Maybe, I am not where I want to be, but I am not anywhere near where I used to be.<\/p>\n
I wanted to encourage addicts, new converts, those that are struggling, those on the fence, and those who fell off the fence bruised and battered that there is Victory in JESUS.<\/p>\n
It is more than a song we sing Sunday mornings.\u00a0 It is a reality.\u00a0\u00a0 The main problem is we often let our experiences trump our faith.\u00a0 The bible says in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.\u00a0 The bible says that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us.\u00a0 We often, if we are saved, have no problem believing the verses and passages that require faith– but don’t require us to believe in spite of our experience.\u00a0\u00a0 We weren’t there at creation, but can have zero doubt that Jesus made it happen.\u00a0\u00a0 The bible says in Ephesians, that God created all things BY JESUS CHRIST<\/em>.<\/p>\n Yet, when the bible says in Romans, he that is dead is freed from sin, we scoff.\u00a0 We doubt.\u00a0 We fight unbelief.\u00a0 When the Bible says God will provide a way of escape, we don’t look for it.<\/p>\n The bible says in 1st Corinthians 10:13<\/p>\n There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape<\/strong>, that ye may be able to bear it.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Jude 1:24 says Now unto him that is able<\/b> to<\/b> keep<\/b> you<\/b> from<\/b> falling<\/b>, and to<\/b> present you<\/b> faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,<\/em><\/p>\n I am not saying don’t get accountability, don’t go to church, don’t pray.\u00a0\u00a0 I am saying, why do we doubt that JESUS IS NOT ENOUGH?<\/p>\n I believe it is because we let our feelings, and our experiences, and our falls and failures speak louder than these verses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is easier to rest on our excuses and refuse to simply take God at his word.\u00a0 It is easier to blame the counselor, blame our accountability partner having his phone turned off, blame our bad upbringing, to blame our parents and someone who abused us or did us wrong, blame the fact we didn’t get a trophy for participating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I also find in sharing victories, I get blessed myself. I also find that when we start claiming these verses, and looking into the bible when we get tempted, we see the truth.<\/p>\n The truth will set you free.<\/p>\n Our feelings say one thing.\u00a0 WE NEED whatever.\u00a0\u00a0 Sex, drugs, rock-n-roll.\u00a0 We NEED what our feelings are SCREAMING OUT.\u00a0 But what about what Jesus wants?\u00a0 What about not listening to our experience, and our flesh, and the devil, and the lies, and listen to the quieter, gentler voice of the LORD.<\/p>\n I got this, He’ll say.\u00a0 I can handle this sin.\u00a0 I can handle this so why won’t you come to ME with this?\u00a0 Why do you keep doing back?\u00a0\u00a0 You are not a dog returning to his vomit if you are saved.\u00a0 You are not a pig wallowing in the mud if you are saved.\u00a0 You are a sheep and you are mine.<\/p>\n Can you hear this?\u00a0 What is\u00a0 your identity?\u00a0 I’m an alcoholic (or a homosexual or a crack addict or a thief or whatever).\u00a0 My mama was an alcoholic.\u00a0 Her daddy was an alcoholic.\u00a0 His uncle was an alcoholic. I am stuck.<\/p>\n Wrong, Sir.\u00a0 When you got saved, the line of failures was broken.\u00a0 You’re not who you used to be. You’re not who you THINK you are.\u00a0 You’re who God says you are.\u00a0 Believe God.<\/p>\n First, identity makes a big difference. \u00a0 I was praying and had at first nothing to say, but now this includes “new material” I have not yet blogged about, etc so perhaps the Lord wants to help us here:<\/p>\n Let’s take a look first at the opposite — let’s look at a pig in denial.\u00a0\u00a0 This is an actual pig that doesn’t want to be a pig.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He knows mud is gross, he knows pig slop isn’t healthy, he knows that the sheep are treated more dignified.<\/p>\n Picture a Pig that goes a step further and even identifies as a sheep.\u00a0 An actual sheep-pig.\u00a0 It wants to be a sheep because the sheep look so warm and cozy with their clean wool jackets.<\/p>\n The pig can say, “I’m a sheep! I’m a sheep!” and repeat that until he believes the lie and fools himself.\u00a0 At the end of the day, is it a sheep?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Does believing he is a sheep make a difference?\u00a0 If he takes a bath and puts on a wool bathrobe after and bleats is he now a sheep?