You Will Always Struggle with This! – Lies of the Enemy #27– Purity 1039

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a tranquil lake scene that highlights a mountain-like reflection of the sky comes to us from a current— currently unknown Facebook friend who shared this photo on social media on or around April 16th. At present, I don't know who the photographer is. I was almost certain it was Fred Dimmick, or one of the other usual suspects, but my limited search this morning failed to confirm the source. So if this beauty of a shot is yours and you want me to give credit where credit is due, let me know and I'll edit the blog post to give you my thanks and apologies. Well, it is Wednesday, and I use today's mountain-like reflection to represent the arrival to another hump day. And as I will be launching a new Christian recovery ministry tonight, the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Starpoint Church meets tonight at 6:30. I am also using it in the hopes that the Lord will use this group to move mountains in people's lives. And just like I wish to give credit to where credit is due with today's currently unknown photographer, I also would point out that the freedom I have for, uh, from my previous, uh, hurts, habits, and hang-ups It's only because of God. If the Lord didn't call me out of the darkness of a false religion and my lifestyle of the sins of the flesh, I would have never gotten sober and found the freedom and continuous peace and joy that I have today. While I had seasons, uh, in my pre-Christ existence where I managed to stop drinking for a few months I was powerless to, powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing. And because I wasn't that bad all the time, I remained in bondage, in the bondage of my addictions, and mired in denial. One of the sayings about being a drunk is, I don't have a drinking problem. I drink, I get drunk, I fall down, no problem. So brazen is this form of denial, you can even get that saying on a t-shirt in multiple colors— long sleeves, short sleeves, tank top, sweatshirt, or pullover, pullover hoodie. You can be a drunk for all seasons. You can boldly display your depravity where that what should be your shame becomes your pride, what should be your bad habit becomes your identity. Rather than taking your alcoholism For the serious problem that it is, it becomes a joke. But I know from experience the tears of a clown when there is no one around, and how the high times of drunkenness and drug addictions are surrounded with desperation, anxiety, anger, depression, and confusion. Being an addict is no laughing matter, and even though the people locked in addiction know they have a problem, they don't necessarily know they can be free from they can be free from it. Uh, they may have heard that their addiction is hereditary, or they will always struggle with the things that they deny are a problem. And this brings us to our current series, The Lies of the Enemy, which is an example of some of the common lies sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as first-person statements that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So the— so, um, with this current situation in mind, I present today's big lie, is lie number 27. You will always struggle with this. This lie is so pervasive that mental health professionals, doctors, and even pastors who are supposed to encourage healing and the ability to be well have been known to say it. In some circles, addiction is considered a chronic addiction, and to be fair, I guess in some ways it is, meaning that now that I have a huge amount of evidence that proves that I have a problem with drugs and alcohol, it will be wise of me to never partake of those things again. When I talk about being free of addiction and that we don't have to struggle with this anymore, I don't mean that I been cured and I can resume with social drinking or casual sex again. I suppose I could give it a try, but knowing what I know about alcohol, drugs, sexual morality, myself, and God, I know that those habits are wrong and that I can find my peace and have my, my needs met in legitimate rather than illegitimate ways. I reject the lie that I will always struggle with this because I don't struggle anymore. And as hard as it may be to believe, I'm serious when I say that temptations to drink, to do drugs, or to be sexually immoral are so few and far between in my life now that they are practically nonexistent. And if any fleshly suggestions try to come into my mind, they are quickly dealt with and rejected as a fleshly impulse or a temptation from the enemy. Alcohol, drugs, and sexual immorality are things that I don't do, and even, or even entertain in my mind anymore, because I know: A, they are sin. B, I know the negative consequences involved with them from experience. C, they are not who I am anymore. And D, they would disrupt the harmony that I have with the Lord. When you know all these things in your heart and mind, those sins of the flesh become non-negotiable negatives, as in their rejection has become so natural and the thought of them are so abhorrent that I don't even have to just say no because they have become logical impossibilities for me. It's not a matter of debate because they— there are no circumstances that I can conceive of that I would desire to ever do those things again. Of course, this is not my doing. This is the result of the word of God renewing my mind, and that, uh, and that the Lord— and that of— and that of the Lord turning my heart of stone into a heart of flesh, because he called me out of the darkness and compelled me to trust and follow him. We don't have to always struggle with this, but to be healed and free We have to exchange our broken lives of darkness for the life of hope, love, joy, peace, and light that the Lord has for those who follow and live for him. So don't believe the lie that you will always struggle with this. Instead, decide to always follow the Lord into the abundant life that he has for you. Um, yeah, today's— well, and that moves us on to today's Bible verse. