Tag Archive for: Josh Staton

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Overcome -Bible Study Lesson on Addiction – Week 16

Bible Study Lesson on Addiction - Week 16 of the Overcome Curriculum by Joshua Staton

Anger & Clarity

Miosis – Lesson 16 of the Overcome Bible Study Lesson on Addiction

One of the more problematic results of anger is that it clouds your vision and blinds you to facts, impeding decision making. But usually, we find this out after the fact. After we cool down we normally realize we shouldn’t have said that. Then you get the honor of having to be on clean-up detail. This is not a fun place to be, and if you frequent it too many times, you’ll find yourself casually purchasing an apartment there in the realm of lost compassion from those you have hurt. This becomes your new living arrangement. And no matter how much you think you can keep the different areas of your life compartmentalized and un-affected from anger, it will eventually spill over, just like every other sin. We think we can hide it when we have to, until it outgrows the closet and bursts into the living room, when you are entertaining in-laws. Learn more about the concepts of anger and clarity in this “Overcome” Bible Study Lesson on Addiction.

You see, there is a strange cathartic stage, if you will, much like the first real moments of sobriety, where the scales have fallen off of your eyes and you begin to see. You begin to see things that you didn’t know were there, you see things that you never paid attention to in the past, mostly yourself and your actions. This nauseating stage can be likened to when you wake up to a bright beam of sunlight that has found its way through the tiniest of cracks in your bedroom window curtains and landed upon your pupil. That instant that your pupil constricts, that slight twinge of pain, squinting and scrunching your face to somehow shut your eyes even tighter to block out the sadistic ray… time to face the day.

The conflict that goes on during this time, when you really begin to see who you are, can be contrasted between darkness; operated by anger, and light; clarity, being who we once were versus who we were made to be. This light may be foreign and initially discomforting, but once you get used to it, it makes going back into the darkness all the more repulsive.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

John 8:12

Opening a Can of Worms

I opened up a can of worms the first time I taught this specific class when I asked the question “What makes you angry?” Which has led me to including the following disclaimer: It is not up to me or another person to validate or invalidate your anger. All I can do is point you to scripture. I do not have the spiritual discernment to judge the motives or heart of another person, I can’t even judge my own properly.

Chances are that, based on my possibly faulty perspective, I have a 50/50 chance of looking at the situation wrongly to begin with. Then it becomes a heads or tails if I make the right or wrong decision. Why, because I may not have all the correct information and my own personal experience and taste regarding the subject. Which leads us to our next stop in this discussion, righteous anger and our own point of view.

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

Ephesians 4:26

If anger is something you find yourself dealing with, then just as with any other sin, we must make ourselves as aware as possible with our inner self. Often, we find ourselves justifying our anger. There is such a thing as righteous anger, or indignation. While anger is ok and a part of life, we must be especially careful to not chalk up outbursts to righteous anger. The easiest way to do this is asking yourself do you get angry at everything else God gets angry about, or is it only a few select items. What makes you angry, may not make me angry. Likewise, there are a few issues I have a personal history with that have become burdens to me when I see them occur or I am the recipient of such treatment. In other words, I am not necessarily angry with them offending God, but more the fact that I have been offended. God’s word is pretty clear on this point:

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Romans 12:17

It’s not a question of do you get angry or if you get angry. It’s more a question of why do you get angry and how do you handle it. Many times, when anger strikes it is in my weakest areas and people are watching me to see how I am going to react. It’s during these opportunities that come at the worst times, a chance for others to see Jesus in me, not the me within me.

The Roaring Lion

Truth be told, there are so many applications and directions we could go with this scripture. So, please hear me, what I teach out of this scripture is not the only thing there. There are other nuggets that can be drawn out such as: adversary, prowling, watchful or even generational. But for the intent of this study, I want to define a few words to tease out a logically implied cost.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

To devour means by any and all methods necessary, to consume entirely. To eat you up. Anger is typically built up and compounded over many situations and circumstances. It develops as we think about, talk about and get worked up about. We become ticking time bombs when we collect and find it hard to contain during the bottling process, firing passive aggressive warning shots across the bow of those who have offended. Like Chunk so clearly put in the Goonies, “That’s all I can stand, and I can’t stand no more!”

