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.

~

"Share With Me Your Sadness and I Will Restore Your Joy"

       I have had to really seek God during this past week. Some of you may know about the recent wildfire in Arizona that took the lives of 19 HotShot firefighters and I not only live in Arizona but I live about 22 miles from where the fire burned out of control for days. I have family and friends who were affected by this fire and I was so sad and devastated by the loss of life and homes that I started to be overcome with sadness until I sought God and shared my sadness with Him. 

     We can give everything to God. What a blessing, what a privilege and what a joy to experience a God who not only wants us to give our heartache and all of our sadness to Him but He wants us to know He cares about all of it. He doesn’t just tell us to give it to Him so He can throw it away like it doesn’t matter. But He is a God who wants to know who, what, why and how does something cause us to take our hearts and our minds off of who He is and what He’s done to the point our joy has been overcome by sadness and sorrow?! He is there calling to us and saying “I love you with a love that has power over all your hurt!” He wants us to examine our hearts and hurts and learn why we lost our hope that is in Him.

     

     That doesn’t mean we are never to feel sadness or other emotions; after all, it is God our Creator who created us with our emotions, but He does want us to share with Him our emotions, our feelings, our hurts and our sorrows, and yes, our good and joyous times too—our “everything”. God wants to and should be part of everything we do and all that we are. So, not if, but, when you are experiencing sadness or sorrow in your life you can learn to share it with Him and let His light shine through the darkness of your sorrow.

     We can learn to share our sadness and sorrow with God by learning and living in His word and such scriptures as these beautiful verses in psalms (prayers and songs) which David wrote when he was seeking God during troublesome times. Psalm 34:17-19 (NKJV), “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” If we understand that God wants to be a part of everything we do and all that we go through we can learn, grow, and even experience our sadness through Jesus and let Him get us through it His way so that we don’t start to succumb to it. Also, we will somehow grow from it because nothing we experience or go through is ever in vain.

     We can feed, grow and live on His word and see that there is help for us when we are hurting and we can let Him get us back to a place of joy and we can grow even in and through our sorrows. One way we can do this is to seek Him (once again) in the form of worship. Honestly, there are so many ways to worship God and there are so many benefits to doing it that you cannot go wrong if you do nothing in a crisis but worship and or praise Him—and if more needs to be done He will show you.  

     Another way we can experience our God is to taste of the Lord’s goodness and remember that we serve a God who can be tasted if we will do it with our spirit and everything that is in us. Psalm 34:8 (NKJV), “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” When I read this scripture it speaks to me that we have to taste Him with our spirit. Let’s look at another scripture and we will look at two versions because they are both important and profound, 1 Peter 2:2-3 (NKJV) “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”  This scripture tells us that not only will we grow if we “feed” on “the pure milk of the word”, but that we will “desire the...Word” if we have tasted the graciousness of the Lord. In the amplified version that scripture is stated like this (and I just love it), “Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation, since you have [already] tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord.”

     Wow, our Lord can be tasted! That might seem strange to some of you who might be new to the family of God, but the thing is, it is possible to taste our Lord with our spirit if we understand that God is a living God and everything about Him is living and full of life! All living things grow and we should too, we are supposed to grow in Him and how we do that is by doing just what the scripture tells us—by desiring and feeding on “the pure ‘(unadulterated) spiritual’ milk of the word.”

     We can grow and be healed from our pain and sorrow by turning it over and, I like to say, sharing it with Him because I didn’t experience my feelings as a child so I need to learn how to experience my emotions without letting them rule and reign me. I don’t say I just give my “stuff” over to God but that I share my feelings and emotions with my Savior and Creator who knows all about them and wants me to experience and use them for good (His good).

     God and His word are the best, top of the line, never generic, always “name brand”, medicine, therapy and food for whatever sickness, sorrow and famine our life is taking us through and He so wants to be what and who we reach for when we are hurting the most!  

