God has provided freedom from addiction for every believer. Most are not experiencing it as their emotions, experiences and what others say tell them they they are not free and what they need to do to cope with their addiction. Many are giving it their best shot and as long as they are trying to get something that God has provided for them they will stay in bondage. 1
We will take a look at the strongholds of addiction, the lies that keep you in bondage. The strongholds are based on a passage in Prov. 31:6, 7. Give strong drink to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. (Proverbs 31:6 7 NIV). In other words, these are the type of people who will turn to alcohol and become addicted to it. They might also turn to another addictive behavior, such as sex or overeating and be entangled in a stronghold of addiction. The list is endless of where people turn to find relief from their fears, problems, issues and needs. 2
These are our two basic books along with the Freedom From Addiction Workbook. We also have a One Day at a Time devotional, DVD s and bookmarks. The Freedom Addictive Behaviors Conference DVD s has nine messages and there is a conference manual you can download for free. There is also a Leader s Guide for the Conference DVD s which has ten discussion questions for each of the nine messages which can be downloaded for free. 3
We will take a look at these four Hebrew words and see how they are lies the person believes about himself. It is enlightening and very encouraging to know that the only real weapon Satan has against the Christian is the lie. Satan is the father of lies. The reason a person is perishing, whose life is bitter, has poverty (of spirit) and has misery are the lies they believe about themselves. We will take a look at each one of them. Then we will take a look at the truth of who the person really is in Christ. The only way a person gets free (experiences his freedom) is when he believes the truth of who he is in Christ and what he has in Christ. Remember truth sets you free (John 8:32) and lies keep you in bondage. 4
Only one thing keeps you in bondage and only one thing will set you free. Jesus said Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). When we understand and believe who we are in Christ and what we have in Christ we will begin to experience our freedom that is already ours. Psalm 4:2 is a good description of addiction. For the Christian struggling with an addiction, it is temporary insanity fueled by lies they believe about themselves. That s why the only answer for addiction is to believe the truth of who you are in Christ (really the truth of who Christ is in you) that Christ is your life (Col 3:4 and you are one Spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). 5
Do you feel worthless, undone, forgotten, trapped and hopeless? Every person who is in bondage to an addictive behavior has low self-esteem and feels hopeless. The low self-esteem is the root of the problem. It is not the behavior but the lie, the misbelief they have about themselves. As long as the person believes they are hopeless it will make absolutely no difference what they do to get free. That lie they believe about who they are will keep them in bondage even if they pray, fast, memorize scripture, graduate from seminary and become a pastor. I know as I did all that. I have talked with many pastors who are struggling with addiction. 6
Since most people get their identity from their behavior and what they do, then it is easy for the person struggling with an addictive behavior to feel hopeless and have a low self-esteem. But when they learn the truth of who they are in Christ, they will walk free. When I learned that I was in Christ and He was in me and I was dead to sin and freed from it I knew I was freed from addiction. Was it immediate? Yes, but how could that be? It could be because it was the truth and there was nothing for me to do, but believe it. I actually had a hangover as I believed the truth that I was dead to sin and freed from it and got free. I did nothing but believe the truth. Since that day in Oct. 1988 I have been free from addiction. My behavior has not been perfect, but I have been free from addiction. 7
A large number of people struggling with an addiction believe there are a victim, that they are different and their problem is different. They believe they need a different solution as the gospel (the finished work of Christ) doesn t seem to work for them. What doesn t work is all the things they are trying to do to make it work. Truth sets you free when you believe it. I thought I was different and my problem was different and I needed a different solution. Every person struggling with an addiction believes they are different and their problem is different. The gospel seemed to work for my wife, as she was a good person, but not for me. But are we hopeless? God says we are not. Why? Because of what He has done. He has given us the Holy Spirit and hope and love. You don t feel it! So what? It is true! It is the feelings of hopelessness that are not true. 8
God hasn t left us hopeless and defeated. He hasn t even left us like we were which was sinloving sinners who could do nothing but sin and mess up. He not only has forgiven and redeemed us from our sins, he has totally remade us by giving His life to us. We are new creations. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor. 5:17 NLT). As born again believers, how will we be saved, set free and delivered from addiction by Christ s life in us. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? (Rom. 5:10 NET). We are saved, delivered and set free by His life (Jesus in you, the hope of glory). 9
