Life Beyond Addiction

*** Editors note: In the early part of this episode David miquoted the Scripture refrerrence. He should have said the text was found in Hebrews Chapert 13 not 1 Corithinians 13... even the best of us make mistakes... LoL... At least we admit to them when we make them. Selah... *** We hold up a promise from Scripture that steadies us when life feels unstable: God will never leave us or forsake us, so we can live with confidence instead of fear. We talk plainly about addiction, shame, and the painful road to freedom, then we pray for deliverance and lasting relationship with God.  
• brotherly love, hospitality, and honor as a daily way of life  
• contentment over the love of money, grounded in God’s presence  
• “second best” substitutes that turn into bondage and break down life  
• addiction as something bigger than us but not bigger than God  
• freedom as relationship, not religion, and help that meets us mid-struggle  
• fear, guilt, and shame as barriers God wants to wash away  
• prayer for breaking oppression and walking through the valley without fear  

We we love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, you need help, drop us a line at life around the fire at gmail.com. That's our email address, or type in Life Around the Fire and look us up on the web.

Transcript

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Brotherly Love And Lasting Promise

SPEAKER_00 0:31

There's a passage in the book of Hebrews that has really captured my attention recently again, and it is found in chapter 13, and it's a passage that covers about six verses, but it really speaks volumes, and it spoke volumes then and provided encouragement for the people then because of what they were going through, but it also carries with it the same ability to impact our lives today because it's the word of God. God breathed this inspiration into this man's life, and he pensed some words that are just so powerful that I want to share them with you today as a source of encouragement. And once again, it's found in first Corinthians chapter thirteen, verses one through six. And the writer says, Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners as if you were a fellow prisoner, and those who are in being mistreated as if you also were suffering bodily. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and the marriage be kept and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your lifestyle free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for God Himself has said I will never leave you or forsake you, so that you say with confidence, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What will man do to me? Let love let love, right? Let let love but let this love be kind of a love that's amongst family, brotherly love continue. Let that love continue to flow to you and through you. And for us to be in a place where we can be content with what we have, right? To be content with what we have, but this verse right here, this portion of this verse, I should say, where God Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never leave you or forsake you. That's God who is saying that to us, not out of anger, but out of love, out of compassion, out of understanding, out of a deep desire for relationship, knowing that what is offered by him is the best. And because of him providing for us the best, it hurts his heart to see us settling at times for second best, cheap replacements instead of receiving things from God who supplies all of our needs according to his riches in glory, and so he is very aware of our needs and has committed to provide for our needs. That's a promise, and that he will never leave us or forsake us. So those of us who are experiencing difficulties, especially in the area of addictions. A person who is experiencing addictions to other things in life that are secondary, second best, produce problems not only for that individual, but for the society