To be sober-minded and watchful is a choice. It is a quality and a description of that choice. It is not a feeling, but rather an intentional call to action, to be alert. Sometimes it is best to walk away from an argument. Sometimes it is actively choosing to starve the anger instead of feeding it. So much of gaining this clarity is from dwelling on scripture itself. Making a choice to apply scriptural guidance rather than scratching the itch of vengeance.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James 1:19

Overcome Bible Study Lesson on Addiction – Week 16
Application – Dredging

In a bit of transparency regarding this topic, I allowed many of the wrongs done to me in my younger years to generate feelings of anger and anti-social behavior. This anger resulted in a self-imposed isolation and de-valuing almost every other human I came into contact with. Because of allowing the trauma and anger to devour me, I became a drastically different person than what I imagined God designed me to be originally. Much of how I handled anger resulted in me misunderstanding God and directed misplaced hate towards Him for allowing the rejection, neglect and abuse. Handling anger wrongly cost me years and relationships I will never get back.

The main point is this, if you constantly find yourself erring on the side of anger as the go-to reaction to “unpleasant” things, there is a chance that you are allowing yourself to be devoured, and this isn’t one of those pictures of buzzards sitting on top of a carcass out in the desert, it is a lion with its head buried in the gazelles’ ribcage eating it from the inside out. With anger, everything can change in a moment and it usually does.  Below is a graphic of two words imposed on each other. See if you can figure out this visual puzzle:

Bible Study Lesson on Addiction - Anger Clouds our Vision

Anger clouds your vision and your reasoning. Powerful emotions like anger clouds your vision, it blinds you and obscures your vision, like clarity in who Jesus is. We do not want to devour ourselves or others. Know, that whatever the offense, Jesus’ death on the cross paid it. This is especially difficult when it appears that God is not bringing justice to the situation. We are all screwed up, and we are all in debt. We do not want to allow the devil to drive us to want to devour others, any more so than wanting to be devoured ourselves.

The “Overcome” Bible Study Lesson on Addiction is part of the discipleship program at First Contact Ministries in Hendersonville, NC.

Did you miss the other lessons in this series? Click see the entire Overcome Bible Study on Addiction series.

We always look forward to meeting new people at our Tuesday night support group meetings at 6:30 pm, located at Mud Creek Church in Hendersonville, NC.  Our classes are designed to teach biblical principles for addiction recovery through discipleship.  Our goal is to show the love of Jesus by supporting those who need it most.

For more information or to purchase “The Resistance” by Josh Staton to use as a Christian leadership book, or curriculum for an addiction recovery class, please visit: The Resistance: Becoming A Servant Leader Through the Beatitudes Christian Leadership Book

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Overcome – Christian Recovery Curriculum Lesson 14

Bitterness & Joy

A Phenomenal Mirror – Lesson 14 of the “Overcome” Christian Recovery Curriculum

Let’s jump right in and rip the band-aid off, shall we?  Can you trust your heart to lead you correctly in every decision life may throw at you?  How do you know your answer to this question is truthful and accurate? The simple answer to both questions:  you can’t. The heart is responsible for many things that are wonderful; poetry, love songs, weddings. As well as many things that are horrible; jealousy, divorce and murder.  The spiritual heart, as it turns out, is a phenomenal mirror that reflects the inside of the person of whom it dwells within. Follow along in this lesson of the “Overcome” Christian recovery curriculum to learn more.

We will use a fundamental engineering maxim and an analogy to illustrate this concept of form following function.  Imagine a plain water bottle. It’s intended function, its purpose is to act as a container for liquids, specifically for water.  That is its main function. While in a pinch, it may make a useful funnel when you are stuck on the side of the road and need to add oil to your car, or it can even hold pre-mixed pancake batter on a camping trip.  But by and large it best serves its purpose as a container for water, regardless of its form.  

