Recently Wayne Northup was speaking during Spiritual Emphasis week at Calvary Christian Academy, and, near the beginning of one of his sermons, he said something that sparked a flame in my spirit.  For those of you who don’t know me, I have spent a large portion of my life fighting against addictions to all sorts of things.  Finding freedom is not always easy and can take time.  I’ve always known God had a calling on my life to help people dealing with image issues and addictions, but I just never thought it would be possible especially from someone who has had so many issues himself.  Well, we all know that is how God works: taking the least likely person to do the most profound things. 

            I started a couple of years ago putting together a curriculum to teach and also writing a book about my experience in recovery about how God used the oddest things to revolutionize my life.  (Like finding inspiration in people like Pastor Rob Bell)  Well, the only thing that kept bothering me is how I’d hear people say things like “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic” and even things like “there’s no such thing as total freedom, just the power to deny the urge.”  What a lie sent straight from the pit of hell.  If that is the case then how can the Word of God says there is nothing too hard for the Lord, or that God is our Healer and our Deliverer, or that at the cross Jesus took it all so we didn’t have to anymore.  Are we now putting God in a box and saying He can deliver us from some things but not all things?  Because God isn’t capable of deliverance He just gives us strength to deny.  My thought, this is a way for those who don’t want to be free to allow themselves an escape route in case they fail or make a mistake.  Their lack of faith and their lack of relationship with God has tricked them into seeing God through their own eyes, through their own capability.         

            This brings us back to the point of the blog today.  The thing Wayne said was along the lines of always doing the right thing just because its right means there is always the possibility to do wrong.  But when you have a true relationship with God, doing the right thing becomes natural and is done to please Him.   This made me think about so many levels of recovery, how we learn tons of knowledge based on statistics, books, research, psychology, sermons, and other people’s revelation.  Yet, all the while, we never seek to find any answers for ourselves through deep intimate relationship with the Father.  We put together the “how to” and “3 easy steps” and prevent people from self-revelation through relationship.  I believe this is the one thing that could change our perspective on recovery and healing.   Above all else we, should always direct people to the Word, prayer, fasting, and straight-up worship and praise.   Building a strong, deep, intimate, and personal relationship with God is going to be the only path to true freedom and healing in every situation.  This may also explain the lack of faith some people have in God’s ability to fully deliver and change a person from the inside out, because how can you have faith in a God you truly don’t know?  And if you don’t know God on the level you should, how could you ever discover who you are?  The Word says we are created in His image, so how about we start actually learning for ourselves what that means…