    

     

     The Psalms are songs and prayers which (most of them) were written by King David and although it was during troubled times for David which is evident when he writes “Many are the afflictions of the righteous…” but then he goes on to write “…But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” David also writes as a prayer in Psalm 86:7 (NKJV), “In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me”, David doesn’t deny that affliction and trouble are present but he constantly seeks the help of God as he says in Psalm 54:4 (NKJV), “Behold, God is my helper…”, and also in Psalm 54:6-7 (NKJV),  “…I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good. For He has delivered me out of all trouble.” We can follow King David’s example and seek and sing out to God during our sad and hurtful times because He is the one who will help us and He will restore our joy back to us as only He can. Psalm 51:12 (NKJV), “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous spirit.”

     He will restore our joy back to us after we have shared what, why and the things, feelings or emotions that caused us to give up our joy in the first place. He knows about your pain let Him show you how to grow through it and discover just how much He really cares about what troubles you as we can read in Psalm 55:22 (NKJV), “Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” Also, in Psalm 46:1 (NKJV) it tells us that “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” These scriptures are where to turn when we need comfort and help during sad and sorrowful times and He is our PRESENT help in times of trouble!

     When I was becoming so sad that I had lost my joy in Jesus, I had to get ahold of these scriptures and share my sorrow with Him and let Him show me through His word that not only does He want to know what troubles sadden me, but He wants me to know that He is there going through all of it with me, I am never alone!  And of course, He is there for you in your sad and hurtful times as well, all you have to do is seek Him, taste Him and desire to be fed on His word which will bring peace and healing to your sadness and sorrow.  We don’t have to deny that pain and sorrow exist we just need to share and experience it with Jesus our precious Lord and Savior who is the expert at getting through painful and sorrowful times to stand victorious in everlasting joy!

      Hallelujah, I love Him so much and I am so thankful to Him that I can go to Him with literally everything I am facing in life and He shows me that His joy is my strength as it says in Nehemiah 8:10 (NKJV), “…Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

    

     When you are sad and you spend time talking to Jesus about it, but don’t try to hide how you really feel because God knows your heart and what is going on deep inside of you anyway, then you will begin to experience a peace and a comfort that only He can give to you. And don’t forget to feed on and taste the goodness of the Lord through the pure milk of His word and worship to Him. By doing this you will be sharing your sadness with Him and I promise you He will restore your joy.

~

  

    

      

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!

~

                                                      

FORGIVENESS: The Reason For Your Pain...part ll

           

     I felt led to continue with what we were talking about on pain and forgiveness and how intricately they are woven together, as just this past week, I have had to experience and put into practice some of my own thoughts and advice on forgiveness, and I can tell you that forgiveness in its practiced and active state is powerful!  Being on the receiving end of it is powerful as well!

     When you know that you have deeply hurt or harmed someone close or important to you and they have chosen to forgive you (when you ask), and not hold it against you, it really allows for healing before things fester and get worse.  We all know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the hurt, but when we can imagine how deep or scarring our actions might be to another we are better able to see and realize we don’t want to cause pain, we want to be a part of the healing process, not the hurting process.

     In the last article I talked about forgiving people in our past who have really caused us some deep rooted pain and what we tend to view as damage—as in forever damaged, but the damage can be healed and made whole and that is exactly what God wants to do, and if we let Him do it, it will bring glory and honor to Him and His kingdom.

     Some of the problem in forgiving people who have hurt you in the past could be that the damage or abuse is still happening and or the only way it ended or will end is to distance yourself from that person or people.  This truly is a difficult situation as I have this issue in my own life and consequently don’t have certain people in my life who should be and who I ultimately want in my life.  I cannot at this time attempt to have them in my life as the relationship would not be healthy and or Christ centered. But, I do want to operate in active forgiveness toward them so that someday maybe there can be a healthy and Christ centered relationship between us.

     I am going to say something at this point and I want everyone to know that I am speaking to myself as much as anyone else—we all have pain, but we have a tendency to think or feel our pain hurts worse than someone else’s. The degree or depth of our own pain and suffering causes us to think sometimes that we have been hurt deeply enough that it somehow relinquishes us from forgiveness, both receiving it and giving it.

 

     There is nothing you have endured at the hands of any other person that could measure up to the suffering our Savior went through for us.  Nothing! This helped me when I started to really think about it—not only did Jesus endure the physical pain of being nailed to the cross, the brutal beating on His back (for our physical healing), not to mention, the emotional and psychological pain he went through, but He went through all of this KNOWING beforehand, the pain and agony to come!  If any of us knew the pain we were going to go through and we had a choice to not go through any of it, even if our pain could help or save another, we would say no thank you. He did not! Jesus is our example and He endured pain and suffering and He did it for us. Our pain is meant to help and heal another, if we let it!

