"Just Get With The Program"...Why programs don’t work!

     I scrambled hurriedly into what seemed like an abandoned hallway or wing of the hospital where the CoDA meetings my daughter and I had been court ordered to attend were being held. I’m chronically late so I was just trying to get there before we were noticeably late. CoDA stands for co-dependents anonymous and as my daughter and I sat down next to each other, we began to listen as the people announced who they were and what they were. My heart sank as each person took turns...”I’m so and so and I’m an addict, I’m so and so and I’m an alcoholic, I’m so and so and I’m co-dependent on men, I’m so and so and I almost could not wait for this meeting tonight, I’m so and so and I just got my 13 years sober badge.“ 

   Listen, 13 years sober is absolutely something to celebrate, but I have known people to be clean and sober for 30 years and fall back into the trap of addiction and if after 13 years you are still tied, tethered or bound to some kind of meetings please let them be meetings at the House of God where they focus on teaching you how Jesus can set you free from being an addict.

      

     If my memory serves me I don’t think we ever went back to another CoDA meeting and if we did it was only once. I don’t remember exactly why but Someone or Something made it possible that what had been court ordered meetings we ended up not having to do.

     

     If we have to keep chasing a lifestyle or mantra to stop chasing our addictions then let it be the lifestyle and mantra of Jesus Christ who says “I have come to set the captive free.”, He didn’t just say it, He means it!  

    

     The addict’s anonymous meetings started out to be a great idea, but really if we can’t give credit for our sobriety to God Almighty do we really think we can find our strength in “God as we understand Him to be”? WHAT?  We need to understand God as the Sovereign God that He is, and it won’t work to surrender everything to your higher power, unless you know Him to be The Highest Power!

   The perpetuated lie at these meetings that once someone has become an addict they are always and forever an addict is just that, a lie!

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”.  How can we be new creations in Christ and also be lifelong addicts? Old things (addictions) can’t and won’t pass away if we forever claim them as part of who and what we are.

   Think about how foolish all of this is...”maybe today”, says the recovering addict, “is the day I am weak and WANT to drink or use drugs, maybe today I only understand God to be able to help me in the past, but not today, today I am weak and I don’t know or understand Him as a God who SET ME FREE, so I think I’ll have a drink and get back to recovering tomorrow.”  Yes, if we do this we will always be addicted, but we DON’T have to be. This is nothing more than an excuse to relapse because after all you are only a recovering addict... always and forever recovering! That means that you ultimately become addicted to meetings, sponsors, this higher power and some god as you understand him (or it ) to be! WHAT??? This is not freedom, but in fact, bondage!  Galatians 5:1 tells us to, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Don’t become entangled and in bondage to meetings, mantras or programs.

    This is why Jesus said that He came to set the captive free, because, He is the only One who can set us free. He doesn’t want us to fill the void of our addictions with meetings, lies of never being free and always in a state of “recovery”—that’s not hope, that’s false hope and it won't last.  If you want freedom, you never have to entertain those things of your past again, unless you are called to help others after you have been set free, and then the thoughts and stories of the past will be to tell the story of how our Great God set you free and how He can and will do it for others as well.

   

 Too often in the actual meetings of these programs there is a lot of time spent hashing over the things of the past until it becomes a sort of glamorizing of these old behaviors and the next thing you know someone (new or weak) can’t wait to leave the meeting and go feed the craving they just spent an hour talking about.

    For anyone who is offended by what I am saying and it is because you have indeed found a way for a program other than God’s Program to work for you, then, I am sorry. I will say this, I don’t think it will last, in the sense that these meetings cannot fill you up with a fullness that comes from a living and powerful God, and eventually you will find yourself wanting more, and when that time comes please reach out to Him, the One and Only thing that can finally once and for all fill you up and set you free! It might not be for 13 years, but you will not sustain freedom from addiction by becoming addicted to meetings, programs or by chanting a “one day at a time” mantra. However, I believe if you replace those empty places inside of you with the One and Only Living God you will not spend the rest of your life claiming to be recovering from an addiction, you will be set free from any and all addictions that torment you forever. You will not be putting your faith, hope and future in the hands of some unknown entity you might know as God. Our Great God will set you free by and through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ and you will be set free indeed!