In a letter I received from a lady I was counseling she wrote To think a psychiatrist diagnosed me as mentally ill, with no hope of functioning in the real world, seems like a very bad dream. Praise God I no longer depend on anti- psychotics, anti-depressants or tranquilizers, but am clear minded, victorious, and healed from the repercussions of incest and child abuse. I'm free from suicidal depression, selfmutilation, dissociation and worm theology. I'm free from condemning voices and confusion. Instead, I am fulfilling God's purpose for my life, which is not doing time on a psych ward plotting my own death. There is much to rejoice about! Today I feel like my life is one big kick in Satan's teeth! He has no power over me. Christ has totally set me free. Even during those times I don't "feel" particularly free, I know I am. 10
Don t just look at this list and gloss over it. THIS IS THE TRUTH! I know you don t feel like it, look like it and your circumstances and experience don t agree with it. Neither do mine. BUT THE TRUTH IS YOU ARE PERFECT AND COMPLETE IN CHRIST (Col. 1:27, Heb. 10:14). How could anyone struggle with an addiction if he believes the above is true? STOP believing your feelings are telling the truth. STOP trying to stop sinning and do better. STOP listening to the world, the flesh and the devil and believe the truth. It will set you free. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:32, 36) 11
That is the pure, unvarnished truth of who you are. God doesn t tell you that so you will feel better. He tells you the true truth and the real reality. Will you believe it or not? If you don t Satan will keep jerking you around like a bulldog with a rag doll. Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Good! You re in a great place to totally give up on yourself and what you can do and begin to believe the truth of who you are in Christ and experience the peace, joy and freedom that is yours in Christ. It is yours for the taking believe it, receive it, take it! It s your birthright as a child of God. It is the only way you will ever be free. 12
The Hebrew word is bitter or to make bitter. This stronghold weighs a person down with shame and guilt. Every defeated person in bondage feels guilty and condemned. Neil Anderson has said that the #1 common denominator in a Christian who is defeated and in bondage is they don t know who they are in Christ. The second one is that they believe they are guilty and live under condemnation and shame. What s the answer? Simply to understand the cross has dealt with our sins once for all. Here again, this is just a basic of what the gospel has provided FORGIVENESS! Sin is no more. It has been dealt with. If you are trying to stop sinning and get free you are living in deception because you are already free!!! 13
Are Christians guilty? NOT unless the cross didn t work! Who are you? Are you a product of the past or of the cross? Do you accept yourself just the way you are? You must accept yourself to be free. They way to do that is to forgive yourself. Of course you are already forgiven so all you re really doing is just receiving the forgiveness that has been given to you. Many people including Mike s wife say that is when they finally found their freedom, when they were able to forgive themselves and accept themselves just the way they are. God forgives you of all your sins, past, present and future and accepts you just the way you are. Will you forgive & accept yourself? 14
The last judgment for the Christian was at the cross. There is no more sin to be paid for. It has been paid in full. There is no more sin, condemnation, guilt, shame, judgment, and punishment (Rom. 8:1). When will we believe the truth of the gospel? God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21). That is the gospel. Christ took all our sin and gave us His righteousness. Sin has been taken care of and is no more. When you focus on trying not to sin, do right, and get free you are believing the lie that you are not free and following Satan s prescription for bondage. 15
As long as you believe you are guilty and deserve to be punished and condemned you will live in total defeat and cruel bondage. This lie along with the stronghold of hopelessness and low self-esteem are very powerful and rob many Christians of the freedom and victory that is theirs in Christ. If Christ lives in you (Gal. 2:20) and is your life (Col. 3:4) and you are one spirit with Him (1Cor. 6:17), what else do you need? You need to believe the truth! And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. (1 Thess. 2:13 NIV) 16
The Hebrew word Poverty means defenseless socially and subject to oppression and has no inheritance. It signifies a person with no friends, help or support. It is a person with no meaningful relationships. Our greatest need is to be loved and accepted, but Satan s goal for us is to believe that we are insecure and rejected with no friends, no support and meaningful relationships. This doesn t mean that the person has no friends or support, but that they believe that they don t. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as they continue in their addiction and run people off and eventually end up isolated without any meaningful support. 17
