Ever walked into a table with your shin? I remember doing this as a kid and hearing my mom say, “It’s going to feel good when it stops hurting.” I’d laugh because it hurt so good, but I sure was going to avoid doing that again.
It’s the same with our drugs of choice. The feel good begins when the feel bad really hurts. When the effects of sin hurt bad enough that we remember them as bad when our drugs of choice resurface like our living room table, then we’re ready to be changed by Jesus and experience the feel good He brings.
Yes, all sin is pleasurable…temporarily. The false light (Turn Out The Lights – What?), Satan, wants us to only remember that our drugs of choice made us feel good, which they do…for a moment.
What our Heavenly Father wants us to remember is the pain we felt from hitting our shin on the table, the after effects of taking our drugs of choice. When we choose to remember the pain more than the pleasure of taking our drugs of choice, we’re ready for Jesus to change us. When it hurts real good, we’re more opt to remember not to take them next time.

S“E”t Free Nowww

I realize this opening statement sounds odd, but I bet Jesus’ question to the lame man sounded just as odd. In John 5 Jesus arrives at the pool at Bethesda. He asks one of the disabled people lying there, “Do you want to get well?” I wonder if those who heard this laughed at Him or at least chuckled under their breath about what a lame statement that was.
If, however, you look at Jesus’ comment to this man after Jesus healed him, you get some insight into Jesus’ first comment. Jesus told the healed man, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen.” It was this guy’s own bad decisions – the taking of his drugs of choice – that caused his disability. When Jesus asked him whether he wanted to get well, the man had to think about it for a minute. Do I want to give up my drugs of choice?
There’s a Jewish saying that reads, “If you lie on the ground, you cannot fall.” But you also can’t see down the road at all the great things ahead either! Did this guy want to see better days? He did and Jesus healed him.
Jesus is asking us the same question. Do you want to experience victory? If so, you must be willing to give up the thinking that landed you in defeat. Are you ready to give up what has become a “normal” life for something better? If so, it’s time get up off the ground and exercise the truths in your everyday small decisions so you can experience the big victory when your drug of choice presents itself.

Set Fre“E” Nowww

A Harvard researcher recently studied the effects of iPads and iPhones on sleep. His discovery has spiritual implications for healthy believers. His research showed that when a person uses those devices at night, the blue light emitted by them hindered the person’s ability to sleep. The blue light tricked their brain into thinking it was daytime, which heightened their alertness; thus, disturbing their sleep. Furthermore, the closer the device was to their face, the greater their sleep disturbance became. This is why a TV’s blue light doesn’t affect a person as much as the handheld devices because the TV is generally further away from their eyes.
The blue or unnatural light, which copies the sun or natural light, has harmful side effects. Sound familiar? Our enemy is called an “angel of light”, who tries to duplicate Jesus, but brings only harmful results with him – you become restless rather than rested.
Our Father is asking us to trust Him to focus on Jesus, the true sun light. Sometimes what He’s telling us, though, doesn’t make sense as it’s much easier to focus on the enemy’s unhealthy light (i.e. our drugs of choice). It’s been said, “Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense.” Our brains have been stained by a sinful nature and our sinful choices. Therefore, truth will sound unbelievable or unnatural at times; and yet, our Father is asking us to trust Him anyway.
If we, as children of God, want to experience victory over the harmful side effects of our drugs of choice, we must choose to focus on and get closer to Jesus, the natural light. Yes, we must turn out the light – the liar and his lies. And we must turn on Jesus, the Light of the World.

“S”et Free Nowww

I recently read an article about a teenage girl who ran away from home screaming at her father as she ran out of the house, “I can’t stand you! I hate you! I don’t even want to be around you!” After hearing this tirade her father, who was in great emotional pain, remained calm and said, “But I love you more. And the door will always be open to you.”
He realized his daughter was making a huge mistake he couldn’t stop. He also realized that when his daughter’s way of doing things started to fail, which he eventually knew it would, she would need a home and a set of loving arms to return to – his. His love allowed Him to remain calm and wait out his daughter. Oh by the way, his daughter did return home.
This is a perfect view of the kind of Heavenly Father we have as children of God. He knows when we will leave His presence and when we will return. He knows when we’ll take our drug of choice and the exact moment we’ll turn to Him as our fortress instead.
There is a saying, “The older your kids get, the smarter you become.” Our Father uses this same thought with His children. He knows we’ll think our way of living is better than His. He also knows that our way will not work and eventually we’ll see His way is much better. In the process of our figuring this out, out of His great love for us, our Father leaves the door wide open and return path uncluttered. He is willing to let us walk (dare say run at times?) away, though it causes Him great pain, so we’ll realize what He’s been telling us is best.
If you don’t understand how much your God loves you, you’ll find it very difficult to trust Him, let alone get up and walk with Him again when you fall. There is no greater love than God sending His only child to die so you could become His child. There is no greater love than a man laying down his life for a friend, which Jesus did and is what He calls us. God loves you that much. As His child He only asks that you trust Him. When you do, victory comes.

“S”et Free Nowww

We’ve just finished a week long discussion about how viewing challenges (i.e. Perspective is Crucial) is crucial to victorious living. I want to end our discussion with an illustration from the college graduating class of 2010.
“About half of the class of 2010 still hadn’t found a job almost a year after graduating. (By contrast, 90 percent of the classes of 2006 and 2007 already had jobs a year later). The first thing they’re getting is an attitude adjustment. The bad economy is doing them a favor by teaching them the value of a job.”
To many, having a job is seen as a right rather than a privilege. Yet no one, let alone the business world, owes us anything. As one writer put it, “Not every one wins, there is only one rung on the latter at the top; therefore only one person gets to stand there at a time.”
This reality smacks up against the coddling “everyone is a winner” attitude that’s been preached on American campuses. This lie-based message has also worked its way into the Evangelical Church. As one Israeli congregational leader said, “I am fearful that the steady diet of cotton candy and sweet nothings that Christians are being fed in the majority of the Evangelical churches is desensitizing the conscience of the Christians and putting their minds to sleep.”
Life on this planet is hard, especially for believers who live in enemy territory. When those challenges come, and they will, we must realize that Jesus owes us absolutely nothing. It is only by God’s grace (i.e. getting what we don’t deserve) and mercy (i.e. holding back what we do deserve) through Jesus that we can enter into the presence of a holy and loving God during those hard times. Jesus earned and is standing at the top of the ladder, and out of His great love for us, He is giving us a hand up.
We can either whine about our challenges or we can take His hand and win in the midst of them. We can look down at the challenge or look up at Jesus. The perspective by which we view challenges is crucial to the outcome we’ll experience. I don’t know about you, but I’ll gratefully take the hand I don’t deserve – His.

Set Free No“W”ww