Once again, this puts a different light on how we see our pain and I really believe that is the key to this active forgiveness taking up residency in our hearts.

  

     What can be a real beginning in this process of forgiveness is to remember that we are now new creations in Him, before we were born again and before we knew our Savior we were dysfunctional and unhealthy in our emotions and (probably) our bodies as well. That made functioning like productive and healthy people impossible, but now we are functioning and we are productive and we are whole by the power and the blood of Jesus.

     No more harboring bad or negative feelings or unforgiveness in our hearts. In the past, before I let Jesus show me that He would use my pain to help set others free, I couldn’t let things go because I hadn’t changed and every time my dysfunction (the scars of my past) caused me problems (almost always) I would revert to my past and blame those who have scarred me, but now I can say look at me, now that Jesus has changed the very core of who I am. I don’t want to dwell on the past anymore, I want to show the world that Jesus can do some serious changing us, if we will let Him. 

     I believe people think forgiveness just comes, you say it, and maybe you even mean it, but if you don’t become active it cannot become real and present in you and the life you now live as a new creation in Him. Now viewing or seeing our pain as damage is not the way to look at it—you are now equipped with the tools necessary to help someone else who is going through what you already have or may even still be going through. God wants you to understand that your pain has brought you to the point where you are now, and that God chose you to endure what you did so that you could be used by Him to bring someone else to that same point and place where you are now—forgiven, healed, whole and complete.

     What a different and glorious way to look at our past and the people who helped shape who we are today. And remember, the main person in your life now is Jesus and He says your past is important and not just because of the damage it has caused you, but also because it was meant to bring you to Him, and others to Him once you let Him heal you and forgiveness becomes active and real.  We can’t change if we don’t forgive or receive forgiveness.  I have to say, not thinking about someone or just not thinking hateful thoughts about someone (yourself included) is not forgiving, it is harboring and there is a big difference between the two. 

     Once we understand our pain and now how it directly relates to forgiveness for the people who inflicted or caused it, I think the next step is to ask God what role the person or people will take in your life now that real, true, deep and abiding forgiveness has begun. Maybe it won’t be any more than you really not harboring bad feelings and unforgiveness toward them, especially if they are not born again and not living their life for the Lord. But, it could be that you are the one who is going to help bring them to the Lord so you want to be in tune with what God wants for you and the other person.  Maybe for now it is active forgiveness in your heart and the relationship is going to come later, but you want active, living and abiding forgiveness in your heart and on ready. You will want a place available in your heart when that time comes. Remember, we control what goes in and out of our heart.

     Another thing that is helpful when dealing with the pain of your past and the people responsible is to think about a relationship with this person or people, think about what that would be like in its healthiest state, entertain thoughts of what it would be like to have a Christian, Christ centered relationship with them. If you find this almost impossible to do, try to remember that God wants them to make heaven their home just as much as He wants you there!  2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise…, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (NKJV)

      If forgiveness were an easy thing to do would Jesus have told us so many times that we must forgive or we will not be forgiven? I don’t think so. Again I will say, He is our perfect example, no one could go through what He endured for us and not only forgive us, but want a relationship with us afterwards and He wants us to do the same thing with those who have hurt us. We can only do that by abiding in His forgiveness, in and of ourselves we cannot.

     Sometimes when it is hard to get along with someone I remind myself that they are going to be in heaven with me so I better learn to not only get along with them, but I better learn to love them as well! Do we think heaven is full of people who just go around ignoring or tolerating each other? I don’t think so.

     Whatever we do is supposed to bring glory and honor to God and believe me when you extend forgiveness to someone the secular world would say doesn’t deserve it you bring Him glory and people want to know this God who could heal those kind of deep wounds. Let’s try to remember that the next time we are licking our wounds and wallowing in the pain of our past. 

     Jesus wants us living and abiding in the same kind of forgiveness He died to give us.

~

     

Practical Steps To Help You Live In Freedom From Addiction

  

  Jesus is the ultimate addiction!  

