Helping Others Overcome Addictions

Do you know you have a Father who has promised to meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19)? For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:15-17, NIV).

Do you realize who you are? Do you realize that you are a joint heir with Christ? Do you realize that Christ is your life and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3, 4)? What else do you need? 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?  (Romans 8.32).  The good news is that unlike the prodigal son you do not have to travel anywhere to return home. You are already there. All you need to do is believe the truth of whose you are, who you are and where you are. You belong to the Father, you are His son and you are in Christ and He lives in you. Believing this truth and living in this reality equals freedom and victory.

So what do we need to do? Watchman Nee says, “Oh, it is a great thing to see that we are in Christ! Think of the bewilderment of trying to get into a room in which you already are! Think of the absurdity of asking to be put in! If we recognize the fact that we are in, we make no effort to enter”. Jesus says Remain in me, and I will remain in you (John 15:4). If you tell your dog to “stay” and remain where he is, what act do you want him to perform? If you tell your child to “remain here for a minute”, what action do you want him to take? Watchman Nee says, “The sin is always to do something”. So what do need to do to live free?

In living in the truth and abiding in Christ we are not trying to make ourselves do right and avoid sin, we are just acknowledging the truth that we are righteous as Christ is our life and we are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Rom. 6:11 means when it says, In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. We do it because it is true. The proper procedure is (1) Know the truth. The truth is you are loved and accepted, so (2) Believe the truth. You can do it. You believe that Jesus died for your sins and He lives in you and you can believe the truth that you are a unconditionally loved and accepted child of God, who is dead to sin. You may not feel like it, it may not look like it, but it is true, so believe it. (3) Act on the truth. Reckon it to be true. Consider it so and count on it because God said so. And what God says is the truth regardless of your feelings or circumstances. Appropriate it for yourself and chooses to trust what God says. (4) Then you will begin to feel like it. Well sort of, kind of, maybe sometimes, but our feelings will never completely measure up with the truth. When you woke up this morning you probably didn’t feel dead to sin, righteous, holy and blameless, but it does not alter the truth that you are.

Excerpted from "Helping Others Over Come Addiction" You can get the book here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=&PID=775