So, with that basic premise, how is a water bottle and a 55-gallon drum any different in function?  One major piece we took for granted, the ease of use. At times it is easy to focus on the forest and miss the trees.  Some pieces of knowledge we take for granted and never really question why we have those beliefs and where did they come from?  And even more poignant, what function does it serve? Our spiritual hearts are much the same. We know it is there and we know what it is supposed to do, but don’t really know what questions we need to ask for it to reach its full potential, as God designed it.

Our application tonight will be a reiteration of a previous application and for some it will be the single hardest thing they will ever have to give up in their entire life.  So, trust me when I say this isn’t going to be easy. It is one thing to cover bitterness when life is good. It is a completely different subject when you have just been reminded of why you are bitter to begin with.  It is a strange animal when you can’t see God because of the storm that has surrounded you and you have to rely on your faith that He is who He says He is.

A Relational Heart Disease

The Hebrew word for heart translates to the inner man, the mind, the will.  It is the same idea for the Greek word that Jesus uses in Luke 12:34, which translates to the thoughts or feelings.  So, if we take this metaphysical concept for the heart, it is the central part of us that is responsible for generating much of who we are, how we perceive life and what we do with life.  The heart was created to generate compassion, mercy, care and love, not hate and strife. It was created to house the spirit. And what’s more, we are completely incapable of judging another person’s heart.  Only God is able to discern what is within the heart. This truth makes the next set of observations all the more complicated.

Since bitterness is a relational heart disease, it just doesn’t manifest on its own.  When our spiritual heart is diseased it is no longer capable of guiding us and we become more reactionary in our decisions.  What may be a feeling of love today can just as easily become hate tomorrow. The heart is equipped to evolve and mutate based on what we feed it; projected expectations and fulfillment from other sinners, impatience to have our demands met and inconsistent emotional reactions.  A diet based solely on these inputs results in feelings and thoughts such as:

  • Don’t these people see how much I have sacrificed and worked on this, how can they not care?  I give up.
  • I’ll show them.  They will miss me when I am gone.
  • How could you God?  Why did you allow life to turn out this way?
  • Why did I trust you?  You have hurt me for the last time.  I will never forgive you.
  • Over my dead body.
  • Hurry up, why are you so slow?

You have to understand the why, what, how of the disease to properly treat it.  In other words, what is the root cause regardless of the form it takes.  We all want to be accepted, feel important, respected by someone else.  And when those feelings aren’t met, we are hurt. We feel angry and rejected. Sometimes we get over those feelings quickly, but sometimes, dependent on the offense and the offender we may choose to wallow in our bitterness.  Wallowing results in festering and further infection. That infection is commonly called a grudge. But in actuality it is a lack of forgiveness and showing of grace, especially when the offender is a loved one.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9

In attempting to understand that which by all accounts is non-understandable, I ask you to open your bibles and interact for a moment.  Go to Jeremiah 17. Pick up at verse 5 and go through verse 8. In these verses, God is describing the folly of trusting in man. The futility of trying to find value and appreciation from other people.  Since bitterness is relational and does not operate in a vacuum, we must not act surprised when other people fail at validating us. God’s design was not built that way. We are trying to make it function in a means that was never intended.

Likewise, in our anchor verse, God also describes the folly of trusting and following one’s own heart.  As Proverbs 14:10 says, “The heart knows its own bitterness…” Why? Because it keeps a record of all the wrongs that have been done.  It keeps a tally and corresponding payment it expects. And until that payment has been made, it accrues interest, making it a debt that can never be paid.

However, in verses 7 and 8, God describes what it is like to trust in Him, to joy.  Joy is not happiness. Happiness is based on circumstances and situations. Joy is not based on your bank account or how much your spouse approves of you.  Joy is a peace, a contentment, an ease of the soul. It is always in development and isn’t dependent on the world to sustain it. It is a confidence in God being who He says He is, in control and not subject to changing His mind like we are.  Joy is found in Jesus and it is a peace that guards your heart:

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 15:11

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

“Overcome” Christian Recovery Curriculum
Application – The example has been given

There are many moments in recovery and your walk with God that make absolutely no sense in the temporal realm of the day to day steps.  As we progress down that road, the truth never changes, but our understanding should expand and evolve as we are stretched through faith, obedience, experience and introspection; vital components needed to take our next step in this lesson.  Begin with the following question:

What has robbed you of your joy?