Second Best And The Trap Of Addiction

SPEAKER_00 5:20

that we live in at large, because things begin to break down when we settle for second best. God in his wisdom has provided for us the ability to receive from him directly, and he provides that to us as a result of the shed blood of Jesus Christ being the access point, making him the door through which we enter into relationship with our Heavenly Father. We enter into relationship with God, we enter into covenant with him, an unbreakable bond, a beautiful dynamic that begins to allow us to express his kingdom, the works of his kingdom flowing through us as a result of his life being in us, and the best is being revealed, and the best is being offered, and the best is impacting our society, the world that we live in. Instead of it experiencing the result of second best, which actually produces calamity, we receive what we are designed to function in. We receive the best. And we function best when the best is flowing to us and through us, and it's provided for us by the very work that Jesus accomplished while on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Defeating all the powers of darkness openly making a spectacle of them, providing for us access into the kingdom of God as not just citizens, but as co-heirs, as family. And so he has committed himself to us, but some of us have addictions in our life that block that from actually being a fulfilling experience. Because there's something in the way. And that way can be drugs, that way can be sex, that way can be violence, that way can be simply a place of self-harm, an addiction, an addiction to something that is outside of the best, and the best being relationship with God. But there is an offer being given to you, that in the midst of your addiction, there's help. God is not going to leave you as an orphan. You have a relationship with him, but yet you have an addiction in your life. That doesn't mean you are outside of relationship with God. That means you are in bondage to something that is bigger than you, but not bigger than God. There is no problem that you're facing that is greater than God. And he has committed himself to being there with you, for you, and giving to you the ability to move beyond that addiction. How do I know that? I can say that that has been the truth in my life. Experientially, I have received, in the midst of my struggle, help to get through it. Sometimes in a way that has been miraculous, and other times empowering me to get through the process of breaking the hold of that addiction. But there is help, there is hope, and it's found in the name of the Lord. Our help is in the name of the Lord. We receive our help from God when we call out to him, and he is faithful to reach out to us in response because of his love and his desire for ongoing intimate relationship. God is interested in seeing you free, and he has committed himself to that. And whom the Son sets free is free indeed. You are in a place in which God has his sights set on you, not in anger, but in love. His anger is toward those things that come between you and him. Not you, but the things that come between you and him. And the things that come between you and him are the things that are second best. The things that we often become addicted to are the things that come between us and our relationship, growth with God. We're bound, we're stuck in that addiction. What was once entertainment now is survival. To just simply not be sick, whether sick in your body or in your mind. Troubled to the point where you just say I can't experience that pain on that level. I'd just as soon remain in my addiction. Because that pain of breaking addiction can be very intense. But there is help, and our help is in the name of the Lord. Calling out to him and asking him for help in the midst of our addiction, he will, and the process might be painful, but it is not bigger than God. And he is faithful to bring us through it. Not just to it, but he is faithful to deliver us from evil. Because it's his kingdom that's working within us. He's invested himself within us, and in so doing, he causes his kingdom to be manifest to us, and he wants to manifest it through us. But with our addictions in play, we can't be as effective as possible because of that limitation placed upon us, oftentimes through fear, guilt, and shame. And God is committed to washing us from guilt, fear, and shame, so that we don't have to remain in bondage to things that we were once addicted to. There's freedom, there's liberty, there's help, there's hope, there's healing in the name of Jesus, but more than just in the name of Jesus, in relationship with him. He's not interested in religion, he's committed to relationship. And that relationship is our hope. It's our blessed hope. It's the hope of glory. And it is placed within you, and it's burning stronger than your addiction. And God is committed to seeing you through that thing, whether it's drugs, sex, whatever it might be, whatever you're doing at second best, but you're somehow addicted to it, you can be free because the person who sets you free will set you free indeed. That person is Jesus. And he by his spirit will reach into your life and transform you from the inside out. I know it because it's happened to me and it's happening to me. It's not just a one and done thing, it's an ongoing reality. And it's beautiful, it's powerful, it's greater than any substance that I've ever taken in my life, or anything I've ever participated in in my life outside of relationship with God. Relationship with God is supreme over everything and anything else. Covenant with Him is where it's at. And in covenant with Him, there's strength, there's power, there's reality, there's the ability to focus and not have our minds spread all over the place or obsessing over where we're going to get our next fix. Whatever that fix might be. No, never. Neither height nor depth nor any other creature is capable of separating us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. His love is greater than that addiction, and he is going to see to it that you have brought through it, because he is faithful to the end. You're not out of his reach if you're in addiction. You're just bound by something that's second best, and God is at your literally at your disposal. He's open. He's open. He's open for you to reach in and ask him for help. And he will. But he's waiting for you to ask and to open your heart up. Because that's the basis of relationship. Trust. And your trust in him is not in vain. And your waiting on him is not in vain. You're in a place of being set free. Because God is faithful and wants to see you functioning and living at the highest possible level that you can in relationship with Him as one who is functioning in His kingdom, impacting the world that you live in, being an atmosphere changer, being a peacemaker, an atmosphere changer in the world that we live in, because we are set free from addictions. Hallelujah. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you that you set us free from things that are demonizing us, God, from demonic oppression, from addictions that are brought on by demonic activity. I ask that you would break that in the mighty name of Jesus and expose it for what it is, and that is, that it is lesser than you, and that you are greater, that you are the one

Prayer For Deliverance And Freedom

SPEAKER_00 17:56

who is greater. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Internal strength is greater than external pressure. Your kingdom will advance through us because it is a supreme kingdom, and we are open for you to manifest yourself, not only to us, but through us. And we ask that you would break the addictions and release us from their grip and walk us through that valley of the shadow of death so we can fear no evil, no longer being afraid of being found out, but being free to use things that were once intended to do us harm, and turning them around for tools of righteousness in seeing things put in right order. Hallelujah. We trust you, God, we place our confidence in you, and we thank you that you will never leave us or forsake us, and that you are our helper. We do not need to fear. What can man do to us? What can addictions do to me? Might hurt the body, but they can't kill the soul. Deliver us from evil, Lord, for yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, yours is the glory forever. And we stand here in the name of Jesus and we say, Amen, amen, amen. Amen, folks. We we love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, you need help, drop us a line at life around the fire at gmail.com. That's our email address, or type in Life Around the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.