This was my (Mike s) biggest stronghold. Fear, insecurity and rejection ruled him. When he was overcome with it and at times had panic attacks, the only thing that seemed to help was alcohol. But the final result was always more feelings of fear, insecurity and rejection. Sometimes he still has those feelings, but he knows they are just feelings and not the truth and he doesn t have to let those feelings define who he is and determine his behavior. Feelings come and go, but the truth remains the same. Feelings never measure up with the truth and if we let our feelings guide us we will never experience freedom. 18
All of us have looked for love in all the wrong places. I certainly was but I was like dog chasing a car. If I ever caught one I didn t know what to do with it. But the unconditional love and acceptance we so desperately need is not out there. People who direct Christian treatment centers say that this is a major problem. If a guy or a gal meets someone who gives them the time of day they will leave the center and take off with them. People don t go to bars just for alcohol. They are looking for love and acceptance. GOD IS LOVE! It is not found anywhere else. We don t have to look for it and pursue it.. All we have to do is believe and receive it. The old self that you were is crucified, dead, buried and is no more and the God who is love is living in you. He loved you and gave Himself for you (Gal. 2:20) and is now your life (Col. 3:4). What else do you need?!?! 19
Have you realized that Jesus is in the Father and you are in Him and He is in you? As I drove back from FL in 1988 after a drunken binge, I listened to Anabel Gilham teach on this verse. Her main point was If everything has to go through the Father, then through Jesus and when it gets to you it finds you filled with Jesus, what is there to fear? But what struck me was if that is true, what else do I need, but I didn t really understand it. I asked God to reveal the truth to me and He did two months later when I believed that I had been crucified with Christ and I no longer lived but Christ lived in me (Gal. 2:20) and Christ was my life (Col. 3:4) and I was dead to sin & freed from it (Rom. 6:6, 7). Am I living a sinless life? No, but I have been living free from addiction for 29 years. 20
I (Mike) have been a Christian for 47 years, I ve been in ministry for 40 years. I was a Christian for 18 years and struggled with alcoholism for 8 years before I found my freedom. I have never seen anyone get free from any addictive behavior until they learn the truth of who they are in Christ. Bob George in his book, Classic Christianity says A person has no identity apart from his relationship with someone or something. That s why we will latch onto anything in our desperate need to discover who we are. The interesting thing is that the truth is we are already free. All we have to do is believe the truth. DON T BE AFRAID, ONLY BELIEVE!!! 21
Legalism is nothing but self-effort. It is directed toward good, spiritual things and we get lots of positive encouragement to do them. We may make a good effort and do them for awhile, but we cannot maintain them. Jesus said Apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5). Paul said You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (Gal. 3:1 3 NIV). Yes, most of us are. They are good spiritual things, but done in the flesh John 6:63 says The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 22
The definition of insanity is Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. That seems to describe most recovery ministries and the way the church deals with addiction. The things they are telling people to do are good, but the problem is that they are unable to do them because they are in bondage. In Christian recovery ministries, they do not leave Jesus out, but it is always Jesus plus what you do. BUT JESUS PLUS NOTHING = EVERYTHING! To add to what Jesus has done is nothing but blatant unbelief. He has done it. IT IS FINISHED! So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don t get tied up again in slavery to the law (Gal.5:1 NLT). Will we believe Him? Will we receive the truth that 23
sets free? 23
We need to realize that we cannot live the Christian life in our own strength and effort, but we don t have to as Christ is our life and is living in us. It is at our point of weakness and failure that we experience the power of Christ. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9 10 NIV). In your own strength and wisdom you can do nothing. But I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13 ESV). 24
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Here s young man sitting next to his pastor telling him about his self- improvement program to improve himself. He hasn t been convinced that apart from Christ he can do nothing. As I heard Bill Bright say Nothing is a zero with both sides rubbed off. Are you convinced that you can t improve yourself, get free from your addictive behavior or sanctify yourself? If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Gal. 6:3 NIV) 25
Do you have a program to improve yourself? I (Mike) have had numerous ones, and most of them were spiritual (Bible study and memorization, prayer, fasting, etc.) but I always ended up worse then when I started. The offense of the cross is that there is NOTHING we can do to improve ourselves. We were born sinners and had a relapse. The only way we are changed is through the cross, I have been put to death on the cross with Christ; still I am living; no longer I, but Christ is living in me; and that life which I now am living in the flesh I am living by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who in love for me, gave himself up for me (Gal. 2:20 BBE). 26
