The picture above, with a large red stop sign, indicates a boundary, a place which at times must not be crossed. If we crossed this boundary at the wrong time, we might end up in a real mess. When we turn back and practise old habits, we can also end up in real trouble. We find it so very difficult to say stop to our negative habits, yet if we were driving a car, or riding a bicycle, most of us would stop at the above sign. Logic dictates at this point that the majority of us have some form of stop mechanism in our thinking. Yet we are still pulled back…seemingly unable to stop ourselves.
The following is an excerpt from a booklet written to accompany the Free! 10 sessions, or to accompany a separate support group/1-2-1 session. You might find something in this segment that relates to you and the reason you are still pulled back towards your negative habits.
WEEK 2 DAY 6
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and
do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
GALATIANS 5:1
PONDER
Between “Christ has set you free” and “It is for freedom” there is a wide chasm.
Living in freedom in everyday life is very different from just knowing that
Christ has set you free. These two have to come into play every moment of
every day. One way of putting this into your life is to recognize that God loves
you so much and He wants you to know this love. He wants you to know this
love so deeply in your life that you no longer want to do anything that offends
Him. This is freedom in action! This is also the antidote to insecurity and fear.
ACTION
Ask God to help you know this love every moment of every day so you can
stand firm in the assurance that nothing can separate you from His love.
Think about this passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans:
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s
love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither
our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the
powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky
above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever
be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
ROMANS 8: 38-39 NLT
PRAYER
God, please help me know and live in Your love today. Let this love be so real
to me that I no longer desire to offend you by turning back to my old ways of
coping, or my old ways of excitement and escape.
CHALLENGE
Read Romans 8: 38-39 a few times over the next 24 hours, crying out to God
that this will become a reality in your life.
Sally Childress
Co-founder and resource developer for Free! Recovery