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The “Opioid Epidemic” is becoming an all too familiar term

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All drugs in the opioid class have similar effects to heroin. Other opioids include opium, morphine, oxycodone, OxyContin, hydrocodone, fentanyl, codeine and carfentanil. The effects of these drugs include pain relief, cough suppression, a false sense of well-being, drowsiness, constipation, difficulty concentrating, slowed breathing, and apathy. Like heroin, all these drugs can lead to physical and psychological dependence, as well as fatal overdoses.

What are opioids and what are their differences?

  • Heroin – Heroin is made from the opium poppy and the process of producing it incorporates various chemicals and involves many steps. It is snorted, smoked or injected. Typically, many that became addicted to heroin started with prescription medication, opioids such as OxyContin or Percocet. Then at some point, the prescription medication either became too expensive or unavailable.  Since heroin is typically cheaper and readily available on the street, it becomes the next best option. When an addict is dope sick, in desperation, they will do things they never dreamed of doing just to get well.
  • Fentanyl – Fentanyl is a second-generation synthetic-class opioid, highly addictive and 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl was initially intended to manage chronic pain in patients with serious health conditions such as cancer, or after an invasive surgical procedure. It is categorized as a prescription pain reliever sold in an injectable form, a lozenge or lollipop, or as an extended-release patch. It is also manufactured illegally and sold on the black market. This drug surfaced on the streets of New York in the early 1970’s and bore the label “China white”. Today, Fentanyl is cheaply made and commonly substituted for heroin or added to it to increase its effects.  This is very dangerous and often leads to fatal overdoses.
  • Carfentanil – Carfentanil is structurally equivalent to fentanyl but much more powerful, literally 100 times more powerful. It has a similar chemical makeup but differs in some ways. This substance was initially licensed to sedate large animals such as elephants and can be up to 4000 times more powerful than heroin.  Prior to 2017, it was considered a non-controlled substance in China and easily purchased through the mail.  Similar in appearance to table salt, just 1 mg added to a half gram of heroin is powerful enough to kill 25,000 people.

If you suspect that someone you love or care about is using, abusing or addicted to opioids, there’s no time to waste. Please don’t wait until it’s too late.  When in doubt, be sure to check it out.

It is very important to understand that these synthetic substances do not necessarily show up in your typical store bought (over-the-counter) test kit.  They should be obtained and administered by a professional for certain accuracy.

We can help!  Call 866.543.3361 today or visit us at www.newlifespiritrecovery.com for supportive resources and treatment options, including a free intervention book. We are leaders in Christ centered, clinically based addiction treatment for men and women since 2005.  If we can’t help, we will find someone who can.

www.newlifespiritrecovery.com

#HopeDealer #FindRecovery #OpioidCrisis  #OpioidEpidemic  #FindHope #AddictionHelp #FindFreedom

 

 

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How Do I find a Good Christian Treatment Center?

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Christian Treatment Center

Finding a good treatment center is really about deciding what your criteria will be and then developing a screening process designed to weed out the places that don’t fit your criteria.  Here are some of our recommendations.

Before you begin your search, pray.  Invite the Holy Spirit into the process.  Let Him guide you as you navigate your way through the many options available.  Some of the searches we recommend are, Christian Rehabs, Christian Drug and Alcohol Treatment, Christ-centered Rehabs, and Christian Addiction Treatment Programs.  Think of the words you use in your search as your initial screening.  Now it’s time to start making some phone calls.

We believe programs that assess and address emotional, spiritual, physical, and psychological (when needed) needs are the most effective.  Leaving out any one of those components leaves the door open for relapse. Developing a screening process that addresses all of these components will thin out the options.

Assessing a program in how they deal with the physical is really about determining the methods used to detoxify the body.  Will a doctor be doing an assessment?  Will there be medication involved?  Think of detox as a period of time when the addict is in a controlled environment, has been assessed by a doctor, and is put on a protocol of medications (when necessary) to help them through the physical withdrawal symptoms associated with pain medications, heroin, alcohol, and other substances.  (For more information please see our article When is Detox Necessary?)  We believe that medications should end with detox. “Will my son/daughter be leaving detox on medication?” By asking these questions you will come to see that all detox facilities are not created equal.  What you want to know is, what condition is your loved going to be in when their detox is complete.

Emotional healing is something that takes place in the counseling room.  We believe the most effective process is one where all principles are filtered through the Word of God.  You might ask something like this, “What is the goal of your counseling process?”

Where groups and classes are concerned you can ask for a program schedule and determine if those classes are Biblically-based or whether they are secular in nature.

