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Recovering From Addiction

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How far are you willing to go in destroying your life with an addiction?

Written by David on 28/03/2017

Series: Weekly Devotional

Tags: Repentance, Forgiveness, New Life, Restitution, Brokenness

If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot.

James 5:16

The end of the line for an addicted person is a self-made prison with four walls — Terror, Confusion, Frustration and Despair. There seem to be no doors or windows, and fear fills your life as you see that you’ve embraced self-destruction of your own accord. There is no protection for what awaits you in the deepest, darkest, isolated, solitary moment of an out-of-control life of sin.

God’s Word is there to give you hope. But first there must be a "death:" “In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.” (Romans 6:11) This is because the hope is not found in yourself: “I know that my selfish desires won’t let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot.” (Romans 7:18)

Apathy Gives the Enemy Power

Do you spend a daily time with the Lord? Make it a daily quest in your life. Many days I falter in this goal to be in the presence of the Lord through His Word. But I know that my mind, left to itself, will wander to a place of apathy. And I know where this leads: shame, anxiety and destruction. This is what the Bible calls evidence of the "natural man:" a sinful nature seeded in our heart. “More than anything else, a person's mind is evil and cannot be healed. No one truly understands it.” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Where are You Looking for Your Fulfillment?

King David allowed his own heart to wander. It threw him into the four-walled prison: Terror, Confusion, Frustration and Despair. “In the spring, when the kings normally went out to war, David sent out Joab, his servants, and all the Israelites. They destroyed the Ammonites and attacked the city of Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. While he was on the roof, he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful.” (2 Samuel 11:1-2) King David should have been fighting alongside his men as other kings went out to war. Instead, he stayed behind, allowing his eyes and mind to wander and looking at the beautiful Bathsheba. He fixed his eyes and didn’t turn away. Acting against God’s will according to his own desires resulted in an unexpected sequence of events. His sinful thoughts and pattern of behavior led to a terrible outcome.

Hope is Found in Brokenness Before God

God searches the heart to find what is good in us. The good is what He has planted. It is a seed that yearns to have a true, authentic relationship with Him. You must have a broken spirit, as David eventually expressed: "I know about my sins, and I cannot forget my terrible guilt. You are really the one I have sinned against; I have disobeyed you and have done wrong. So it is right and fair for you to correct and punish me." (Psalm 51:5-6)

And Once You Have Confessed and Received His Restoration…

Focus on what is hopeful and favorable. “Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8) True faith continues to take God at His word. “If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful. Christ cannot deny who he is.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

This is the turning point of our conversion: repentance, total acceptance and submission to Him through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit living in us. In spite of this, it’s possible to wander in dissatisfaction, looking to fulfill our lives with worldly pleasures and worthless things. When we do this, we can quickly be distracted from God. Losing our perspective about what is important leaves us with emptiness. So the temporary pleasure ends with shame and self-destructive despair. It’s like falling on the sword of our own actions and desires.

The Path of Restoration for a Broken, Sinful Life

God is the answer for the broken hearted and sinful man. Addiction may have taken you to a place of desperation and even complete destruction of some things in your life. Remember that God is much bigger than any "hopeless" situation. Yet there has to be a complete turnaround. You must confess. Admit your sinful habits. Complete confession means confronting your ways from the moment they led you away from God all the way to the end. You need true, transparent, genuine repentance. God will forgive your sin if you confess. (1 John 1:7-10)

Pray this week:

Lord, keep me safe from the sinful ways of my heart. Fill my heart and mind with your thoughts and keep me in the path of righteousness. Create in me a pure heart and make my spirit right again. Amen

Your story could be complicated, like that of Zacchaeus. (Luke 19:1-10) 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

The Darkness or the Light

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Are you worshipping in the light?

Written by GodLife on 13/11/2018

Series: Weekly Devotional

Tags: Church, Cults, Religion, God, Jesus

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

John 12:46

The old saying, “All that glitters is not gold,” is truth. Just because something looks like gold and feels like gold does not mean it is gold. Have you ever heard of fool’s gold? It looks like the real thing, but it is worthless. Those who know the real thing well enough know the difference. 

On the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Paul (Acts 9) and told him he was to open the eyes of the Jews and the Gentiles to bring them out of the darkness into the light, from the power of Satan to the power of God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin and have a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Him. Where do you stand? Are you worshipping in darkness or in light? 

Only One God

There is only one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If you are in a church that only focuses on one person of the Holy Trinity, it is not of the Light. Similarly, when a church’s doctrine adapts the Bible’s teachings to conform to a separate religion, it is not of the Light. There is only one way to the Father: it is through Jesus Christ, God the Son (John 14:6). There is only one Holy Spirit given to indwell and guide us, and He points us to the Savior of the World.  