    You truly have to want to be free, as I said, some people want to become dependent on meetings and mantras, etc., but if you are serious and you ask God Almighty the One powerful enough to set you forever free, to show you that He can set you free, and you begin to seek Him and His ways He will NOT fail you!

    

    You will forever crave something more if you don’t fill yourself with God and the reason for this is that you were created by Him and for Him, your spirit and His Spirit long for each other. The bible tells us this in Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  A sort of homing device, if you will, that God put inside of us--that  our spirit knows we belong to Father God! The Message says it like this, “God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.”

     

    I strongly believe that we can never be completely free from addictions until and unless we fill the longing in us with God and I also believe that is why people have become bound in addiction in the first place. They have not yet filled the part of them that is longing, wanting, needing more than this world has to offer, they haven’t been filled with the fullness of God Almighty, and they have not understood the real and specific reason for the journey of their life. 

    My heart breaks for people who spend a ton of money while time and time again checking into rehab centers in hopes that this time it will finally work. Even celebrities and the very wealthy are always and forever checking into high-end facilities, getting better for a while and then relapsing. Why? They need Jesus to set them free! Their money isn’t fulfilling them, their fame isn’t fulfilling them, their lifestyle isn’t fulfilling them. 

   There are no meetings, badges, programs or rehabs this world can offer us that will fill us enough that we will never need another addiction---only God is enough.

    God has great, glorious and eternal things in store for us and spending the rest of our lives here on this earth recovering from an addiction is not one of the great things God has planned for us. He has plans to use us to further His Kingdom and to lead people to Him and show them with our lives how He can and will set them free!

    

    This is why I am always saying that God is the ultimate addiction, because, if I am forever going to be addicted to something or someone then by all means let it be GOD ALMIGHTY and may I NEVER recover from this addiction to My Savior!

~

God Knows Us So Well

 If you are struggling with addiction but you are ready to give up the struggle and seek the help you need there is available the most powerful help you will ever encounter if you take the help available and use it to your fullest. I am talking about the help of God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and now you want Him to set you free from the bondage of addiction He is more than willing to be the strength you need to, once and for all, end your bondage to addiction, He is the tower of refuge and strength you need and without His help you won’t be able to find the freedom you seek.  But I believe what makes this (freedom from addiction) successful for anyone is that you must want and seek after a deep intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. If you haven’t received Him as your Savior and Lord I share how to do that at the top of the blog page, just be sincere when you pray and I promise your life will change.

     What it means to desire and seek a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus is to want to know Him and to be known by Him in the deepest most meaningful way your spirit, soul and body could ever be known or know another. Simply put, we have a Savior who wants nothing more than to know us and for us to know Him, and for us to have a living, growing relationship with Him.   

     Your relationship with Jesus can only grow stronger as you realize that if He saved you from the judgment of sin and eternity without God He can certainly save you from the horrors of addiction. When you know Jesus well and you let Him know you then you can go to Him with anything and trust Him to give you the strength you need when temptation and the urge to give in or give up comes. Talk to Him like you would a friend, He is one who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24) and tell Him about all that troubles you and tell Him about all that brings you joy. He already knows all about you but He wants you to willingly bring (let) Him into every area of your life; especially, as He creates a new one for you, a new life living for His purpose.   

God knows us so well. Jesus said in Matthew 10:30 (NIV),”…Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Do we think He knows the number of hairs on our head and that is the extent of not only what He knows but that it is all He wants to know about us? I don’t think so. Sometimes I am astounded at just how much we actually limit God.  He is not a God who sits in heaven counting the hairs on our head because He’s good with numbers and has nothing better to do. There are a lot of references in the Old Testament in which God protected people and it was a sign of that protection if during battle or a trial not a hair on their head fell to the ground (1 Samuel 14:45, 1 Kings 1:52). If God cares about our hair this much just think how much more He cares about and wants to know our heart.

God knows the things about you that you don’t even know and He longs to help you know yourself, the person He meant for you to be and the person He is going to create as you get to know Him and let Him get to know you.  