During this time of introspection, pay close attention to your heart as offenses are brought up.  This is a good first step at learning how to discern your heart. Do you find yourself justifying feelings or emotional reactions to past hurts?  Do you find yourself speeding past certain memories of events? Do you find yourself eager to do what you can to repair the relationship? The answers to the questions are a good reflection of the temperature of your heart.  

What we are attempting to do, on a much smaller scale is to model the same forgiveness Jesus showed to us on the cross.  He was willing to die to cover our wrongs. He was willing to die to reconcile us to an eternity with Him in heaven. He was willing to lay aside whatever debt and pay it on our behalf, all because the relationship was that important to Him.  He chose to forgive. We must also choose to forgive.

The “Overcome” Christian recovery curriculum is part of the discipleship program at First Contact Ministries in Hendersonville, NC.

Did you miss the other lessons in this series? Click see the entire Overcome Christian recovery curriculum series.

We always look forward to meeting new people at our Tuesday night support group meetings at 6:30 pm, located at Mud Creek Church in Hendersonville, NC.  Our classes are designed to teach biblical principles for addiction recovery through discipleship.  Our goal is to show the love of Jesus by supporting those who need it most.

For more information or to purchase “The Resistance” by Josh Staton to use as a Christian leadership book, or curriculum for an addiction recovery class, please visit: The Resistance: Becoming A Servant Leader Through the Beatitudes Christian Leadership Book

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Overcome – Faith-based Addiction Recovery Bible Study Lesson 12

  • Overcome Faith Based Addiction Recovery Bible Study

Captivity & Freedom

To Turn Around – Lesson 12 of the “Overcome” Faith-based Addiction Recovery Bible Study

 

The word captivity insinuates that someone or something has control over you.  It could be from a battle lost and you are now hostage or the act of slavery. The majority of time, whatever it is that holds you captive could care less about your well-being.  You jump when it says jump. You go when it says go. Shackled and in chains. Learn more about obtaining freedom in this lesson of the “Overcome” Faith-based Addiction Recovery Bible Study series.

Throughout this post, I will be using some old testament, churchy sounding words; sin, sacrifice, confession, repentance and glory.  I will attempt to describe them in such a way that the essence of them is illustrated and clear up some of the fog that may be surrounding them.  Understanding these words is crucial for grasping a hold of the concept of being a slave to sin or walking in the freedom of Christ. I honestly believe that if we can get this down, it will be a turning point in our lives, both presently and eternally.

I have humbly accepted the realization that there is nothing I can say or do that will affect what someone believes, unless I act like a madman and then they may believe I am all sixes and sevens.  Which thankfully for you and me, trying to change what another person believes is not my job. My job is to illustrate, as clearly as I can from my own point of view what I myself believe, and to reflect that in my outer words and actions, although I do fail often.

At some point in each of our walks, beliefs move from a point of struggle to fact.  From my own experience, whatever seems to be the loudest in my life, gets all of my attention and without thinking about it, I soon start shifting my beliefs.  Ignoring or acting like the following three facts are not true does not make them any less factual, the same way that gravity does not require your belief.

  1.  We all sin.  We almost always err to the side of our humanness.  Humans are notorious for sinful behavior. Sin essentially means you are actively choosing to go against what God has said.  Sin is rooted within the self of each of us. Sin does not consider the cost or weigh the outcome. Put simply, it means chasing your desires regardless of the damage it will create.
  2.  Sin will always lead to suffering.  That suffering may take form of spiritual, physical, mental or emotional slavery and separation from a Holy God, from family members and from friends.  Sin hurts, sin is deadly and the debt it incurs has to be covered somehow, just like in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve first sinned. When they sinned, they recognized they were naked and God sacrificed an animal to cover their nakedness, their sin.
  3.  We, ourselves, cannot heal the sin and suffering in any lasting way.  The best we can hope for is to find a distraction. In other words, we cannot reach success when attempting to work our way into freedom.  When we attempt to do this, we are trying to justify ourselves based on the law. The law is not meant to save, but rather to judge. The law is meant to condemn the accused.

