The Isaiah mandate is the call to live the exchanged life in Christ. It is also the call to Kingdom ministry that Jesus inaugurated in Luke 4. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us to break the power of sin, trauma, shame and even our bad choices or sinful patterns. Kingdom ministry is prayer ministry, and it’s meant to be our normal everyday prayer life! Shame is an internal response and narrative to our sin and failure. All humans suffer from it, as it’s basically the human condition. It is also a toxic and unhealthy response (emotion), to this flawed state of being, and causes us to hide and avoid. The bottom line is that shame says, “I am bad,” however, that narrative is not true! The truth is “I did bad” and now I need to be healed and washed clean! It’s a relief that the powerful message of a “shame-free culture” is getting out there. Shame needs definition. If we say that “all bad feelings” are the same as shame, then that does away with the powerful need for conviction and guilt, which help us come to a Godly repentance. A “feel good” culture has no place for bad feelings like repentance, and will cause us to slip into false grace, away from discipleship and ultimately Lordship. God uses our shortcomings to bring us to repentance. It’s then we experience sonship! Knowing I am loved, worthy of His grace and that I cannot be separated from Him because of that love is a phenomenal freedom. Coming into right relationship with God is everything. He loves us and is calling us to live as His adopted kids – filled with His love and grace, able to discern shame and step away from it to the fullness of a double portion.