“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” (Isaiah 44:6) 

Sound churches go by many different names but share the same biblical doctrines. Those who are in Jesus have life because they receive these essential doctrines and have asked Him to save them. They have become a new creation. We are no longer a member of the darkness and must have nothing to do with the world’s pagan religions or practices. We are now in the Light, and we should behave as children of light. (Ephesians 5:8)

Demonic Practices

In some African and Latin American societies, Yoruba religion and other tribal practices with witchcraft, spiritism and demon guides have been blended with Catholicism or some other forms of Christianity. This practice has created new man-made religions such as Santería, Candomble and Voodoo with their demon spirit guides and curses. They are satanic in origin. These demons are disguised as Catholic saints and are worshiped. Animal and even human sacrifice may also be involved.  

Some in Hindu societies add Jesus Christ to the list of Hindu idols to be worshipped as one of their pagan gods. Hindi Christians sometimes find it difficult to come out of participating in pagan Hindu religious practices. As Christians we are to leave the darkness behind. To become a Christian is not to accept a foreign culture associated with Christianity, but to trade darkness for the Kingdom of God. 

“You shall not make for yourself any graven image of anything and bow down to it or serve it.” (Exodus 20:4-5)

Come out of the darkness and into the light. God is light, love and life. He brings joy and peace.

“…for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true…  try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Ephesians 5:9–11)

Counterfeit Religion

Any other religion mixed with Christianity makes a separate religion. Chrislam is an example of this. Chrislam also began with the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, but has now spread around the world. Chrislam is an attempt to mix Islam and Christianity. Chrislam denies one of the essentials: the deity of Christ Jesus. It treats both the Quran and the Bible as Holy texts. Since the Bible contradicts the teachings of Islam, in Bangladesh a new translation of the Bible has been produced, which changes terms and names in order to refer to Jesus as only a prince or Master. 

In effect, in Chrislam all become Muslim because the full doctrine of Christ is denied. Christ is the Lord, God the Son and the only way to God. Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man comes to the Father but by me.” To deny this fact is not to not believe the whole doctrine of Christ. In addition, scripture clearly says if you do not have the Son, the Saviour of the World, you do not have the Father either.

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for; but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” (2 John 7-10)  

Chrislam, Santería, Candomblé, Vodun and New Age Christianity are counterfeits. They are of the darkness because they deny the Trinity. We are saved only by our faith in the sacrifice of the Son of God and receiving Him as our Lord and Savior. Christianity is about Christ. Fear of persecution leads many into the delusion that a compromise religion would be better. But if we deny Christ, He will deny us. (Matthew 10:33) Christ did not come to give mankind a way to salvation. He said He was “the Way”, and that no one could come to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)

A child of God cannot worship Jesus in these man-made, false religions. It would be trying to walk with one foot in the light and one in the darkness. It is following a glittering deception: a false peace motivated by fear. Just because something includes Christian terms or practices does not mean it is the real thing. Many first-century Christians were persecuted or martyred when they did not compromise their faith. In peacefully obeying His call to take up their cross and follow Him, they turned the world upside down instead. (Acts 17:6)

Pray this week:

Lord, Please, I only want your Light. Please keep me in your Light in all of my ways.

God loves you. Are you in the darkness? Why not come into the Light? 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

How Long Will God Take to Answer My Prayer?

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Have you ever wondered, “Is God there? If He is, why doesn’t He answer my prayer?"

Written by Janet Perez Eckles on 18/09/2018
Series: Weekly Devotional
Tags: Anxiety, Peace, Prayer, Stress
Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Exodus 14:10-14
If you’ve asked yourself “how long God will take to answer my prayer?” You’re not alone, we’ve all been there! Even the Israelites join us in that grumbling. 

When Pharaoh ordered the Egyptians to march after the Israelites, they were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?’ It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14: 10-14)

Have you ever complained like that? Let’s we be honest, we all have. And that’s because we’re deep into our own struggles. We end up terrified like the Israelites. We grumble in the hot desert of frustration. And as we trudge through the dry land of conflict, of uncertainty and nervousness, we desperately look for God’s answer, a clear path, a solution; we look to be rescued now.

But no one is there. And we have our own Egyptians called stress and anxiety that chase us, threatening to ruin our day.

But if Moses were alive today, he might post a message to all of us, “Do not fret, God will fight your battles. His answer is already here. You need only to be still.”

That’s because it’s in the still of His presence that His peace can fill our nights. In the still of our heart is when His whisper brushes through. And in the still of the moment is when we see His promises come alive.

Pray this week:
Father, calm my heart, whisper your answer into my longing. Silence the distractions so I can see your answer to my prayer. In Jesus name. Amen.

Can you tell me, in the midst of your hectic life, what keeps you from being still enough to hear His answer? 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member