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise The Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Acts 1:8, where Jesus said, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Today's verse are the words of Jesus, who testifies of the power we receive when we walk in the Spirit and decide to be his witness. When we put our faith in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. And when we decide to follow him, we can live through his power. And the transformation that comes to our lives will cause us to be witnesses of his goodness, mercy, love, and power. So yeah, he— you know, when he changes your life, you can't help but speak, uh, about the goodness of God and tell people about what the Lord can do for you when you believe and follow him. And, um, You know, that's what compels me to go into ministry. This great victory and freedom that I enjoy on a continuous basis causes me to tell people about it because I didn't know it existed. And through years of struggle and, you know, great teaching by mighty men and women of God and great encouragement, you know, basically I was led. And of course, through the power of the Holy Spirit in me, I was led out of the darkness into progressive victory, and I'm still living in it as we still, you know, are not far from perfect. So we, you know, sometimes those discursive emotions come in, sometimes I eat too much and maybe spend money foolishly. So there's always room for improvement, but it's not about perfection, it's about progress, and it's about increasing our peace, you know. And the way we do that is continually trust and follow the Lord and surrender things to him. We keep claiming ground for the kingdom of God in our lives. So that's what we do here. As always, we invite people to go to mt4christ.org where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Satan, Demons, and Satanism: A Sinister Reality by June Hunt. And I love June Hunt because when she does a study, she gets to, you you know, usually step 4 or section 4, which is Steps to Solution. And, you know, I love that because she's giving the solutions. She'll present whatever problem, you know, because she's a Christian counselor, and then she leads you— and like every one of her teachings, she leads you to salvation. It's like, well, if you ain't got Jesus, you gotta have him, you got to get saved. And then she gives you the solution. She gives— and today she gives a key verse to memorize. And a key passage to read. And that's all we're sharing, a very small section, um, as the book is, is, is running out. And I want to, you know, basically spread it out over time. So, um, but I love that, you know, the solutions to all our problems are found in Jesus Christ. And we— all we have to do is believe, walk in the Spirit, and, and, and follow them. Believe what the word says, apply it to your life, and keep walking and talking with God, as I say. Um, our, our relate— that's how our relationship exists, you know. We, we talk to the Lord in prayer, we read his word, and, um, you know, we just do what he would have us do, which is, you know, according to his word, which is right. So the temptations of, you know, alcohol and drugs don't, don't have it anymore, you know, basically because The Word of God convicted me that drunkenness was a sin and sexual immorality is a sin. And the Holy Spirit within me led me to repentance, to say no to alcohol and drugs and to deal with the sexual issues in my life. And now I'm free. Those things are no longer a concern. Like I said, occasionally I'll be reminded of something or whatever. And, uh, but I quickly deal with that, like, no, that's like not gonna happen, um, because I have no desire to. Because I know my life of darkness was before the Lord, and when I was locked in those things, and whatever pleasure was found there was revealed to be actually be pain. Um, and, uh, the love of the Lord, there is no pain. Um, there's peace and, uh You know, you struggle to change and to say goodbye to your old life, but when it's gone, it's gone. And you know, the new life that the Lord has for you is so much better. So we encourage that. If anyone is local to me and want to join our Freedom in Christ, uh, our, our Celebrate Freedom group, uh, we'll be at Starpoint Church at 6:30 PM tonight. But meantime, I gotta go to work and, uh, sort of rushed today. Uh, I don't know, I was preparing for tonight's lesson So if this podcast is a little shorter than that, that's why, because I don't want to get cut off and I want to make sure to get something out there rather than nothing. That's another thing about our walk. It doesn't necessarily have to be about perfection. Some people talk about excellence, and I get that we want to do everything for the glory of the Lord, but if it means, you know, the enemy will use that as a stumbling block— well, it's not perfect, so you better not do anything. Well, you don't know anything perfectly, so you shouldn't encourage Like, no, no, we'll just point to Jesus and we'll apologize if we don't do everything perfectly, but we're going to do everything to point people to Jesus all the same. So if you know, if you've read my blog long enough or listened to this message, you know it's not about perfection, it's about progress and progressing in our relationship with the Lord. So let's do that with prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you so much for the opportunity to serve your kingdom tonight at the recovery ministry. Um, I just pray for the Holy Spirit to guide my steps from here until then and all through it until I'm safely back home again this evening. Um, or so we're, we're trusting you to guide us and lead us, and we're asking for your help and all those things. And Lord, we really, um, we, we also pray for our friends who are listening or reading today's message. Uh, Lord, we pray for you to come alongside them and their walk and encourage them in their faith and come alongside them in their prayer requests, as we all need your help. Um, you know, Matthew 5:3 says, uh, blessed are the, the ones who are spiritually poor because theirs is the kingdom of God. And we realize that spiritually we're poor, but we have all the riches and glory through you. Um, you know, so thank you, Lord, for giving us the kingdom. And Lord, uh, like I always say, please go before us today, open our eyes to show us the things you want us to see, lead our steps into the things you want us to do, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom here on earth, Lord. And we just pray, uh, all these things, uh, oh, and we definitely want to say we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.