Get Down Like A Leper

Mark 1:40-42
Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean. Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him and said to him, "I am willing, be cleansed."

What if we really believed that these stories we read in scripture were true.
What if we truly believed that the same kind of Power and healing were available today.
What if we could get to a point where our desperation outweighed the doubt and fear in our hearts and we came to Jesus like this man who had leprosy.
Imagine what would happen.

Sometimes I think the devil had done his best work confusing and clouding up the truth about Jesus.
I haven't met too many people who openly just said, "I don't believe any of that Bible junk."
I haven't met too many people who openly said, "Jesus isn't real. He's some kind of fairy tale character."
But I have met many whose lives reflected the thought that the stories in scripture are true, but they are not for today. For our day and time.
Why? Why would God do that?
Why would God tell us to trust Him and seek Him if He still didn't operate the way we read in Scripture? If God isn't still in the healing business, then having us read about people who were healed in scripture would seem to be the cruelest of jokes that could be played on humanity.
To me, it all goes back to the work of the devil in our society and world view.
I remember hearing a visiting missionary tell of a village in Africa that was miles and miles away from any other city, town or village. In other words, the people of this village were cut off from any contact with others. The missionary spoke of how the people of this particular village had come to know Jesus, and that the major part of the people had been saved. Then something really peculiar happened. They started to take the Bible at face value. If they read where Jesus had healed someone, then that is what they believed. Practicality told them this was not only possible, but was the answer to their problem. You see, they had no access to doctors and medicine. The missionary went on to say that whenever someone got sick, the entire village would gather and pray until that person was healed. Why? Because this was what they had read in the Bible. If someone was injured, they would dress whatever wound needed to be dressed and they would offer up prayers against infection and other diseases. The missionary went on to tell of miraculous healing and answer to prayers for these villagers. Simply because they took God at His word and acted accordingly.

The one thing I see in addiction is a lack of desperation in the person who is trapped.
It seems to me that addiction saps that persons will to be free. Mentally and verbally they will say that they are ready to quit. Ready to change. Ready to have a new way of living. But they just don't have the will to get up and, like the man with leprosy, go to Jesus for healing. O.K. before I go any farther let me clarify something about my view of addiction.
Addiction (in my opinion) is a three part problem.
There is a spiritual side to addiction. All addiction begins with a choice. Usually that choice is made from our or directed by our sin-nature or the flesh. Making such a choice opens the door in our lives for the devil to have direct access to influence us and any future decisions we may make. Opening the door through the choice to use brings in other dark spirits that lead us into lying, cheating, stealing, sexual infidelity and a host of other sins. All because we made a choice.

Then there is the physical side to addiction. Using affects the brain chemistry as well as the function of other organs in the body. There is damage that is done on a cellular level. Cell make up is altered so that they body craves the substance and can't function without it. Many people can't wrap their heads around why someone would use. How many times has the addict heard, "Why don't you just quit?" Truth is......they can't. It isn't about will power, it goes much deeper than that.

Last, but certainly not least, there is a mental side to addiction. Repeated use, coupled with the destruction that comes to the life of the user, will totally devastate the mind. Depression of nuclear proportions accompany the thoughts of the one using. We talk about 4 false beliefs that accompany every one who uses. The last of the false beliefs says, "I am hopeless..I cannot change."

So if you take the fact that addiction has a spiritual, mental and physical side to it, would it not stand to reason that the only hope is found in a POWER greater than the drug/ alcohol and the one who is using? I say yes. I say that this POWER is found in Jesus.
Psalm 107:20 - He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
Open your heart and your mind up to the possibility that Jesus is who He claims to be...
And He will do what He has promised to do.
God on you...
mb