After all, God is in the business of setting captives
free. In fact, Christ began His public ministry by quoting the words of the
prophet Isaiah when He said: “He has anointed meto proclaim good news to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of
sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,” (Luke 4:18).
Christ came to set you free—truly free from the
addiction to sin. You can remain chained to your addiction, or you can be
released. Here are three steps that you can take to shake off the shackles of
addiction.
1.
Be authentic.
The first step to letting go of your shackles is to be
authentic. Take it from Nathaniel Hawthorne. In The Scarlet Letter, he wrote
“No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another
to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the
true.”
How do you know if you are being real? If you stop
making any of these excuses:
“I don’t have a problem like so-and-so.”
“I’m in control and can stop whenever I want.”
“One more time won’t hurt me.”
“It doesn’t affect anyone else.”
“I can deal with this problem on my own.”
Let go of any of these lies that you have believed.
And confess your sin to God and another believer. A good place to confess your
sins is in a 12-step Christ-centered support group.
Healing starts when we begin to confess our sins. James 5:16
says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so
that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and
effective.”
Who have you told about the deep, dark secrets of your
soul? It may be scary to be authentic. However, being real with God and others
brings the problem out into the light and allows healing to begin.
2.
Let go of past hurts.
The second step to letting go of your shackles is to
let go of past hurts. In his book, Healing is a Choice, “Healing is a choice to let go of our
past hurts by grieving them, and grieving is a choice to heal the
future.”
It’s easy to let feelings of shame, anger, or regret
consume you. Instead, address the root issue of your pain.
Ask yourself a few questions:
“Where does it hurt?”
“What am I ashamed of?”
"Who or what is controlling me?”
“When did I start to turn to my addiction?”
“Who failed to meet my needs?”
Psalm 34:18 reminds us of how much God cares for our
heartache, “The Lordis close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are
crushed in spirit.” God is the one who brings healing into our lives; yet, we
can make choices that encourage healing the broken areas of our hearts.
Write a letter to someone who has hurt you very
deeply. Or if you are the offender, write a letter to the person or people that
you have hurt. Do not mail the letter, but talk about what happened to a safe
person. By taking the time to write your feelings out on paper and to share
with a safe person, you are beginning to grieve and let go of any past hurts.
3.
Retrain your brain.
The third step to letting go of your shackles is to
retrain your brain. Listen to how Martin Luther puts it:“You can't keep the
birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in
your hair!”
But it’s not easy to change the way you think.
And let’s be honest: An addiction makes you feel good. It produces
chemicals in your brain that make you feel euphoric, peaceful, and loved.
These chemicals change the wiring in your brain so
that you think and act differently. As a result, if you have a chemical
dependency, you’ll need to get some professional help. But thankfully, there’s
still hope for your brain!
God created our brains with the ability to rewire
itself—neuroplasticity. Rewiring your brain seems like the plot of a
Sci-Fi movie, right? Yet with a little self-examination, it is possible to
retrain your brain. And I’ll show you how.
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Best Blog, Good work Admin