Although a Christian treatment program is considered faith-based, not all faith-based programs are Christian.  In the current climate we find ourselves living in, the term ‘faith-based’ can mean many different things.  The idea is to discern whether the faith-based program you have called shares your beliefs.  You can ask, “How much of program is Biblically-based?”

The counselor is also a significant part of the process and there are major differences between counselors and the counseling modalities they utilize in the counseling room.  It is either man’s theories that are practiced or a Biblical principles and they are literally worlds apart.  There is either a secular worldly counselor utilizing worldly modalities, a counselor that is a Christian but utilizes worldly modalities, or a Christian counselor utilizing a Biblical world view (Biblical principles).

We encourage you to research and learn!  Please call us if we can assist you with a Christian drug rehab at 866.543.3361 or visit www.newlifespiritrecovery.com

New Life Spirit Recovery is Christ-centered Christian program that deals with the whole person utilizing Biblical principles.  All of our teachers and counselors are spirit filled Christians, clinically trained state certified professionals the counsel with Biblical principles. 

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How do I help my Christian daughter who is addicted to drugs?

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When someone you love is caught in the spiral of addiction, finding help can be difficult. Modern medicine changes almost daily, and thus the information you receive also changes. As Christians, understanding science helps to an extent, after all we are created by God and He is in charge of science. But to think that addiction is simply an organic brain issue is simply false. There are many reasons why a person ends up in the pathway of addiction. Properly understood, it is a involves the mind (separate from the brain), emotions, trauma, spiritual life and also physical realities of addiction.  While not everyone needs to go to a rehab that involves time away from daily life, learning your options right now is vital. You can clear the highway of confusing information by working through your own research.

If you are at a place of needing to do an intervention through a Christ-centered approach,

Here are some important things to understand

You want to love your daughter and hate the addiction. How do you do this? By recognizing that she isn’t her addiction. Her addiction is the enemy that is stealing her life.

You want to feed solutions to your daughter that will kill the addiction, but bring life to her. This happens when you stop anything you are doing that will bring comfort to her ability to continue to use. This can vary, but it may be overly bailing her out or allowing her irresponsible behavior.

You can establish an actual intervention on your daughter. Read the book Breaking Point as a free reference guide to how this is established. A christian addicted to drugs has better alternative because she has the Spirit of God active and ready. It’s vital that you keep praying for wisdom and understanding.

You can allow the pain of her choices to lead her to solutions.

You can research options and programs when and if she’s ready for change, providing incentives to get help, and consequences for not getting help.

You can speak honestly, in love about your concerns without judging or sounding religious

You can remind her that God loves her no matter what, and has a plan and purpose for her life.

If you decide you want a Christ centered drug rehabilitation or need to speak someone to guide you through this, please call New Life Spirit Recovery Treatment at 866.543.3361.

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The Opiate Crisis

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The opioid epidemic is being called the worst public health crisis in American history. When it comes to taking opioids, the United States leads the world in opiate addiction. For every one million Americans, almost 50,000 doses of opioids are taken every day.

If you need help recovering from opiates, contact us today!

The opioid crisis is directly related to the massive increase of prescription and non-prescription opioid drugs in the United States beginning in the late 1990s and continuing with an alarming increase into 2018. Opioids are a diverse class of painkillers, which include oxycodone (OxyContin and Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and a very strong painkiller, fentanyl, which is a synthesized version of opioids. The potency and availability of these substances have made them popular both as formal medical treatments and as recreational drugs.

Opiates are often prescribed to cancer patients for pain relief and to patients recovering from surgery. But take too many and you have a problem, which has proven to be the case in the U.S. But why? Let’s take a closer look.

Read our series on Opioid Addiction

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Doctors Prescribe Lots of It

Often times doctors prescribe opiates as pain management solution. Some doctors also feel a great pressure of giving the patient the pain relievers because the doctor knows that if the patient doesn’t receive the pain killers from him/her, the patient will go to another doctor and get what they want…hence potentially losing a patient.

Professor Judith Feinberg from the West Virginia University School of Medicine says, “Most insurance, especially for poor people, won’t pay for anything but a pill. Say you have a patient that’s 45 years old. They have lower back pain, you examine them, they have a muscle spasm. Really the best thing is physical therapy, but no one will pay for that. So doctors get very ready to pull out the prescription pad. Even if the insurance covers physical therapy, you probably need prior authorization (from the insurer) – which is a lot of time and paperwork.”

