The Light Of Truth

Working daily at a rehab for people with addiction problems, you find yourself in a lot of spiritual darkness.
Each man's story is pretty much the same. Loss of finances......loss of relationships.......loss of health and self worth. What started out as "fun" time has now been taken downward into a life of endless legal issues and problems that seem insurmountable.

Some want help. Other's don't. Some want help, but they want others to do for them. They don't want to be responsible for their lives. They want someone to take care of them. Some have lived this life of addiction for such a long time that the only thing they have to brag about is how "bad" they have been. As Scripture puts it, "They revel in their iniquities."

If it were not for the grace of God and His Holy Spirit within me, I would have left this place long ago. 14 years is a long time to be dealing with addiction and the destruction it brings to men. Why do it? Because God has called me to minister to everyone that comes to Rapha. To speak truth in love, even when it becomes a hard word to say. Love those that want to change. Love those that don't. He has also given me some wisdom in knowing that those who aren't ready to change, the best thing to do is to simply let them go. Trust in the word that has been spoken to them and prayed over them. At some point down the road, God will bring forth fruit and change in the life of the ones who are not ready to change.

My understanding of God's interaction into the lives of those who are suffering from addiction is very simple.
It is Jesus and the cross. There are no "keys to destiny" or "Paths to heavenly future". There are no "Step to unlocking your divine potential." There is only Jesus Christ and the work of the cross. His death and resurrection to free us from ourselves. Isn't that the real problem? Ourselves. Our own fleshly, sinful appetite to devour the things that are not holy and from God? I think so.

It seems now days that Jesus isn't enough.
There has to be Jesus plus something else.
It isn't enough to be saved and living in the grace of God.
I need to unlock the hidden potential within to be on an even higher plane. The thought in so called Christian circles is that there is a need to create an elite order of believer. To separate those who truly want Jesus from those who are simply playing. Such knowledge of an elite believer only feeds and inflates the ego and self centered view of one who is out of touch with not only God, but what His word has to say on such matters.

Such notions are not from God, they are from the pits of hell.
It's simply the Cross of Christ that unlocks our hidden potential. You know what the potential is? The fact that I am the sinner of sinners. I have the potential to deny Christ just as Peter did. I have the potential to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, just a Judas did. That is the hidden potential that no one wants to talk about.
Every man who comes to Rapha possesses that same potential. To continue on in a life of rebellion not only against Jesus, but against the work of the cross. Only the saving power of Jesus Christ can shatter such a notion. Only the Grace of God can break the hold over a man who has lived in darkness for so long, that this unholy lifestyle seems normal.

Matthew 11:28, Jesus offers an invitation by saying, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Come and have relationship with me. Come and learn from me. No where does it say, "Come and I will separate you into categories. To those who are truly special, I will show you things that the others are not worthy to see."

I guess this is one reason I love the people God has surrounded me with. They are through playing games and only desire to be freed from this prison of addiction. Only the cross and the power of Christ can do for those in darkness what they could not do for themselves.
Praise God! What a savior.

God on you.....
mb