Here’s something to ponder. Why did tears stream down Jesus’ face over His good friend Lazarus’ death and the pain He saw in all those mourning the passing of their friend and loved one? Jesus already knew that in literal moments Lazarus would be alive. Why not say, “Hold on! It’s hallelujah time! It’s not a time for mourning, but for rejoicing. Lazarus is coming back!”? He knew that pain preceded victory. He was identifying with them in a very personal way.
Most of the time, achieving victory over our drugs of choice is a process that takes time. Before we taste the sweetness of victory, we often have to taste the bitterness of defeat in order to remember it so we don’t want to taste it again.
We can never say to Jesus, “You don’t understand my problem.” Before He could rise from the grave in ultimate victory, He had to go through extreme pain in the Garden and in prison. We will never be able to say, “We are alone,” like Jesus did when He went through the agony of separation from His Father as all humanity’s past, present and future sins (our drug related thinking and taking) were poured out on Him at the cross.
We are not and never will be alone in our struggle for ultimate victory. The searing pain, the sting of defeat and the sense of separation is not lost on Jesus. He knows your pain as He lived it. Yet He also knows that shouts of victorious hallelujahs are also coming. He experienced that as well. Your God not only is walking with you during your struggle, but He understands it as well. It’s time to run into His arms, rather than away from or ignoring Him, as He is the only Way to victory.
“S”et Free Nowww

Prior to John 13, Judas had decided to betray Jesus to the Jewish leadership. He was merely looking for the opportunity to do it. In John 13, Jesus said He would reveal His betrayer in a very specific manner. He would hand the marked man a piece of bread. Up until the point Judas took the bread from Jesus’ hand he could have changed the direction of his life. Yet, he took the bread. Gave control of his life to Satan; and, the rest as we say is history.
This is a perfect illustration of the principle: we don’t just fall. We have been thinking about and making choices along the way that lead us to the situation where we took our drug of choice. We don’t just sin. We’ve been thinking about it for a while, just as Judas had. Every step of the way, we can choose to change the course of our lives by changing the way we think. Judas didn’t have to eat the bread and neither do we.
Choose to change the direction of your life toward victory. Use your biblical tools to exchange your lie-based thinking with specific lie fighting truths long before the bread is ever offered.
Set “FREE” Nowww

I came over the ridge and saw what looked like a cloud of dust. The closer I got to the dust bowl I realized it was a herd of sheep walking away from a water truck towards grazing land. The dust settled down once they got to the wheat field –  the destination for satisfying their hunger.
These sheep were not about to eat dirt. They kept going until they hit “pay dirt” – the wheat. How often we settle for what comes first or easiest, the dirt. Jesus is the Bread of Life, the wheat. As a friend of mine often says, “Why settle for artificial sweeteners when you can have the real thing without the calories?”
A step toward victory over our repeated sinful behaviors (aka our drugs of choice) is to realized they don’t satisfy. We’ve got to remember the taste they leave in our mouths minutes, hours and days after we take them – like grit in our teeth from a mouthful of dirt. We must also remember how it felt when we chose Jesus’ way of handling a situation – like sliced warm wheat bread with melting butter.
Choose today to settle for tasting the Bread of Life, the Someone Better.
S“E”t Free Nowww

We have a very personable God who wants to be known. He doesn’t want us to simply know about Him in our heads (i.e. biblical knowledge), but in our hearts so we can trust Him more (i.e. biblical understanding and wisdom). He wants us to know from experience that He actually works in the real worlds in which we daily live. He is not someone we know about, but someone we know personally.
Like all relationships, however, getting to know someone isn’t without its difficulties. Hagar learned that God could see her because she felt alone. David knew his God could take out Goliath because he defeated lions and bears. Both experienced fear. Both were alone as they faced their challenges. And both got to know their God through their dark times.
Darkness is not bad if it leads us to the light, Jesus. We can either sit in the darkness and feel ourselves descend into a pit, which only leads to our drugs of choice, or we can keep walking towards the Light of the World and spiral upward towards peace and joy. Use your biblical tools everyday everywhere to keep listening and getting closer to Jesus, the one who can and will brighten your day.
Se“T” Free Nowww

Ever been corrected or confronted by someone? I have and it doesn’t feel nice. How you view yourself, however, will go a long ways in determining how you handle it – victory over or defeat at the hands of your drugs of choice.
This past week I was rebuked quite firmly. This person was hurt by my action and demanded I do something to correct the situation. What I did was wrong, though I didn’t know it was wrong at the time I did it. After being made aware of my wrong, what would I do?
I’m on a journey to be like Jesus just as you are. With this being true, I, like you, will do stupid stuff from time to time even though we don’t mean to. If we are secure in Christ, we don’t have to defend ourselves. In most cases, this only makes the situation worse, which makes us feel worse and want to take our drug of choice in order to quickly feel good about ourselves.
What did I do? I failed forward. Through the Spirit’s power I was able to admit my mistake, ask forgiveness, take steps to correct the situation and then added truths to my filter as to hopefully not repeat this mistake in the future.
You’re on a journey to be like Jesus. Be secure in who you are as a child of God. Fail forward by learning from your mistakes, not defending yourself against them.
“S”et Free Nowww