These three facts are the basis for understanding the severity of our situation.  As Romans 3 says “all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” Once we begin to reach a level of awareness and maturity, these facts lead to two actions: confession and repentance.

Confession of one’s sins is when we take responsibility for what we have done.  We do not hide the sin any longer. We go to God and acknowledge our wrong doings, our trespasses, and ask His forgiveness.    We do this because He is a just God, full of mercy, as scripture says, “He is faithful to forgive.”

Repentance is a Greek military term that means to turn around.  Imagine a squadron is marching due east when the captain bellows “Halt.”  The procession comes to a screeching stop. The captain then yells out “Repent” and the entire squadron spins on their heels and begins marching to the west.  In our spiritual lives, repentance means that we will stop going in the direction that is rebellious to God’s command and walk in the opposite direction.

If you are free…

Right now, if I were to ask you, are your thoughts, beliefs or actions were most influential, what would your answer be?  I am convinced one of these are the most powerful for each of us. If something gains control over you, it can affect how you handle situations, react to bad news, even what you would choose to kill for or die for.  One of these keeps you in slavery or releases you into freedom. One of these will most commonly make your decisions. One of these will be your yoke.

For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

Now, suppose I asked you what freedom meant to you, could you answer it?  As a teenager, what did it feel like when you got a little taste of freedom from your parents and their rules, even if for an hour?  We sowed our wild oats and learned about the real world, stuff you can’t learn under your parent’s roof. We get our first speeding ticket, for example, and hopefully learn not to speed again.  Notice at the end of the verse above, Paul says “…and do not submit again…” Again.  But for whatever reason, we enjoyed the thrill of it.  Went back to school and relived the entire moment over for our friends.  However though, there is a cost associated with this example, our insurance premium has now risen, which means we will now have to figure out how to cover the cost.

This is a fairly harmless example, but within it exists a core concept.  Eleanor Roosevelt said, “With freedom comes responsibility.” Jesus has established this freedom for us.  Our responsibility is to not submit again. Resist. If the desires of your heart are constantly leaving you to pick up the check, if our thoughtless habits are dictating our very existence day to day, or if the belief that God is angry and distant, we have to wipe the sleep from our eyes and realize we are bound in slavery to something other than God’s truth and plan.

“Overcome” – Faith-based Addiction Recovery Bible Study

Application – what are you doing with your freedom?

At any given moment during the day I am submitting, the only variable is whom I am serving.  Am I serving myself; my desires, my selfish pursuits, my fame or fortune? Or am I serving a loving God that has supplied me with talents and gifts to build His kingdom, something that is everlasting and not temporal?  I feel that too many times, we prescribe to the thought that the Christian walk is something that is devoid of freedom or joy. God did not set out to make little replicas of the exact same person. No, He shows His creativity and handiwork because of our differences.  We each are unique, with our own personalities and special gifts. This leads us to our concluding thought, it’s not so much the question of what we do, but why we do it. The following two verses illustrate this concept, the first verse addressing the what, and the second facilitates the why:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:5

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

When we are in slavery, we are unable to truly love God with all of our heart, soul and might.  Choosing to be a slave to sin impedes our decision to walk in freedom. We may want to be free, but our actions say otherwise.  Consistent choices dictate what we really believe. The second verse is where we find our freedom, in whatever we do in the name of Jesus.  If you are a single mother, a factory worker, a school bus driver, a struggling artist; do it with the intention of bringing glory to God alone.  This is the why behind why you do what you do.  So, I ask you, if you are free, what are you doing with your freedom?  Are you going back to patterns that encourage a lifestyle of slavery to sin or are you walking out your freedom through a relationship with Jesus Christ?  Can you say about every decision and thought, whatever it is, that it will be done in the name of Jesus for God’s glory? If you knew you were free, what would you be doing right now that shows that you have accepted and honored that freedom?

