Can God Really Help You?

Yes he can! He has delivered me!

Some of you reading this may only be struggling with one of the above, but some of you may be struggling with them all. Unfortunately I fell into the second group: I had problems with alcohol, drugs, smoking and eating. It didn’t happen overnight. I didn’t wake up one morning and think ‘right, today I think I’ll get myself addicted to a few things.’ It happened slowly, over a period of time. Neither can I blame any one thing, I was a dancer and the need to be thin certainly contributed, but so did the many struggles of growing up and various relationships in my life. Each time pain came along I dug a little deeper into the pit of addiction, but as we all know there is no light at the bottom of the pit, it just gets deeper and darker. It was only when I looked up that I saw light, the light of Jesus and I realised that God was holding out his hand to help me out of the deep dark pit that I was in.

I believe and know that God can heal and set people free instantly, but I was not one of them. I spent a lot of time worrying about that and thinking that I was doing something wrong. However, when I just pushed into him, turned to him broken time and time again, I realised that his way is better.  It is not what I do that matters (doing it and trying not to do it). What matters is that I am close to him, that I run to him and pour out myself, that I lie broken at his feet and cry out ‘save me out of this dark pit’.  Then I can hear his wise, peaceful voice speaking to me. Then he can change me from the inside, telling me what he thinks I should do. It is important to trust that he knows what’s best for you.  He knows you so much better than you know yourself. He has the wisdom to set you free and knows how to go about it in the way that is best for you.

God began to speak to me about specific things he wanted me to be obedient in.  The sooner I obeyed the sooner I could get over the mountain I was facing at that stage. I was focusing on the final ‘stop...’ but he first wanted obedience in smaller things which were vital to my healing.  I wanted my eating disorders to be sorted out first, but he wanted to deal with substance abuse first.  It is so amazing to know the Almighty God who is all powerful and all knowing.  In psalm 139 we are told that he knit us together in our mother’s womb.

We have an enemy in this world. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. He tempts you to do things and when you have done them, he comes back around to make you feel guilty. I knew that I was in sin and was so burdened by the guilt and shame of it.  But you know what is amazing; is that God looks at our heart.  I might still have been sinning in the body, but my mind and heart wanted it no more.  I wanted to be free to sin no more, I wanted ALL of Jesus.
Struggling with sin is nothing new. The great apostle Paul struggled with sin.

      “Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Romans 7:13-25

(My mom was so sweet, she says I used to speak to her about everything, all confused about what to do and then finish with verse 25 anyway.)

And God in His loving kindness told me that he was looking at my heart.  He gave me love and grace to get out of it.  In my flesh I was sinning, I was a slave to it, but in my mind I was after God.  So hang onto that, don’t sit in your sin, Jesus has set us free.

       ‘’Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.’’ Hebrews 12:1-2

      ‘’You put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which is being created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.’’ Ephesians 4:22-24     

      ‘’Reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’’ Romans 6:11

(Read the whole of Romans 6 & 8)

Addictions steal our willpower- and will power is not some sort of mustering of strength from within to do the right thing, it is the ability to use our will to choose.  If you want freedom then you have to use your free will to choose Jesus. In Romans 12 we are told that we have to change the way we think, we have to transform our minds. We do this by focusing on Jesus and the truth of his word.  Once your mind is renewed in the Truth, the behaviour will line up.  You are NOT an alcoholic, you are NOT a bulimic, and you are not a slave to your sin.  You are a child of the living God, redeemed, saved and sanctified.  Separate the behaviour from your identity.

       ‘’ The exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.’’ Ephesians 1:19-20

The power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.  That is what you have been blessed with.  The more you are filled with the Truth (reading the word, listening to God and praying); the more sinful behaviour will lose its hold.  The lie will be exposed by the Truth.  So don’t focus on your behaviour, but on your closeness with the Living God and Jesus Christ His Son.

I remember battling to stop to drinking.  At that stage I had been set free from drug abuse and smoking.  I had been praying that the Lord would really powerfully help me here; I was getting desperate, because I could just not do it on my own, and I had given up trying.  I was walking my dog in the park and I was planning to stop at the shop to buy wine. God gave me this inner strength to walk past the shop. I went home without any wine!  He made a way.

Also another wonderful way that he helps is that he can stop the desire, making it unappealing.  He did that powerfully with smoking (He did it with all my struggles).  After spending a couple of days praying for him to make it un-enjoyable, because I was tired of trying to stop on my own, I was sitting having a cigarette and it was disgusting. Halleluiah! I don’t stop after that one, but a couple of weeks later I gave up completely. I learned to grab those ‘turning point’ moments that he graciously gives.

It was amazing!  Now let me tell you he has done that many times with various things, but on occasion I would rebel and go backwards.  What a struggle!  And when I rebelled he was quiet, I had to seek him again for his help.  Thankfully His mercies are new every morning, but he wants our desire to be serious.  When you fall or sin, turn to Jesus as soon as possible, don’t sit in the guilt/shame pit, but turn to Him and cry out, ask for forgiveness and ask for healing.  God lifts a broken spirit.

      ‘’Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10

      ‘’Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’’  Hebrews 4:16 (Worth reading from verse 12)

       ‘’No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to near it.’’ I Corinthians 10:13

So God must do the work and the changing and you must work with Him.

       ‘’Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you to will and to do His good pleasure.’’ Philippians 2:13

Don’t do it your way, do it his way.  Doing it my way sent me on detours, downward spirals. Do it his way one step at a time, because he only gives us what we can handle for that moment.  Just enough light for the step you are on!

 He speaks to you, and he does this in many ways; through people, the verse that jumps out at you from the bible, through the church and by actually hearing from him.  He is that clear thought that penetrates the jumble, it brings with it wisdom, peace and comfort. 
Open your ear and your heart to Him and He will set you free – free indeed!!

       ‘’Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.  To God our saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.’’ Jude 24-25

Lots of Love

Dom