If you really want to know and be known by Him it will take a strong sense of “knowing” that you have been forgiven for all of your sins (past, present and future), a lot of people struggle because they carry their shame of the past and therefore they also (unknowingly) negate their precious gift of forgiveness and what Jesus did. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” Romans 8:1 (NKJV), this is a scripture that must be known and deeply not just on the surface, you must know that Jesus did not die for your sins to leave you with the shame of them. When He was nailed to the cross for your sins He also took upon Him your shame and it was also nailed to the cross and it has been conquered and He remembers your sin no more and if there is no (remembrance of) sin there is nothing to carry shame for.

Sometimes while God is healing and mending our brokenness we may still struggle with low self-esteem especially when we are taking the first steps to change the path we were on and now pursue the path God has marked for us. And until we acquire some godly characteristics and get some good deeds under our belt we may have a hard time seeing ourselves as a new creation in Christ, but don’t get discouraged because the enemy likes to play on self-pity and self-image problems—don’t let him use your temporary situation against you. Soon you will see the things God has in store for you and they will not only take the place of the things of the past but they will give you a sense of purpose and it won’t be the meaningless purpose of chasing addictions.  No, it will be purpose in the kingdom of God once you are there (treasures stored up in heaven), and it will also be God’s purpose for your days left here on earth. I can tell you from experience of serving both purposes in my life (no purpose, His purpose) there is NOTHING that compares to living a life that God has laid out for you.  Think about it, if you are obedient to what He wants for you and it is truly His plan for your life there can be nothing short of success for you because God’s plans never fail!  

Remember that we all need God and no one is better than another in God’s eyes and we are fearfully and wonderfully made so when you are struggling with “self” issues study the beautiful verses in the 139^th Psalm which David wrote and he begins this Psalm with “O Lord, You have searched me and known me” and he ends this Psalm in verses 23,24 with “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties…and lead me in the way everlasting” David had a desire to know and be known by God. This is my very favorite Psalm and it has literally helped me heal from “self” issues and doubts about what God’s actual (not perceived) thoughts are towards me. This is a Psalm in which David writes (NIV vs. 17, 18), “How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” When you read this Psalm you can see that we were not just some after thought of God’s we were intentionally created and He knew us from inside the womb.

He is the relationship you have longed for and He is the one who will know you and show you that He knows you. Some people are put off by God knowing them because they think it only refers to Him knowing all that is not good or right about them but that isn’t how or what He wants to know about you, those are the things He has chosen to remember no more! When you have taken something (anything and everything) to Him in prayer and sought Him in joy and His peace and laid it at His throne and trusted Him and then you get your answer, it is then that you understand just how deeply He knows and loves you. When you have been in a crisis and you have had no other choice but to call out and surrender it all to God and He honored that by giving you such peace in your heart and spirit that you had no doubt it was the supernatural power of God, it is then that you become aware that He knows you and He knows exactly what you need and when you need it.

 Our God knows us whether we let Him know us or not (John 2:24,25, Heb.4:13, Matt.10:26) but I encourage you to let the God who created the very being that you are know you and love you and create the creation you were meant to be. Take hold of another verse David wrote in Psalm 40:5 (NKJV) which says, “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You…if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” If His thoughts toward (about) us are so many they can’t be numbered, He knows and cares about us deeper than we can ever imagine. I don’t know about you but I want to have a relationship with a God whose thoughts about me are so many they cannot be numbered!

 I didn’t know I had things about me that could entertain little more than a few thoughts, but God’s thoughts toward me are so many they can’t be numbered—wow! Yes, even I want to know that me.

~

How To Handle Temptation

     

      Temptation is going to present itself and it is a test you can pass if you look to Jesus and let Him get you through it. God’s word tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV), “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

     This is what you can do when you are tempted to do something you shouldn’t do. First of all, check what you are tempted by with your spirit and ask yourself, “Would Jesus do this and would He want me to do it?” If your answer is a big fat NO, then don’t do it!

     Here is what you can do instead—get the glamorous thoughts out of your head that you are missing out on something. You are not missing out on anything except destruction and devastation. Your thoughts need to be dwelling on the end result of what will happen if you give into temptation and succumb to something you shouldn’t. The end result is destruction and devastation and you already know that, it is the very reason you are seeking freedom from addiction in the first place.  So with thoughts now focused on what will happen if you give into temptation, alternate those thoughts with thoughts of what will happen if you don’t succumb to it.