The “Overcome” Faith-based Addiction Recovery Bible Study is part of the discipleship program at First Contact Ministries in Hendersonville, NC.

Did you miss the other lessons in this series? Click see the entire Overcome Faith-based Addiction Recovery Bible Study  series.

We always look forward to meeting new people at our Tuesday night support group meetings at 6:30 pm, located at Mud Creek Church in Hendersonville, NC.  Our classes are designed to teach biblical principles for addiction recovery through discipleship.  Our goal is to show the love of Jesus by supporting those who need it most.

For more information or to purchase “The Resistance” by Josh Staton to use as a Christian leadership book, or curriculum for an addiction recovery class, please visit: The Resistance: Becoming A Servant Leader Through the Beatitudes Christian Leadership Book

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Overcome – Faith Based Addiction Recovery Study Lesson 11

Overcome - Faith Based Addiction Recovery Guide

Deception & Integrity

Moorings of the Web – Lesson 11 of the “Overcome” Faith Based Addiction Recovery Study

There was a quote about a tangled web and deceiving we’ve all heard from our grandparents before.  Deception is a messy game, and I’m not sure of many instances it ever paid off in the long run. When we deceive others, we want them to believe the lie.   When we deceive ourselves, we want to believe the lie. Follow along in Lesson 11 of the “Overcome” – Faith Based Addiction Recovery Study to learn more about deception and rebuilding our character.

Throughout this course, we have been dissecting motivating factors for addiction.  In this post, we will be looking at a casualty of not only addiction, but of sin in general: our character.   Last week we talked about preparing for conflict by committing. Part of that committal is rebuilding integrity.

This lesson could easily be spread over a couple of weeks, but I want to give you a few markers on a map, if you will.  So, we will not be covering deception in great detail. I’m sure we all know what it is and why we humans do it. Instead we will be investigating a single word and idea; completeness.  Because in all honesty, having a lesson that only focuses on deception instead of integrity is like a lawnmower in the desert, not very useful.

So, let’s get this ugly bit of work out of the way so we can move forward.  It’s easy to beat another person up over selfish choices and tell someone what they shouldn’t do.  If you have a conscience, I’m pretty sure you know most of the deceptions within you.

Deception is the absence of truth and originates from the heart.  Motivated by some gain, if you drill down deep enough. We often lie to get what we want or in making excuses.  Often, others are not the only recipient of lies. A prominent and even more detrimental deception is believing you will never be sober or better, that you can not only recover but live a life of recovery, or that you are too bad to come to Christ.  Once you begin the art of deception, it becomes a stray dog that you feed, until you confess and repent.

So, as I said earlier, I would rather spend most of our time painting a picture of integrity through the word complete.  It’s easy enough to tell someone what they shouldn’t do. In this case, it is better to tell someone what they can be. Dwell on the scripture below while we begin to set up our canvas for this study:

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:4

Notice the word complete.  For a moment, I want you to think of the hull of a boat.  When it is free of defects or voids, the integrity of the hull is considered intact.  If that hull has been damaged, it is said to be compromised. The way we describe integrity is with words like honesty, moral, whole, undivided, trustworthy, peaceful, blameless, doing what we say we are going to do, complete.  Integrity describes something, our character. Integrity is seeking completeness via obedience and truth. Where deception exists, completeness is impossible. When the hull of the ship has integrity, we don’t have to worry about sinking.

Rebuilding our Character

So, in efforts to gain integrity, we must begin by rebuilding our character.  Rebuilding our character is a critical stage of our recovery, and in order to do this, we must first see a value in the effort.  The following questions are meant to spur you on to consider the worth of such an undertaking. Understand, I have had to inventory these frequently to make sure that what I am saying and doing actually lines up with who I think I am.