I have experienced being supernaturally touched by God and I can tell you that His touch is better than any drug you’ll ever do or any high you’ll ever experience.  But we don’t all get supernaturally touched by God, in the sense that we can physically feel it, and we don’t serve Him with, or because of our “feelings”.  However, don’t lose hope, there is still God’s supernatural power to deliver you and set you free from any bondage that keeps you from Him and His will for your life.

                         This process will work:   

                         1. If and because you want it to help you…...

                         2. Because you have the supernatural power of                                 God...

                                          
                         3. If you believe in the power of prayer and                                       God’s Word...

     Without these elements I don’t give freedom from addiction much hope, but if you will engage sincerely and “addictively” to these you can have success, growth, and best of all freedom in your future. 1. You have to want this process to work. 2. You have to have God’s supernatural power to help you. 3. You must believe in the power of prayer and God’s word. Prayer will direct your actions, and your actions will direct your prayers, and His word will be your guide and instruction book. Read and study His word and you will find the wisdom, the strength and the courage to stay on this path of freedom from addiction.
     Here are some in the moment, right now steps you can do- they will help you if you get into "a habit" of using them.

1.     To help with this, begin to visualize your life free from your addictions, see it in your mind’s eye, entertain these thoughts often, think about and visualize what great and godly things will replace the addictions. Do this ALL the time, as often as you crave to go to the other addictions, do this instead.  It may seem menial--but I know it works!

2.    You must believe that you can change and that it is God’s will that you change, and make sure to give Him all the glory and honor for your new life. Also, remember that God is more powerful than any drug or addiction, and He is NOT shocked by anything you are bound in—He died for your addictions. He died to set you free from anything that keeps you from Him!

3.    When you are craving your addictions, get somewhere quiet and private (if possible) and pray, pray and pray some more—begin to ask Him to strengthen you, ask Him to fill you with His Spirit and thank Him that He is taking the desire away and filling you with the things of God and His Kingdom.  Now, begin to fill your mind and thoughts with these new godly cravings and desires—Keep praying and meditating on these things until the craving passes—It Will! When the craving comes again, pray again, meditate and think on these godly things until they are the things you crave the most. When you begin to see results from your prayers, you will begin to crave the things which bring results: Godly thoughts, prayers and desires that are godly and free from the addictions. These are the things which will and should replace the old addictions. Be faithful to these things and God will fill you with brand new godly desires and cravings. Desires that are eternal and matter to God and His Kingdom. WOW! Doesn’t that seem like something that is worth giving up your destructive wants and desires for?

          These new desires will hold a place in God’s heart and His Kingdom and they will have eternal purpose! When these new godly desires are sought after and fulfilled they will bring a sense of fulfillment that no earthly thing, addiction, or want could ever compare to, and the best part, there is NO destruction when habitually going to them over and over again!

    “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, ALL things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)

    You are NOT once an addict ALWAYS an addict! If we believe this then we can have no hope in our Savior and His power to deliver us from evil/addiction and set us free. But we do have hope! We have the only real hope there is, we have the power of God Almighty and the blood of Jesus. This is not the false hope the world gives, this is the hope of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

    “If God Is For Us Who Can Be Against Us?” (Romans 8:31 NKJV) There is nothing more powerful than His power to set you free. If He wants us free (of course, He does) and we want freedom too, then nothing can hold us back.

    Embrace this new life free from addictions, in your thoughts and actions, even if at first it seems awkward. Surround yourself with positive, godly people who have also been changed by the power of God and soon it will not be awkward at all. It will be the way things are now that you are a new creation in Him!

    If anyone is “in Christ” he is a new creation. This means you must live “in Him”, you MUST embrace and engage this newly created life in Jesus in order to overcome the old cravings and desires. Live in freedom with Jesus and pursue your new life just as tenaciously as you did the old life and see how much  supernatural power you will have to overcome the old desires and way of living. Seek Him, His word and His ways. Fill your days with the things of God. He is your Refuge, your Tower of Strength, your Hiding Place, your Prince of Peace.

      He will never leave you at any time along this journey to freedom from addiction. NEVER!

    Hallelujah! He is a good and gracious God and He wants us free from the bondage of sin and addiction. He wants it for you even more than you do, so you do your part and He will do even more!    

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