 

 

Kick Back from Pharmaceutical Companies

Professor Keith Humphreys from Stanford University notes that in the US, it is common for drug companies to court doctors, in an effort to promote their products. “When you’re a doctor in the US, these salespeople come in from the industry. They are invariably smooth, friendly, attractive, sharply dressed, adorable, they’re giving out gifts to everybody. They host dinners, they sponsor conferences, they sponsor junkets. That is going to affect prescribing.”

In 2016, a study looked at the link between doctors, the free meals they received from drug companies, and the medication they prescribed. The study found receiving free meals was “associated with an increased rate of prescribing the promoted brand-name medication”. Pharmaceutical companies say their reps are merely sharing information with doctors. But Professor Humphreys says there is a “corrupting” influence.

Poor Training

Until very recently, doctors were under the misconception about just how addictive various drugs actually are. Doctors received virtually very little, if no training in pain management and what training they did get often came from the nursing staff that the doctors worked with. Fortunately, this is beginning to change in the training of doctors.

 

Ignorant Assumptions

In 1980, Dr Hershel Jick wrote to the New England Journal of Medicine stating that “despite widespread use of narcotic drugs in hospitals, the development of addiction is rare in medical patients with no history of addiction”. Dr. Jick’s article had a big impact on the mindset of prescribed narcotics. Fortunately, this mindset has been proven to be erroneous.

A Culture of “Instant Cure”

We live in a “magic pill” culture. Lose weight…take a pill. Depressed…take a pill. Anxious…take a pill. Can’t sleep…take a pill. Have some pain…take a pill. Our culture has been lulled in believing that medicine can cure most of what ails us. A 51year-old finishes running a marathon and now he’s sore. He wasn’t sore when he ran the marathon at 30! So, he goes to the doctor believing his doctor will try to “fix” him and prescribe some muscle relaxants or pain killers.

Many other countries deal with pain in much healthier ways. A comparison study between the U.S. and Japan in how pain is dealt with showed that Japanese doctors treated acute pain with opioids 47% of the time…compared to 97% of the time in the U.S. There is a much greater willingness to prescribe pain killers in the U.S. than there is in most other countries.

 

The Christian and Opiates

A large percentage of the Church population, knowingly or unknowingly, are addicted to prescription opiates and have slid into their addiction simply because “My doctor prescribed them to me”. This is not to imply that your doctor is doing anything intentionally evil, but he may be prescribing them to you for the same or similar reasons mentioned above. After all, doctors put their pants on one leg at a time just like you!

Even though the doctor may want to prescribe opiates to you, the final say is still yours as to what you allow or don’t allow into your body. When it comes to mind altering drugs or any substance, we are called as Christians to remain sober in our mind (1 Pet. 5:8; Eph. 5:18; 1 Cor. 6:19). Otherwise, as our reasoning abilities are dulled and inhibitions are lowered, we leave ourselves open to all kinds of deception…some very subtle…others not so subtle and usually unhealthy behavior isn’t far behind. Read about what Jesus would do about addiction.

 

Some Practical Suggestions

We are not ignorant that there may be times in your life when you need to undergo some difficult and painful surgery and the doctor is going to want to prescribe you opiates to get you through the post-surgery pain. Below are some steps that you can take to help avoid and/or lessen the possibility of becoming addicted to any opiates that your doctor may prescribe to you in the event of a surgery.

  1. Talk with your doctor before the surgery and express to him/her your concerns about taking any addictive pain medication. Inquire as to whether or not there is an alternative non-addictive pain killer he can put you on. If so, request it.

 

  1. Before you take ANY medications from the nurse or doctor before or after the surgery, be sure to inquire as to what it is you are taking. If it is not in agreement with your prior meeting with your doctor refuse it and request what the doctor said he was going to give you.

 

  1. If there are no alternatives for your pain other than opiates, then request from your doctor that he prescribe only a 4-5 day prescription with no refills when they are gone. Give the prescription to a family member to administer to you who will keep them in a secret and safe place. Take the pain killers only on a sever “as needed” basis. When the pills are gone, you are done!

 

  1. For hospice patients, while there may be other reasons the patient may have for not to take opiates, addiction should not be the concern.

 

Opiate addiction is one the most common substances we at New Life Spirit Recovery find our clients coming in to find freedom from. If you find yourself in the midst of an opiate addiction that has caught you up in a bondage that you can’t seem to get out of by yourself, New Life Spirit Recovery is here to help you! Give us a call today! We will help you walk out of that bondage and into a the life that your God intended for you to live…one of freedom, hope and joy!