  1.  Right now, when someone hears your name, what do you imagine comes to mind?
  2.  Can those around you count on you and trust you?
  3.  Are you really trying or just trying to look the part?
  4.  What are you going to be known for, when someone is chosen to deliver your eulogy?
  5.  What labels will be etched on your tombstone?

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

To fully appreciate this verse, I suggest you read Ephesians 2:1-10 before going any further.  Read these ten verses and ponder the questions above. Let these words and thoughts echo in your mind before answering them.  For me it was a sobering realization that I had indeed lost my way and didn’t have the slightest bit of direction for my life. It was a venture I would have to take.  But in order to engage in this journey, we have to set a true north, re-calibrate our compass if you will, with the following three facts; 

Who we are:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9

Who Jesus is:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:‬6

Who God is:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

“Overcome” – Faith Based Addiction Recovery Study
Application – Seek Completeness

The road to rebuilding your character is fraught with obstacles and opportunities.  It is in these aspects that give you the chance to not only develop integrity, but to show others what God has done for you.  Many of you may perpetually be on trial with cynical family members that question your truthfulness. If you peel back the layers, the past suspicion is usually warranted.  Make amends the best you can and let your actions speak where your words fail. Too often we do good for a short period of time, only to run into an obstacle and backslide. That is why this sub-section is titled seek completeness, not obtain completeness.  Completeness will never be obtained this side of heaven.  But He gives us opportunities to walk in good works instead of falling down constantly.  Bad decisions do not require more bad decisions. We have to make the decision and commit ourselves and efforts to the task at hand.

We all struggle with being obedient to God and allowing other things to take God’s position in our hearts.  Confess the deception, so conviction can take place. Repent from where you have fallen and get back up. We do this because we believe in what Jesus did for us.  If He was willing to die to pay for our sins, do you think he is going to lead you astray about how you should live the life He has called you to?

In closing, I leave you with a plan and a promise from scripture:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-‬6‬‬‬

The “Overcome” Faith Based Addiction Recovery Study is part of the discipleship program at First Contact Ministries in Hendersonville, NC.

Did you miss the other lessons in this series? Click see the entire Overcome Christian Recovery Bible Study  series.

We always look forward to meeting new people at our Tuesday night support group meetings at 6:30 pm, located at Mud Creek Church in Hendersonville, NC.  Our classes are designed to teach biblical principles for addiction recovery through discipleship.  Our goal is to show the love of Jesus by supporting those who need it most.

For more information or to purchase “The Resistance” by Josh Staton to use as a Christian leadership book, or curriculum for an addiction recovery class, please visit: The Resistance: Becoming A Servant Leader Through the Beatitudes Christian Leadership Book

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Overcome – Christian Addiction Recovery Guide Lesson 8

Overcome- Christian Addiciton Recovery Guide

Regret & Discernment

The Aftermath- Lesson 8 of the “Overcome” Christian Addiction Recovery Guide

We all make mistakes, some worse than others.  However, the tragedy is when we make mistakes that could have been avoided.  Feelings such as regret, shame and guilt often accompany this type of mistake.   The best way to judge such decisions is by observing the outcome, what it produced, destroyed, solved or created.  Did it result in failure or success? Working backwards we can gauge the validity and motivation for many decisions we make, and whether it produced the intended outcome. Follow along in this lesson of the “Overcome” Christian addiction recovery guide to learn more about making decisions without regret or shame.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.  I’m sure we have all made decisions we have immediately regretted.  Most of these decisions, I would wager, have been made in the heat of the moment when emotions were high.  Was the situation appraised logically or was it based on feeling? Did we know better, as my grandmother used to say, but just didn’t do better, even though we have seen the outcome at least a dozen times or more?  Hangovers, arguments and knee-jerk reactions come to mind.

Many individuals I have worked with in the past quantify their sobriety in years, months and days.  However, whether it was their first or hundredth attempt, many measure their recovery in hours. This observation, along with observing myself, has led me to the following statement:

Regret will always follow the decision to rebel.