     “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”, 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV).

     Here is what will happen if you give your weakness to Jesus your Savior and let Him see you through this trial, this test, this temptation—You will become stronger and you will see that if you call out to Jesus and tell Him that you are weak, but you want to grab ahold of His strength, He will impart His strength to you and suddenly you will realize that you got through it without giving in and you now have something to build on for the next test! Yes, there will be a next time, but each time you give it to Jesus and you and Him get through it, you come out of the test or trial stronger in Him and able to turn it over to Him more quickly and more assuredly the next time. Why? Because now you really know that He will not fail you!

     There is such joy when you finally know that you can do this, you can turn your temptation of weakness into a powerful victory in Christ—and if you can do it once, you and Jesus can do it again.

     There is nothing more powerful than a victory over something with and through the strength and power of Jesus. It builds and strengthens your faith and your trust in Him because you have now experienced His strength to overcome your weakness and you suddenly see that it isn’t within you to do any of it, but through Him you can actually do and overcome anything!

     I think it is very important to understand that tempting thoughts of falling, using, giving in or going back to your old ways are just that—thoughts and nothing more than thoughts, unless and until you act on them, so don’t act on them, just don’t.  It is also important to remember that Jesus suffered and was tempted too. Now, he wasn’t tempted to sin because there was no sin in Him, but He was taunted by the enemy with lies to try and tempt Jesus with the “easy way out” to make His life easier, to try and stray Him away from what He was here to do—which was to save all mankind. 

      The bible tells us that He is “…A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…”Jesus took them to the cross for us as it tells us in Isaiah 53:3-4 (NKJV). We do not serve a Savior who has no idea what we are going through, He does and He is here to help us, all we have to do is ask Him sincerely and He will give us all the help we need, Hebrews 4:15-16 (NKJV) tells us, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

     Since we are human we are going to fall. I know that sounds or seems discouraging, but here is the good part, we are forgiven and we don’t have to stay in a fallen state. I have finally come to understand that Jesus died for all of my sin—even the sin I have not committed yet. This seems strange I know, but look at it like this; He wouldn’t have died to pay only for sin already committed with generations of humans still to be created and put on the earth, where would be the atonement for their sin? My point is that if we know that we are forgiven when we sincerely confess and ask Him (because He paid the full price for our forgiveness), then we can get right back on track if we fall or stray from His protection.  He is always waiting and ready to forgive and help you get right back to where you need to be. He does however want us to learn from our willful wanderings, not keep repeating them.  1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLV) reminds us of this, “You have never been tempted to sin in any different way than other people. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted more than you can take. But when you are tempted, He will make a way for you to keep from falling into sin.”

     Let’s think about some of the reasons you might have fallen or are tempted to stray in the first place. Let’s consider some questions to get the answers we are seeking: Are you actively pursuing a new life in Christ? Are you falling into agape love with your Savior, the one who set you free from a life of addiction?  Are your “friends” and those you associate with Christians and free from addiction and the bondage it brings? Are you strong enough to be around them if not? If you are not involved with them to help them and share what God has set you free from then maybe you should wait until you know and He has told you that it is time to help others. He would never send you into a situation you were not ready and completely prepared for. So don’t go into a situation He hasn’t directed you into because you will only be setting yourself up to be tempted and possibly fall. Check your motives for what you are doing and who you are doing it with.

     Remember, wherever you go now you take Jesus with you and it is your responsibility to represent Him as the wonderful Savior and Redeemer that He is and if you are not showing that when you are hanging with people then maybe you shouldn’t be “hanging” with them. You are now supposed to influence others to Christ not let them influence you away from Him.

 If you have strayed and fallen the most important thing Jesus wants you to understand is that it doesn’t mean your walk with Him is over—it means that your relationship with Him must get stronger.  He isn’t going to leave you because you slipped up; He is never going to leave you. The devil wants you to wallow in shame and condemnation after you have fallen, but God wants you to receive the forgiveness Jesus paid for and move on in Him and be stronger from now on so that you can stand against it next time. In other words, don’t keep kicking yourself for straying just learn from it and move on, yes even if you stray more than once.

