Army of Heaven
Prayer Group
Resource Site
Part of addiction recovery is the recovery from the
perspective: "I have to earn God's love first, or do something to deserve
his
favor of sobriety. This is human and probably common. For Christians, freedom from
addiction is not just in the interest of survival, it is part of salvation. We do not have to become perfect in order to obtain the blessing of sobriety.Jesus Christ is the (only) perfect offering, who is living today and forever, and
who has made the atonement for our forgiveness and the release from our
particular prison. Christians are those who accept
this incredible gift, Jesus' all, from God, and willingly say yes to have
God at the center of all things. Another hurdle is feeling unworthiness for the
cure. The addict is layered with cobwebs of
doubt and resistance. Something in us seems to preclude our meriting the
lavishness of Jesus' sacrifice. Something cannot
quite let go of a way of life, the very means of coping under the burden
of old,
unchosen wounds. We have only to look
upon the many moments in the psalms to be reminded Who God is, who we are,
and wisdom to know the difference. Psalm 113 Who is like the
Lord, our God, who is enthroned on high And looks upon the
heavens and the earth below? From the
dunghill
he lifts up the poor To seat them
with princes With the princes of his own people Psalm 126 When the Lord
delivered Zion from bondage, it seemed like a
dream. The heathens
themselves said: "What marvels the Lord worked for them!" Deliver us, O
Lord,
from our bondage as streams from dry
land. If heathens can be witnesses of marvels God does, who are
we not to. The lust addict is poor in strength, poor in virtue, lowly, and
yes even heathen. Yet God does not scorn or refuse the fallen man. Nay, he sends His
Son Christ, to deliver the sinner and the habitual sinner from all evil
desires,as he did most prominently for the Magdalen. She arrives at the tomb Easter morning first, formerly the severest of sinners, a fornicator.Jesus assures the most debilitated; My remedy is true, My remedy is constant, My remedy is forever. The very worst of you, hear when I
call, come, come to Me. The order of flowing tears; of our
coming into the light of the acknowledged and confessed past; the letting go, one by one,
memories of old sins, wrong choices, painful errors and disordered habits; real and
total forgiveness, the opening of scripture, the Word dawning in the light of
newly appearing understanding, that God has always known our sins: it is all the mercy of
Him Who is sought. Despite our previous illiteracy, we begin to see how clearly it was written all along, how darkness and wound give way to light and health; all of these are the unfathomable beauty and glory of the movement of the Advocate, the One sent after
Christ's Ascension. All of this flowing from a divine caprice, makes sinners cry tears of confoundment mixed with speechless gratitude at being so richly provided for, whom before were always so poor. The finger of God lifts back our little wing, the eye of God falls upon our wound, the purity of God cauterizes it, weeping we find the home of His Infinite embrace, tears that sublimate into the marvelous joy of believing, soul safety. Gratitude and praise for all holy things which deliver us.
Those who are
sowing in tears will reap when they sing!
He raises up the
lowly from the dust;