Pastor Christina continued our Self-Inflicted series and spoke on the topic of addiction. No matter where you find yourself as it pertains to addiction, we can find freedom as we take the courageous steps forward to acknowledge and become aware of where we currently are. What started as a longing for pleasure can easily turn into a coping mechanism for pain. There are two types of addictions: behavioral addiction and substance addiction. Whether it’s behavioral or substance, addiction can cause us to go on a search to numb the pain and discomfort of our lives rather than searching for what can fill the void that only Jesus can fill. Certain life-altering events can lead us to ease the pain. There are three categories of people as it pertains to addiction:
• They are in bondage but don’t know it.
• They are in bondage and know it.
• They are in bondage and want to be free but feel paralyzed in the healing process.
We have a choice to make. Do we seek God and professional help? Or do we run to numb the pain? We cannot heal if we conceal. A powerful and strategic process to help us overcome and move forward in our healing is to confess, respond, expect, and declare. Jesus came to set the captives free! We can all find freedom as we seek God and seek professional help! Now is the time to stop allowing our past to dictate our present. What’s on the other side of freedom is a life of healing and redemption. Listed below are five keys to your freedom, additional scripture readings, and declarations to speak over your life and healing.
5 Keys to Freedom:
• Presence of God
• Prepare
• Ask for help
• Know your triggers
• Protect the rules for recovery at all costs
Sermon Scriptures:
• Romans 7:15-23
Additional Scriptures:
• Galatians 5:1
• Romans 6:7
• 2 Corinthians 3:17
• John 8:32
• 1 Peter 2:16
Main Point: You can’t receive freedom until you first recognize you are in bondage.
Reflective Questions for the Week:
• In what areas of your life do you see addiction?
• What are the triggers that lead to you engaging in these addictions?
• What is one thing you can do this week to help you start your recovery process?
• What would your life look like if you were free from addiction? *Journal this, see this, feel this.
Statements to declare over your life:
• I am free from the bondage of addiction over my life.
• My family is free from the bondage of addiction.
• Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world.
• God is the only way to fill the voids of my heart.