This pastor unlike many has a good theology on the understanding of man. You cannot improve yourself. You cannot get more spiritual by what you do. As Martin Luther said 500 years ago, Nothing you do helps you spiritually, only faith in Christ does. BUT GOD has taken care of it. He has crucified you with Christ and raised you up as a new creation. Christ is your life and you are dead to sin and freed from it. Your task is not to do anything, but simply believe the truth of what Christ has done and who you are in Christ. All of our straining, striving and struggling shows we don t believe the truth that sets free. 27
Most Christians are ensnared in the stronghold of legalism (self-effort). This includes many missionaries, pastors and those who want their lives to count for Christ. I know as I (Mike) was one of them.it also includes many struggling with addictive behavior who are trying to get free and live the Christian life. I know as I was also one of them. Jesus said, Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32 NIV). We are set free not by how we behave, but by what we believe. If we believe Rom. 6:6, 7 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. we will be free. How? Why? Because we are free! 28
You must know 1) That you are dead to sin and freed from it as Christ is your life and you no longer live, but Christ lives in you (Gal. 2:20). This is who you are. When you know and believe who you are in Christ, you will be free. You also must know 2) You are dead to the law, redeemed from it and are no longer under law as it has been nailed to the cross Having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross (Col 2:14). There are no more shoulds, oughts and musts in the Christian life. There is nothing to do, but believe the truth. DON T SHOULD ON YOURSELF! 29
An understanding of grace is an absolute to freedom. Grace says that God has done it. Grace says it is finished. Grace says that you are loved, accepted, freed from sin and dead to it, and Christ is your life whether you feel like it or not. It is grace because you had nothing to do with it as God has already done it. It s the truth and when you believe it you will begin to experience the freedom that is ours in Christ. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Rom. 6:14 NIV) 30
In one of Steve Brown s book he tells of his daughter who went to one of her first classes in college and as the teacher laid out the requirements for the class she realized she couldn t possibly do it. She asked her Dad to go with her to drop the class. She told the teacher who was Jewish and the teacher said What if I guaranteed you that you would make an A no matter what you do, would you take the course? The daughter replied that she would. She took the course, fulfilled all the requirements and made an A. You have aced the course. You can relax. You can t mess up, no matter what you do, have done or will do. A lot of us quote Rom. 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Do we 31
believe it?! 31
Probably the greatest and most effective lies Satan tells us is that it is up to us. It is so easy to believe that lie. Of course I believe that it is up to me. I have Jesus so I should be able to do what I should do. But once I have taken the responsibility I have stepped out of Christ (not literally, but figuratively) and when I step out of Christ and depend on myself (my flesh) I step out of freedom and victory that has been given to me. As Watchman Nee said we don t fight for victory, but out of and from the victory that has been given to us. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:57 NIV). You need to know that the addiction may be to a substance, but the stronghold that keeps you addicted and in bondage is the lie you believe about yourself. No one gets free until they believe the truth of who they are in Christ. 32
This excerpt from a poem by Roy Hession sums it up beautifully. It is always all of grace. God does it. He has done it. Jesus did it long, long ago. IT IS FINISHED! There is nothing for us to do. Will we believe it? What is my goal in life? Where do I need to get to? What should I do? What should I achieve, attain or accomplish? What do I need to do? When I realize that I have everything as I have Christ in me then I have arrived. If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:31 32 NIV). 33
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Call or email us if you have any questions or need more information. Check out our websites. Check out the store on freedfromaddiction.org for a list of resources. Check out Vernon s website at freenhim.org for more resources on the truth that sets free. 35
Unforgiveness is most likely Satan s #1 weapon to keep people in bondage. Neil Anderson has said that if he were reduced to one message it would be forgiveness. Why would he say that? Forgiveness is the only way to get free from your past and all the hurts. To be free from your past you must see your past in the light of who you are in Christ and you must forgive those who have wronged you. You will never be able to believe who you are in Christ until you have dealt with all the past hurts in your life through forgiveness. We will take a look at how all the negative things in your life have determined your identity (false) and shaped your life and robbed you of your freedom. 36