 

For additional information on opioids, read our series on Opiate Addiction:
Part 1: Understanding Opioid Addiction
Part 2: How to define an Opioid Addiction
Part 3: Christian Drug Treatment for Painkiller Addiction

 

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False Adrenaline: Meth’s Fatal Lure

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Addiction and Emotional Isolation

Addiction, in most cases, is less about pleasure-seeking and more about a person’s need to escape and dissociate from the pain of emotional isolation. We are made with a craving at the core of our being for intimate, dependable and empathetic relationships. This craving has been placed into us by our Creator to cause us to seek out the fulfillment of that relationship need with Him and others.

Typically, our first relationship connection experience is with other human beings before it is with God and we quickly learn through traumatic experience that others cannot be trusted to reliably meet our need for intimate connection. This in turn hinders or even prevents authentic connect with our Heavenly Father because we interpret our connection with God through the filter of our human experiences. So, the conclusion is made that if I get vulnerable with people, I’ll get hurt…and if that’s true in all of my human relationships, that’s probably going to be true in a relationship with God.

Download our free guide “Breaking Point – A Christian Guide to Addiction Intervention”

People Often Turn to Meth for Unmet Emotional Needs

So, we learn to fear emotional vulnerability and intimacy and we distance ourselves from other people and God…pushing away the very solution to our core need that we innately crave. With both God and people now at “safe” distance, we find ourselves turning to addictive substances and/or behaviors as a way to “not feel” our unmet emotional intimacy needs.

One of the most common substances that people turn to to relieve these unmet emotional needs for intimacy is Methamphetamine…also known as Meth, Speed, Crank, Tweek, Uppers, Chalk, Christina, Tina, Go fast, Cookies, Cotton Candy, Dunk, Gak, Go-Go Juice, No Doze, White Cross, Pookie, Rocket Fuel, Scooby Snax, Wash, Trash, or Garbage.

 

brain waves and the addiction cycle

Why Meth?

Despite the inherent dangers, meth is alluring to many people, especially those who are trapped in their emotional pain. Meth is a stimulant that profoundly affects the brain. It causes the body to release 10 times its normal level of dopamine, the brain’s pleasure chemical. It also prompts a rush of norepinephrine, or adrenaline. For those who are feeling down in the dumps, meth can make someone feel like Superman – like they can do anything. Meth can produce a high that lasts hours or even days. Users have an increase in energy. Meth use also increases sex drive and enhance body movement and mood. Meth is often preferred over other stimulants, such as cocaine, because it is much easier obtain and very cheap.

When meth hits the bloodstream, it creates an artificial pleasure sensation by sending pleasure impulses to the brain. Dopamine is the body’s ultimate “feel good” chemical. With sex, dopamine levels jump to about 200 and cocaine use causes them to reach 350. Several studies, however, report that meth use spikes these levels to 1,250 units. Even from the first time someone uses meth, the high is significant, and the brain registers that experience as a “hard-coded” memory. From that moment on, the brain tries to recapture those same positive feelings that were experienced with the first use, which is often impossible. Your brain adapts to meth use almost immediately, which means that more and more of the drug is required each time to “chase” that initial high. This chase leads to severe meth addiction, which has some startling and horrifying effects on your body and mind.

Eventually the brain shuts down the production of dopamine because it is getting more than enough from the meth. The user then cannot experience any pleasure on their own. They must use meth in higher and higher amounts in order to feel happy. Over time, meth use will cause decreased levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter similar to dopamine. This may lead to Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease. Effects of meth abuse over time can be quite serious and some are even irreversible such as “Meth Mouth” (extreme tooth decay), seizures, impaired memory, psychosis and violent behavior, hallucinations, heart damage, kidney failure, STDs, coma and death.

How to Overcome the Need for Adreneline

Of course, the question we eventually have to ask ourselves is, “Is the short-term adrenaline rush that’s helping me avoid my hurt and pain worth the long term affects?” After all, when the “rush” has run its course…the problems, hurts and pains are still there beckoning for my attention.

 

 

The good news is that God sees us in our emotional isolation, self-made vices and addictions, and He not only engages us but He loves us and provides the way out.  While most counseling and treatment focuses on behavior modification and creating new patterns that produce different results, we know from God’s Word that the only way to a new life is to turn away from the old life.  The good news of the Bible is that God has the power and authority to give you a new heart: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26). 

God does not see us in our self-induced sadness, depression, habitual sin, brokenness and addiction and just leave us there.  HE PROVIDES A WAY OUT.  He does not just modify the behavior…He fundamentally and profoundly transforms the heart. He does this by entering into the depths of our core need for intimate, dependable and empathetic relationship and reveals His heart’s love, forgiveness and grace to us. His love brings the inner healing that no human being can provide and the freedom and peace to our souls that goes beyond human expression and understanding. He proves Himself trustworthy in His love for us and we begin to experience “being loved”…maybe for the first time in our lives.