\u00a0 And naturally, he is fooling himself as even if he stays out of the mud, and the pig slop, they are in him.\u00a0 He can white knuckle it and fake it, but if he is honest, he’d rather have a mud pie than anything else.<\/p>\n Why?\u00a0 He was never changed on the inside.\u00a0 On the inside you are never going to get lamb chops out of a pork loin.<\/p>\n And that is not Christianity.<\/p>\n True Christianity we literally become a new creature.<\/p>\n 2nd Corinthians 5:17 is absolutely true.\u00a0 Therefore if any man be in<\/b> Christ<\/b>, he is a new<\/b> creature<\/b>: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new<\/b>.<\/p>\n If we are truly saved, we become sheep.\u00a0 The Bible says, anyone that is in Christ is a NEW creature.\u00a0 And Jesus says, MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE AND THEY FOLLOW ME.<\/p>\n Are\u00a0 you a new creature?\u00a0 And do you hear HIS voice?<\/p>\n But on the flip side– let’s take a miracle.\u00a0 A pig turns into a sheep.\u00a0 But it doesn’t believe the reality of what happens.\u00a0 So it still thinks it’s a pig.<\/p>\n That would be just as foolish.\u00a0\u00a0 We can spend our whole lives afraid of the mud because we think we are still pigs who once they get back in the mud, will wallow for life.\u00a0 Yet when you stick a sheep in the mud, he doesn’t want to stay there.\u00a0 Mud is no longer comfortable but disgusting to him.\u00a0 Mud is a mirage to the new sheep.\u00a0\u00a0 And eventually the lie of the mud will become clearer and clearer.<\/p>\n A preacher said, most Christians spend their entire lives fighting a defeated enemy.<\/p>\n We don’t have to live that way.<\/p>\n If we are really saved, we are sheep. We can doubt God, give into the flesh, never break the cycle, and say, “I’m only a pig. I won’t ever change. Woe is me. I can’t do this.” but I think ultimately, the Christian cannot live in that state of misery.\u00a0 Because it isn’t natural.<\/p>\n If we can still enjoy our sin, get away with our sins, and never have a fight, the first step I would do is for someone to examine his (or her) salvation. IF we are saved, we really need to realize victory is possible. God says He will make a way. God understands you. God knows your weakness. But God won’t let you stay in self pity and defeat but you have to repent of your righteousness.<\/p>\n It is not trying harder. It is not trying to please God. It is recognizing you cannot live the Christian life. It is impossible. The flesh lusts against the spirit so YOU CANNOT do the things you want.<\/p>\n It is not trying harder. It is trusting. It is by faith when you step out the red sea opens.<\/p>\n It is not putting a pig in a sheep costume and trying to act like the other sheep.\u00a0 That is religion.\u00a0 Jesus didn’t come to earth to die for our sins to give us another religion. \u00a0\u00a0 It is realizing the pig is dead. \u00a0\u00a0 And God sees you as a sheep. One of his own.\u00a0 Trust the Good Shepherd. \u00a0 Don’t simply try to be a sheep.<\/p>\n Now, we did shoot ourselves in the foot if we\u00a0 have had any sort of addiction. That is not God’s fault. Many dopamine producing addictions, I believe, even smoking, can create the same intense addictive response in the brain as someone smoking crack.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When we have a major shortage and lack in our lives, the brain remembers what we used as a crutch the last time we were in that position and cries out for it.\u00a0\u00a0 When we give into sin, it is instant gratification and imprints on the brain just like a hit of crack. Can crack addicts live clean and sober? Yes, but they can’t do it. God must do it.<\/p>\n And there are going to be times when you have to understand that we messed up our brains and so to give in to the lie will only short circuit the recovery.\u00a0 I believe this mistake simply confuses our body, soul, and spirit.\u00a0\u00a0 Our body (brain) is telling us one thing because of past performance, and our soul\/spirit is telling us something else.\u00a0 The more we ignore our “body” and live a message consistent with what we are hearing from God, the more in balance we will be.\u00a0 The less unstable we will be.\u00a0 The less double minded.<\/p>\n The Bible says a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.<\/p>\n So we can understand a bit of addictions from a brain chemical stand point that makes it a bit harder.<\/p>\n But that only makes us want to be more dependent on HIM!!!!\u00a0 And his yoke is EASY!!!<\/p>\n WE can get tempted every hour, but He is there. It won’t take too long — honestly — to switch gears in our brains.<\/p>\n IF we are saved — I get rejected, stress, bad news. This reveals a NEED, void, pain.