I have an addictive personality! That basically means that I become enslaved by just about everything I have ever tried. There are even things that I avoid trying because of my history of addiction (and present struggles with them). I have had a love/hate relationship with a ton of things: smoking, gambling, food, people, and MORE! I still struggle with all of them and in some cases have made little to no progress. I have been so worn out by the struggle of self fixing and the inability to just plain abandon these addictions, because I have made it my personal battle without any hope of deliverance.
Well, Sunday morning, I was faced with a statement that made me pause and evaluate: "You do not have to sin." Well my inner, immediate response was of course, "Easy for you to say, you must not have desires" Well the speaker went on to say that he does in fact struggle as well, but that we are to master sin and not let it master us.
Genesis 4:7 "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But, if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it."
I don't know about you, but I can't. If my daily struggle alone must continue as it is, then let's be honest, I will give in eventually (if not sooner). Once something has been opened to my senses, it is a battle forever. It seems hopeless. Once the fruit in the garden was tasted, life changed forever...even now.
So where is the hope that I have struggled to find for so long? How can it be accepted? Go to the source...
Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace."Grace!!! How does that fit in? Where is the receiving point for grace?
2 Corinthians 1:9-11 "Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raised the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many." Rely on God! The source of all power, even over death has given us full access to Himself! Read that again: deliver us from peril...deliverance through prayer...resulting in praise from many! Another point I feel compelled to make at this point (I say compelled because I am not the type to easily go along with this point...see the basement in previous posting) is that the believers praying with him were aware of the problem he was facing SO THAT they could also praise through the deliverance as well. That's a hard part to swallow. Who really wants to share their guilt, shame, and constant failure? Those who desire God to have greater glory and praise when He delvers us!!! Hard, but true. We all fail, we all want that hidden, but we are to be delivered even from what we fight to hide.
Psalms 19:12-13 "Who can discern his own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression." We can have full redemption. David was so convinced that he declared with the Lord's power he could be innocent.
Romans 14:4 "Who are you to judge someone
else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand. For the Lord is able to make him stand." There is a power greater than death that we cannot even imagine that is just waiting, no anticipating excitedly for the moment we open the door to our addictions and temptations and cry out for help, believing that His power is mighty to save.
1 Corinthians 6:12-14 "Everything is permissible for me-but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me-but I will not be mastered by anything. Food for the stomach and the stomach for food-but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. By His power God raised the Lord from the dead and he will raise us also." He will raise us also!!! Raise us from the pit of our own pride and failures to shine with the light of His power for His glory!
Anyone else feel like being delivered???
Please note: There may be many errors and oversights here, but I do not claim to have the wisdom or gift of teaching that many others do. I was given a word, and this word may one day be helpful to someone other than myself. So, in the effort of having public accountability for my own struggles, the event that someone else may need it, and the need to remember this myself, here it is!