     We are not perfect people, none of us. And how boring would life be if we were? Also, if we were perfect we would not need to seek, walk and abide in Jesus, but we do and He knows we cannot do it on our own. He is the one who tells us this in John 15:5 (NKJV), “I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.” 

     This new creation you are now becoming is starting to take hold, it is becoming who and what you are and the old you is fading away as you grow stronger in the things and the ways of the Lord. It is exactly what is supposed to happen. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) reminds us of this, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

      Don’t stop now because it only gets better from here on out. Yes, there will be times of trial and temptation, but with each victory over temptation that you and Jesus get through, you will now add to the reservoir of victories you can draw strength from for the next time temptation tries to knock on your door. Yes, there is a reservoir of victories to come and a brand new life in Him. Hallelujah!

~

                                                      

His Ways Are Not Our Ways...Hallelujah!

     God’s ways are not our ways, but now that we are new creations in Him we are learning His ways and we are learning to follow His ways because we now know they are best for us and we now trust our life, our sobriety and our freedom from addiction to Him. 

     We cannot maintain our freedom from addictions without Jesus as the center of our new life. We need all the help we can get from Him and there is unlimited help, we just need to tap into it every day all day long.

     I read or heard once from Joyce Meyer Ministries that even a godly thought directed toward God is considered prayer in the heart of God—I just love that and I firmly believe it. God already knows our hearts inside and out, and He even knows our heart better than we do, so if we are directing our thoughts and desires toward Him and His kingdom we will be in constant communication or communion with Him. If we are in communion with Him we can have the constant help we need to stay free from the things that will harm us and keep us from our Savior. 

     Remember, you are not just working on sobriety; you are building your testimony. I consider it your story of how you and God came to be and the path you are now taking once He turned you to the “light” direction.  God is an amazing God who uses us in ways that we may never even know or understand.  You are now a child of God and He has plans for you and it is to use what you have gone through so don’t lose hope when you are feeling like your life has no purpose. Your life now has God Almighty’s Purpose, and He is just preparing you for what is to come and you want to be ready as He brings this new purpose into your life.  

     When He says His ways are not our ways He means it (Isaiah 55: 8-9), but He isn’t some sort of unapproachable God who tells us His ways are different and higher and His thoughts are different and higher. He tells us this so that we don’t try to trust our own ways as they are futile when it comes to His ways. Besides, haven’t we proven that, by trusting our own ways to the point of our own demise?

      He does tell us that we can reason or talk with Him and Him with us, “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…” Isaiah1:18 (NKJV). God wants us to know that we can go to Him about anything and everything in our life, and He wants us to know we can trust Him with everything.

     Let’s talk about trust as it relates to the past and now your new life in Christ. 

      When you lived in the mire of addiction you kept trusting in and counting on your so called “friends”, but addicts don’t have friends they have addiction companions—because misery loves company—and that’s it! There is no such thing as trust in that world and anyone who has lived in it knows that I’m speaking truth.

      BUT GOD, came into your life and now you can really know what it is to embrace trust for once in your life. You can trust the one who is a friend like you’ve never had before. He tells us in Proverbs 18:24 both the NKJV and the NIV version are impactful and relevant to what we’re talking about: NKJV, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” And in the NIV, “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”  His word even says in Micah 7:5 (NIV), “Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with the woman who lies in your embrace guard the words of your lips.”  He is not the kind of friend who says “I will be there, I promise”, but then they are nowhere to be found when you really need them! No, He never leaves or forsakes us and He doesn’t just say it, He means it!

     God is not “out to get us” as some would think and He deals with us in kindness and compassion—even if we don’t think He is being kind and loving, He knows what is coming in our life, so we need to trust Him. 

     I used to think that God was not very patient and of course not very compassionate either, but His word tells us otherwise and now that I am pursuing an intimate relationship with Him I know His word and His ways enough to know that God is kind and very compassionate and loves to deal with us in that way.

     “…Because His compassions fail not…they are new every morning...” and, “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.”  And there are more supporting scriptures—some of them can be found in: Lamentations 3: 22, 23, 25, 32, and 33 (NKJV).

      We can trust Jesus as our true friend and God the Father as our loving Father, not like some father’s in the world who might have been absent, abusive and or neglectful.

