Perhaps the first step in your journey to recovery from addictions is to admit you haven’t believed that God is enough. There’s no shame in making such a confession if that’s your truth. However, once you’ve acknowledged a lack of faith or limited understanding of who God is, you are responsible for doing something about it.
No one can force truth down your throat, nor is God going to place a spiritual feeding tube in you. You have to want it and you have to get it yourself. There’s plenty of spiritual food to go around. At church, your pastor is at the pulpit preaching his guts out. Your Bible is full of the inspired Word of God. If you have doubt, then you would be wise to become obsessed with scripture about faith, the heroes of faith, and hang around people who consistently demonstrate faith.
Whether you lack faith, don’t fully understand Christian principles, or are just being stubborn, your only hope in overcoming your addictions and living a blessed life is to completely surrender to God. And, you must start claiming and believing that God is truly enough.
You can resist all you want or whine about how your situation is harder or worse than everyone else’s, but God can’t be manipulated by your tears, fears, or false promises. And if you believe that your addiction is stronger than his power to set you free, then your message to the world is that Christ’s suffering on the cross was meaningless to you.
The Solid Rock Road Christian recovery program in Medford, Oregon is a template for recovery within the churches. With our website (www.thesolidrockroad.com) and book titled "Follow The Solid Rock Road: Pathway to Radical Recovery" people can learn to fight and win the battle for their souls, and for the souls of others. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
How to Work with Christian Co-Dependents
After years of working in the addictions ministry, it’s become evident that it’s not just substance abusers needing recovery help. The loved ones of the addicts are in desperate need of their own kind of freedom. They are locked in a battle that they can’t seem to win and often become entangled in unhealthy habits that promote the cycle of insanity.
The secular treatment world refers to these loved ones as co-dependants. Like the addicts, the Christian co-dependents can’t stop their negative behaviors. They aren’t driven to drink or use, but instead are driven to “save” their loved ones. Co-dependents will go to any length to find the addicts the help they need. In many cases, the addicts haven’t even asked for the help, nor do they really want it.
Christian co-dependents continually offer spiritual advice to the addict they love. They quote scripture, pray incessantly, buy books for them, find recovery programs and create all kinds of schemes and tactics to get their loved one to stop abusing drugs and/or alcohol. Co-dependants work their tails off while the addicts enjoy a good high.
In The Solid Rock Road Christian recovery program in Oregon, we often do interventions with those who are co-dependent. Our number one rule is that the person must be ready to end the cycle of insanity. If so, we lead them into a surrender process with God, followed by a series of steps that result in an intervention with the addict.
The Solid Rock Road team offers an outsider’s perspective with the added benefit of having the grace of God in the situation. Our ultimate goal is freedom for all!
If you have a loved one that is addicted, you can visit The Solid Rock Road website at www.thesolidrockroad.com, or visit us on Twitter and Facebook. You are also welcome to call 541-778-8680.
The secular treatment world refers to these loved ones as co-dependants. Like the addicts, the Christian co-dependents can’t stop their negative behaviors. They aren’t driven to drink or use, but instead are driven to “save” their loved ones. Co-dependents will go to any length to find the addicts the help they need. In many cases, the addicts haven’t even asked for the help, nor do they really want it.
Christian co-dependents continually offer spiritual advice to the addict they love. They quote scripture, pray incessantly, buy books for them, find recovery programs and create all kinds of schemes and tactics to get their loved one to stop abusing drugs and/or alcohol. Co-dependants work their tails off while the addicts enjoy a good high.
In The Solid Rock Road Christian recovery program in Oregon, we often do interventions with those who are co-dependent. Our number one rule is that the person must be ready to end the cycle of insanity. If so, we lead them into a surrender process with God, followed by a series of steps that result in an intervention with the addict.
The Solid Rock Road team offers an outsider’s perspective with the added benefit of having the grace of God in the situation. Our ultimate goal is freedom for all!
If you have a loved one that is addicted, you can visit The Solid Rock Road website at www.thesolidrockroad.com, or visit us on Twitter and Facebook. You are also welcome to call 541-778-8680.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Missing Body Parts in the Church
If Christians are the Body of Christ, then it makes sense for it to be healthy and fully functional. But the Body of Christ appears to be anemic, and worse yet, has missing body parts.
God created each person to be part of the church body. "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." (1 Cor. 12:27) But there are Christians who have become missing body parts. Plus, there are a lot of artificial limbs that are missing the DNA of the church. These people go to church, but they are disconnected from God’s way and His truths.
When Christians become addicted to drugs and alcohol, they obviously detach from the Body of Christ because their sin separates them. But many Christians in recovery have yet to fully re-attach to the Body. Instead, they attach themselves to a recovery program.
Recovery programs are not the problem. It’s the mindset of the people that are not always in line with Biblical principles. For example, The Solid Rock Road helps people to get back on the path and to stay on it. Our goal is to assimilate every participant back into the Body of Christ. That’s why there’s a beginning and an end to our program. People graduate in order to assimilate.
However, many other Christian recovery programs take body members hostage. They help them to the right path, but then insist that the program must be a lifetime addition to their Christian journey. Often times, addicts are told that they must give back to the program, or give back to addicts, which may be steering them from their actual destiny in God.
Not all addicts have the grace and anointing for the addictions ministry. If someone is counseling addicts but it’s not their call, they have become a missing body part. The goal is to discover the gifting and the call of God on every individual’s life so they can be placed properly in the Body of Christ.
The Solid Rock Road is a Christian recovery program in Oregon that promotes freedom in Christ and assimilation into the Body of Christ. Learn more at www.thesolidrockroad.com or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. You can also call us at 541-778-8680.
God created each person to be part of the church body. "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." (1 Cor. 12:27) But there are Christians who have become missing body parts. Plus, there are a lot of artificial limbs that are missing the DNA of the church. These people go to church, but they are disconnected from God’s way and His truths.
When Christians become addicted to drugs and alcohol, they obviously detach from the Body of Christ because their sin separates them. But many Christians in recovery have yet to fully re-attach to the Body. Instead, they attach themselves to a recovery program.
Recovery programs are not the problem. It’s the mindset of the people that are not always in line with Biblical principles. For example, The Solid Rock Road helps people to get back on the path and to stay on it. Our goal is to assimilate every participant back into the Body of Christ. That’s why there’s a beginning and an end to our program. People graduate in order to assimilate.
However, many other Christian recovery programs take body members hostage. They help them to the right path, but then insist that the program must be a lifetime addition to their Christian journey. Often times, addicts are told that they must give back to the program, or give back to addicts, which may be steering them from their actual destiny in God.
Not all addicts have the grace and anointing for the addictions ministry. If someone is counseling addicts but it’s not their call, they have become a missing body part. The goal is to discover the gifting and the call of God on every individual’s life so they can be placed properly in the Body of Christ.
The Solid Rock Road is a Christian recovery program in Oregon that promotes freedom in Christ and assimilation into the Body of Christ. Learn more at www.thesolidrockroad.com or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. You can also call us at 541-778-8680.
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