<\/p>\n I recognize more and more my knee jerk reaction is for sin.\u00a0\u00a0 Your brain is wired and remembers what worked in the past. Drugs, alcohol.\u00a0 Food.\u00a0 Gambling.\u00a0 Pornography.\u00a0 Forbidden Sex.<\/p>\n If you give in — guilt, despair, anger, addiction cycle.<\/p>\n Or ignore the lies and walk by faith and not my sight – or feeling.\u00a0\u00a0 Get in bible, call an accountability partner, pray.<\/p>\n Maybe that produces victory. Maybe the temptations return 10 minutes later.<\/p>\n Keep going.<\/p>\n You are not trusting what you are doing or feeling when you walk by faith — but the more consistent your brain cries out for the same thing that your spirit and soul cry out for, the more joy you will have.\u00a0 The more your life won’t end up in a train wreck.\u00a0 Soon, more and more your brain will start to “get it”.\u00a0 Ahh!\u00a0 We have a stress we can’t handle, but that black-and-white book WORKED the last time he was in this predicament — let’s cry for that again.<\/p>\n It really is faith vs. feelings\u00a0 until more and more they match up.\u00a0 Simply recognizing that wrong desires are the FRUIT — what is going on below the surface is like an iceberg. Rejection, bad decisions in the past, lack of faith, isolation.<\/p>\n Keep going.<\/p>\n IT might be a 3 day battle at times. But remember — David faced the giant and didn’t run from him because he had smaller victories the LORD gave him.\u00a0 A bear.\u00a0 A lion.\u00a0 And maybe before the bear and lion there was a rabid chipmunk.\u00a0 These small victories were what David focused on, not the one that got away.<\/p>\n Some see the giant and say, “He’s too Big, I can’t win.”<\/p>\n Others see the giant and say, “God’s TOO BIG! I can’t miss!”<\/p>\n (my friend gave me that illustration about the giant)!<\/p>\n So eventually you will see that when hard temptations hit they are a MIRAGE. Keep going. Get in the bible and pray and stay close to God.<\/p>\n He knows you. He understands you. You are not weird.<\/p>\n Keep going.\u00a0 I can’t say it enough.\u00a0 I am not beating a dead horse, but I am reminding you the pig is dead.\u00a0 The old man is dead.\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t trust your feelings! \u00a0 And feelings will rise up with stresses, rejection, failures.<\/p>\n Deal with problems head on.\u00a0 When your boss or your spouse or your mother-in-law or your boss’s mother-in-law gets mad at you, and comes “charging” at you, stand. Be loving but firm.\u00a0 Don’t shut down emotionally when your wife is bringing up some hard things.\u00a0 Don’t ignore small molehills until they evolve into mountains.\u00a0 Face people who hurt you, face problems, face mistakes.\u00a0 Don’t isolate, but if someone wronged you, initiate.<\/p>\n Like a man.\u00a0 Not a pig.<\/p>\n This isn’t cliche. But it is recognizing that this is a mirage — your heart\/brain, etc are lying to you when you are tempted to do something that God is against.<\/p>\n 1st Thessalonians 4:3-5 says<\/p>\n 3\u00a0<\/sup>For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:<\/span><\/p>\n 4\u00a0<\/sup>That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;<\/span><\/p>\n 5\u00a0<\/sup>Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:<\/span><\/p>\n And when victory will come you will likely face another lion, bear, etc at some point.\u00a0 It will again feel real. \u00a0 You will be tempted perhaps to say, “Why bother fighting again? why not give in? is this not what I really want?”<\/p>\n It won’t make sense to fight at times when the lies come back – but realize it is a lie because you learned it was a lie last time.<\/p>\n And repeat.<\/p>\n Soon you will see YES that really was a lie.<\/p>\n And next time the enemy might try another curve ball.\u00a0 You might whiff, you might strike out, but keep swinging and don’t quit.<\/p>\n Keep going.<\/p>\n By faith it is a mirage (temptations), but God’s truths will eventually become more real.<\/p>\n WE must walk by faith, not by sight. it is cliche, but really it means seeing our “FEELINGS” are phony.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tricks. Lies.<\/p>\n And trusting God’s promises when they don’t FEEL TRUE.<\/p>\n Until eventually they do, maybe until the next trigger.<\/p>\n But Sheep, keep going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\u00a0 Did you get this yet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe, I am not where I want to be, but I am not anywhere near where I used to be. I wanted to encourage addicts, new converts, those that are struggling, those on the fence, and those who fell off … Continue reading