Gaining Freedom # 2

Drawing from the twelve steps, the Bible, and personal experience; here is the process I recomend for gaining freedom from addiction:

1. Get honest. If you think about it confession is really just agreeing with God. He knows everything you have done or thought so your telling Him about your struggles and sin is really just you agreeing with what He already knows. It is also important to tell someone else. Hidden sin takes on a power of its own. Revealing sin deflates it and it loses its power over you.

2. Realize you are no longer under the power of sin, but free in Christ. Romans 6:1-14 ¹Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ²Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? ³Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? ⁴For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. ⁵Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. ⁶We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. ⁷For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. ⁸And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. ⁹We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. ¹⁰When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. ¹¹So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.¹²Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. ¹³Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. ¹⁴Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.¹

3. Begin to grapple with the core issues that contribute to the stress and pain in your life and the resulting baggage you are carrying with you.

4. Pray and seek God's help.

5. Meditate on the truth, of who you are in Christ, as found in God's Word.

6. Seek out others to help and mentor you along this journey.

¹ Romans 6:1-14, NIV.