's easy to say come to the cross. What do we mean saying about? Come to the cross? You come to jesus christ and you just say a simple prayer like father, forgive me, take lord, because, lord, I'm being unfaithful to you, because I'm holding on to guilt that's the truth.
Speaker 2:We are being unfaithful to the lord, and it's it's unbelief. And and let's we look, we have a God who, within a second, could destroy everything. So we have a reverential fear of our Father God, but he's, you know, jesus said, didn't he? Jesus said keep asking and seeking and knocking. And Jesus said in Luke 11, and he starts at verse 9, he says so I say to you ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened.
Speaker 2:If a son asks for bread from a father among you, will he give you a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish. Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If, then, being evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So we've just got to ask him ain't we?
Speaker 1:You've got to ask, seek and you will find, ask and it will be given. You know, come to the cross, come to the word of God, come to Jesus Christ, come to me, all of you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You know, we've reached the door at a time, but this conversation is big, is deep, is open, is wide, you know. But there is no need anymore to carry all this rubbish around with me. Freedom, freedom. Do you want freedom this morning? That all this rubbish around with me, freedom, freedom. Do you want freedom this morning? That's the key, do you want?
Speaker 2:to be set free. So if the answer is yes, then come to the cross, uncouple those trucks on the back of your train and let Jesus take you to the next level, because, like Ben says, you can't go on to the next level carrying that stuff. No, it just won't happen.
Speaker 1:It's too weighty. God bless you. Wherever you are, we thank God for your lives, whatever you may be doing. It's been Simon and myself this morning. Hashtag Christian Straight Talk. We thank God for your lives. Where you are across the earth, you never give up, you never give in, and you know, get to that place. Get to that place right now and just trust in the lord jesus christ, because he is the way, the truth and the life. You can find us on patreon. There's a couple of books out, there's another book coming out. There's so much going on in hashtag christian straight talk. Thank you so much to everybody in the world of podcasts. We love you so much from the very bottom of our heart. God bless every one of you, and jesus christ is the way. God bless.