     God the Father wants us to know that He loves us and because of that love He will correct and chasten us, just as any loving father would. He is The- Father- of- all- father’s and He never means us harm, and He can only correct us toward what is good and right for us. Our Father in heaven can never lead us wrong or astray and He will never inflict undue or unnecessary pain or harm on us, He just won’t, it is NOT His nature.

     Remember we talked before about not licking our wounds and not catering to our pain, but instead let God cater to it. Let’s look at some of the ways He does this—first of all we have the privilege of casting all our care upon Him, His word tells us this in 1 Peter 5:7 and Psalm 55:22, God wants us to cast our cares upon Him and let Him bring about the answers to the situations we face each day. This includes giving us strength when we need it to overcome temptation and stand strong in this new freedom from addiction.

      He cares for us in our hurting and pain, it matters so much to Him that His word tells us that He not only hears and answers our prayers, but our prayers are saved up in heaven, “…the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders…each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people”, Revelation 5:8 (NIV). God also saves the tears we cry, “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” Psalm 56:8 (NKJV).  In Psalm 4:8, He keeps us safe when we sleep at night and He gives us His peace.

      When we speak of His peace there is nothing to compare it to—by that I mean it isn’t earthly so nothing on earth can compare to it.  But He does tell us this about His peace, John 14:27 New Life Version says this, (“Jesus Gives His Followers Peace”) “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give peace to you as the world gives...”  He even suffered physical pain for our peace as it tells us in Isaiah 53:5. Also, in Philippians 4:7 Paul tells us that God’s peace surpasses all understanding, and all through His word He is referred to as the God of Peace!

      This is not the kind of peace that we have ever experienced before and we should cherish it as such. Hold on to His peace and never let it go. Let His peace keep you and strengthen you during tempting times, during trying times, during those times when you know you will make it, but those around you aren’t quite convinced yet and because of that you are feeling discouraged.

     With the peace of God our Father and His own peace Jesus gave us, we are completely equipped and prepared to journey with Jesus down this path of no more addictions. We are now in pursuit of His plan for our life and that is a completely new path, it has twists and turns that we are not used to. But we can get used to it and that’s what this new journey is all about—learning His ways. Don’t give up, soon enough those who weren’t quite convinced that you are a new creation will be completely and thoroughly in awe of what our Great God has done in you and they are going to want it too!  So keep going because there is joy to come and a harvest to reap and a brand new life to live—and Jesus is the closest, stick it out when things get tough friend, you have ever had or ever will have.

     Trust and follow His ways and they will take you down the path that leads to Him and His eternal purpose and the place that is being prepared for you in heaven.

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"Just Get With The Program"...Why programs don't work!

     I scrambled hurriedly into what seemed like an abandoned hallway or wing of the hospital where the CO-DA meetings my daughter and I had been court ordered to attend were being held. I’m chronically late so I was just trying to get there before we were noticeably late. CO-DA stands for co-dependents anonymous and as my daughter and I sat down next to each other, we began to listen as the people announced who they were and “what” they were. My heart sank as each person took turns...”I’m so and so and I’m an ‘addict’ “, “I’m so and so and I’m an ‘alcoholic’ ”,  “I’m so and so and I’m ‘co-dependent’ on men”, “I’m so and so and I almost could not wait for this ‘meeting’ tonight”, “I’m so and so and I just got my 13 years ‘sober badge’.“ 

      Listen, 13 years sober is absolutely something to celebrate, but I have known people to be clean and sober for 30 years and fall back into the trap of addiction and if after 13 years you are still tied, tethered or bound to some kind of meetings PLEASE let them be meetings at the House of God learning how you can be set free from being an”------”.

      

     If my memory serves me I don’t think we ever went back to another CO-DA meeting and if we did it was only once.  Someone or “Something” made it possible that what was court ordered meetings we ended up not having to do.

     

     If we have to keep chasing a “lifestyle” or mantra to stop chasing our addictions then let it be the lifestyle and mantra of Jesus Christ who says “I have come to set the captive free.”, He didn’t just say it, He means it!  

