Step # 1

Psalm 116: 3-4
The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of sheol (the grave) laid hold of me.
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of the LORD.
"O LORD! I implore You, deliver my soul!"

The point of desperation is a much needed place to be when dealing with addiction.
Addiction is like a living organism in some regards. It will fight to stay alive. It will promise you the moon while leaving you dry and dead, craving the very thing that is killing you.
Addiction is cunning, baffling, powerful..........
And patient.
It will wait for you.
It will let you make promises to yourself that you are going to stop....Only to suck you back into the darkness, all the while taunting you like a bully taking your milk money.
"Who do you think you are?" It will whisper to you. "You know you can't stop...what's more, you know you don't want to stop."
Such is addiction. It will beat you down....
You hear yourself saying, "No more...I will quit," all the while reaching for that next needle, that next pill, that next hit and that next high.

But there is one...
One who has a name that reveals the power and authority that addiction fears.
That name?
Jesus!
The Christ...the anointed...the Messiah.....the deliverer.
As you read this, you may have gone all religious on me. It isn't about church, or choirs, or hymnals, or men in suits standing behind pulpits talking and screaming at you. Stay with me. I'm talking life. I'm talking real life. I'm talking of a life that has a future where addiction isn't a part of it. I'm talking about the infusion of real power and real life into your current situation that will change everything. I know it sounds like pie-in-the-sky theology, but the truth is.....this Jesus is real.......and He is the Power needed to break the addiction that you have become a slave to.

Step # 1 - (You know and I know that every journey to reach a destination begins with the first step.)
We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and drugs.....
This admission comes from the heart. It isn't me simply mouthing the words and verbally saying that I am powerless. It is me standing face to face with my life, looking at the destruction and realizing that I am incapable of stopping it. I am powerless.

That my life has become unmanageable......
In other words, I have lost the ability to make sound decisions. I have lost the ability to be responsible. I have lost the ability to live socially. While the insanity spirals deeper and downward, I keep trying to rationalize that I'm not different from other people. I don't really have a problem. I can manage this. Truth is....our lives have become unmanageable.

This coming year, we will teaching the steps in our Saturday night meeting here at Rapha.
With Christ as the central focus to the program, we will share one step per month in an effort to help point the way to real freedom and life.
I don't know that we will share anything that hasn't already been shared somewhere by someone.
But it is a journey that we have been called to take again.
Back in 2010, we taught the steps for an entire year. It was an incredible journey as we all grew and realized the power and mercy that God possesses for those who are wanting to be free of addiction.
I will be posting the messages here on this blog, so be sure to watch for them so you can down load and listen.

Seth Barber spoke this past Saturday night (1/5/13) from I Samuel 17, using David as a reference point and a starting place from which to face our "Giants".
I will be getting this message up as soon as possible.

God on you....
mb