Coming To An Understanding

Step # 1
We came to believe that we were powerless over alcohol/drugs and that our lives had become unmanageable.

Romans 7:24
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

It's all about the "S" word.
We even have stuck the moniker on a town in Nevada. "S" City.
Sin.
Missing the mark is one definition. That means that there is a target or destination or behavior that we are aiming at, but because of sin, we do not hit it. We can never hit it. It is impossible.

Alcohol / drugs are the outward signs or symptoms of an inner wrong.
A nature that constantly puts us in danger to do the wrong thing.
Now the wrong thing doesn't always manifest in killing or dope dealing or rape.
It appears through lies.
It shows itself through envy and jealousy.
It comes on the scene through greed and lust.
Bottom line is that what takes place in our hearts is played out through our bodies.

For the addict, the sin nature introduces them to their drug of choice.
Once this happens, a love affair begins between user and drug.
The longer this relationship continues, the more the body and mind changes.
the addict, through alteration of body chemistry and brain function, looses his ability to choose to stop.
This is hard for some folks to grasp. I hear people say all the time, "Why don't they just quit. They know that it's killing them." Well for the addict it isn't that easy. They want to quit. They have tried to quit. But that craving (an actual physical response), driven by that old (sin) nature draws them back time after time.

Fix the sin problem.
Fix the addiction.
The root of all mankinds problems is a broken relationship with Jesus.
That is why the Apostle Paul went on to write in Romans 7:
Who will set me free from the body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ out Lord!

See...You don't have to live in the darkness of addiction any longer.
There is an answer and it's been right here all along.
I can write these things as being true because I have witnessed, over the past 14 years, the power of Christ to deliver a person out of the bondage of sin and addiction.

Father God!
This morning, right now, I ask that you would open the minds and spirits of those who may read this, who are still trapped in addiction.
I would that Your Holy Spirit would break off all hardness of heart, mind, eyes and ears so that the truth can be seen and understood.
I pray that the power of the message that Jesus has defeated sin and the devil once and for all time be brought to bear in the hearts of those who struggle.
I pray that you would pour immeasurable amounts of hope, grace, mercy and love upon everyone who reads this today.
And that we might come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ....
Amen

God on you....
mb