    

     The addict’s anonymous meetings started out to be a great idea, but really if we can’t give credit for our sobriety to God Almighty do we really think we can find our strength in “God as we understand Him to be”? WHAT?  We better understand God as the Sovereign God that He is, and it won’t work to surrender everything to your higher power, unless you know Him to be The Highest Power!!! Think about how foolish all of this is...”maybe today”, says the ‘recovering’ addict, “is the day I am weak and WANT to drink or use drugs, maybe today I only understand God to be able to help me in the past, but not today, today I am weak and I don’t know or understand Him as a God who SET ME FREE, so I think I’ll have a drink and get back to ‘recovering’ tomorrow.”  Yes, if we do this we will always be addicted, but we DON’T have to be.

    

     This is nothing more than an excuse to relapse because after all you are only a recovering addict... always and forever recovering! That means that you ultimately become addicted to “meetings”, “sponsors”, this “higher power”, and some “god as you understand him” or it to be! WHAT??? This is not freedom, but in fact, “bondage”!  Galatians 5:1 (NKJV) tells us to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Don’t become entangled and in bondage to meetings, mantras or programs!

    This is why Jesus said that He came to set the captive free, because, He is the only One who can set us free. He doesn’t want us to fill the void of our addictions with meetings, lies of never being free and always in a state of “recovery”—that’s not hope, that’s false hope and it won't last.  If you want freedom, you never have to entertain those things of your past again, unless you are “called” to help others after you have been set free, and then the thoughts of the past will be to tell the story of how our Great God set you free and how He can and will do it for others too.

     Too  often  in the actual meetings of these programs there is a lot of time spent hashing over the things of the past until it becomes a sort of glamorizing of these old behaviors and the next thing you know someone can’t wait to leave the meeting and go feed the craving they just spent an hour talking about.

    For anyone who is offended by what I am saying and it is because you have indeed found a way for a “program” other than God’s Program to work for you, then, I am sorry. I will say this, I don’t think it will last, in the sense that these meetings cannot fill you up with a fullness that comes from a living and powerful God, and eventually you will find yourself “wanting” more, and when that time comes please reach out to Him, the One and only thing that can finally once and for all fill you up and set you free! It might not be for 13 years, but you will not sustain freedom from addiction by becoming addicted to meetings, programs or by chanting a “one day at a time” mantra.

     If you replace those empty places inside of you with the One and Only Living God you will not spend the rest of your life claiming to be recovering from an addiction, you will be set free from any and all addictions that torment you forever. You will not be putting your faith, hope and future in the hands of some unknown entity you might know as God. Our Great God will set you free by and through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ and you will be set free indeed!

    You truly have to want to be free, as I said, some people want to become dependent on meetings and mantras, etc., but if you are serious and you ask God Almighty the One powerful enough to set you forever free, to show you that He can set you free, and you begin to seek Him and His ways He will NOT fail you!

    

    You will forever crave something more if you don’t fill yourself with God and the reason for this is that you were created by Him and for Him, your spirit and His Spirit long for each other. The bible tells us this in Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (NKJV) A sort of homing device, if you will, that God put inside of us--that  our spirit knows we belong to Father God! The Message says it like this, “God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.”

     

    I strongly believe that we can never be completely free from addictions until and unless we fill the “longing” in us with God and I also believe that is why people have become bound in addiction in the first place. They have not yet filled the part of them that is “longing”, “wanting”, “needing” more than this world has to offer, they haven’t been filled with the fullness of God Almighty, and they have not understood the real and specific reason for the journey of their life. 

    My heart breaks for people who spend a ton of money while time and time again checking into rehab centers in hopes that this time it will finally work. Even celebrities and the very wealthy are always and forever checking into high-end facilities, getting better for a while and then relapsing. Why? They need Jesus to set them free! Their money isn’t fulfilling them, their lifestyle isn’t fulfilling them, nothing but the Spirit of God can fulfill them.

    God has great and glorious things in store for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and spending the rest of our lives here on this earth recovering from an addiction is not one of the great things God has planned for us. He has plans to use us to further His Kingdom and to lead people to Him and show them with our lives how He can and will set them free!

     There are no meetings, badges or programs this world can offer us that will fill us enough that we will never need another addiction---only God is enough.

    This is why I am always saying that God is the ultimate addiction, because, if I am forever going to be addicted to something or someone then by all means let it be GOD ALMIGHTY and may I NEVER recover from this addiction to My Savior!

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