Deductive Reasoning

The context of the following scripture is Paul writing to the church in Philippi when he was imprisoned for his spiritual beliefs.  He could have chosen to conform and keep his head low, but he didn’t. He chose to do what was right even though it cost him his freedom and eventually his life.  By human accounts, this could be considered a bad decision. Thankfully for us, God is divine and at the wheel, not a human.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

Before we go any further, I want to delineate the difference between guilt and shame using another of my grandmother’s sayings.  Are you sorry you did it, or sorry you got caught?  Guilt is sorry for doing it, shame is sorry you got caught.  Guilt is Godly conviction, shame is not. Regret and remorse are products of disobedient decisions.  It is when we go against that still, small voice that helps and instructs us. Some call it a conscience, I call it the Holy Spirit.  

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:16-17

The more you listen to that little voice, the louder it gets.  The less you listen, the more silent it becomes. It’s the idea of whatever you feed is going to grow.  The good news is that we don’t have to stay in this state of regret. Even when Adam and Eve were dealing with their regret, God was preparing a plan.  We do things we will regret because it is part of our sin nature. We love to do something we have been told not to do. Shame has been just as responsible for relapses as has pride.  Regret is a breeding ground for creating a perpetual cycle of self-loathing, in which we tune out that little voice that says come back.

Embrace the Process

With the price being high for regrettable decisions, we have to first understand what it is we are risking.  Some poor decisions are recoverable. Some are not. We risk hurting ourselves and those we love. To do this, we go back to a section of the verse in Philippians, He who began a good work in you.  There is a context of progression here.  A process of God refining your character.  It is the same sort of progression that is identified in the following verse:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

1 Corinthians 13:11

Discernment is accepting Godly counsel and statues for proper living.  It starts off small and grows larger. Like a masterpiece that God is painting, you are an investment of love.  Learning to make decisions that you won’t regret is a large part of the good work Paul speaks of. When you come to Christ, He begins the transformation process, a good work. 

We define discernment the way the Hebrews and Greeks did, the idea of considering and examining.   Discernment is asking what will this decision cost me or others? It is fighting the urge to react.  It’s the idea of making decisions you won’t regret. Not being driven by desires or emotions and having to pay the price for failure.  The goal is not to do something stupid today, that I will have to pay for tomorrow.

The “Overcome” Christian Addiction Recovery Guide
Application – 1 Simple Statement

We will finish out our topic with a contrast of two of Jesus’ disciples.  One of them made a horrific decision and chose not to deal with it, the other made an equally horrible decision, but addressed it.  One committed suicide because of remorse, the other repented and received grace.

Judas betrayed Jesus for some money.  He listened to Satan and allowed a poor decision to lead to regret, which ultimately resulted in him taking his own life:

And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Matthew 27:5

Peter on the other hand was adamant that he would never betray or deny Jesus.  To which Jesus responded by telling him that he would in fact do so. After experiencing this heartbreak and repenting, Peter would become the rock on which Jesus built His church.

And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Mark 14:72

Discernment is not just about knowing better, it is about acting accordingly.  Through repentance, God develops our character and carries on a good work. It is about obedience and striving to do better, not stay in the same rut.  Just because we have made bad decisions, does not mean we continue making them. Which leads us to our one simple statement:

If regret doesn’t lead to repentance, it will only lead to remorse.

The “Overcome” Addiction Bible Study is part of the discipleship program at First Contact Ministries in Hendersonville, NC.

Did you miss the other lessons in this series? Click see the entire Overcome Christian Addiction Recovery Guide series.

We always look forward to meeting new people at our Tuesday night support group meetings at 6:30 pm, located at Mud Creek Church in Hendersonville, NC.  Our classes are designed to teach biblical principles for addiction recovery through discipleship.  Our goal is to show the love of Jesus by supporting those who need it most.

For more information or to purchase “The Resistance” by Josh Staton to use as a Christian leadership book, or curriculum for an addiction recovery class, please visit: The Resistance: Becoming A Servant Leader Through the Beatitudes Christian Leadership Book

 

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