The adrenaline “rush” that comes from our surrender hearts to God’s love is like none that meth can provide…because it lasts and never stops! It empowers us to be strong in the midst of trials and tribulations! Instead of running into the arms of meth as our false comforter, we run into the arms of the True Comforter, Jesus Christ! It is He who becomes our strength to overcome and empowers us to walk in continued love, healing, peace and joy! Jesus is the TRUE “Adrenaline Rush” that leads to LIFE! Read more about the 4 things Jesus would do about addiction

At New Life Spirit Recovery, we want to help you overcome your addiction and help you realize the depth of God’s love for you! We would love to partner with you to become an overcomer and help you walk into your future free from your addiction and experiencing the greatest and truest adrenaline rush in all creation…God’s love!

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Addiction is a Stronghold; but What Does That Mean?

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What is a stronghold? Does it have a valid context in the bible and can that be applied to addictions, problems and conflicts?

In biblical times, strongholds were fortresses of protection used to hide from the enemy on the battlefield. A stronghold, therefore, represented a place of security from the oppressive elements of battle. In the spiritual battle of our lives a stronghold acts this same way – but depending on where that stronghold has been built, it can have dramatically different results. For example, Psalm 94:22 says “But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.” This is a picture of God acting as a safe haven and point of security. This is a stronghold that buffers us from the enemy.

However, the Bible also reveals that strongholds can be fiercely oppositional to our well being. They can be the very places where the enemy traps us into systems of thinking, feeling and behaving that single-handedly destroy our lives. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says:

We are humans, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.

In this context, strongholds are something to be rid of; something that obstruct our ability to know God. To know God is to have faith to believe He is real even though He can’t be seen, and then to pursue Him intimately in relationship. Through that relationship, we are fed and nourished by His truths and His purposes for our lives. To be kept from the knowledge of God, therefore is a state of being blinded and bound – as if we were taken away from life-giving resources. Imagine a fortress in your heart that is designed to keep  you away from God by overtaking your mind and heart with wrongful ideas, mindsets and attitudes. This is a stronghold.

Strongholds are not reserved for people filled with total and complete darkness and evil. That’s why Christians are so easily deceived. Very simply, strongholds are lies that become our truths. Strongholds eventually can erupt into addiction, codependence or numerous other ailments. But those are the effects, not the cause of a stronghold.  In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 notice that the reference to a stronghold is “human reasoning and false arguments”. This is referring to the chatter we house internally in our everyday situations. We analyze, think, build conclusions, develop reasonable truths that become so much a part of who we are. Overtime, we can adapt thousands of false beliefs that are our inward truth. We typically normalize these lies (strongholds) and reject the remedy of truth.

Identifying a Stronghold:

Strongholds are spiritual, but show up in our soul. Our soul is composed of our mind (thinking), emotions (feeling) and will (choosing). Just because a person is Biblically literate doesn’t exclude the potential for strongholds. Strongholds (lies) are much deeper than surface level,and often times we don’t even know what we’ve agreed with as truth in our heart. Once we come in agreement with a lie, our perception of ourselves, God and others gets tainted. Depending on the information we are digesting, this can be extremely toxic.

Examples include:

A man uses heroine as a way of managing his fears. He feels powerful and insists his life is manageable. He rejects any help and places his addiction above everything and everyone. His stronghold isn’t just the drug, but hundred of messages he believed that brought him to the point of wanting to leave reality through a substance.

A teenager believes she’s “fat” even though her thin figure weights in at only 65 pounds. She continues to starve herself to death and will not adhere to the insistence of those who say she needs help. Her stronghold isn’t just an eating disorder, but rather it’s her low self image and the obsessive way she’s tried to control how she is viewed.

A woman is abused by her boyfriend but faithfully remains in the relationship and is unwilling to leave in the name of “love.” She protects him and rejects people who want to help. Her stronghold isn’t just the boyfriend, but the lack of value and preciousness she has assigned to her life. She believed the message at some point that she didn’t deserve to be treated with love and dignity.

A child is ignored and neglected early in life, feeling invisible and unwanted. He brings that sense of rejection into all future relationships, recycling its message over and over again. His relationships suffer, but the lies he believed at a young age are the real problem.

There are thousands, perhaps millions of ways we can believe a lie as truth. But how can we actually find those lies?  We don’t learn by studying the lies, but by understanding God’s perspective in all situations.  Pursuing truth is the greatest feat in the Christian journey, especially in a culture that contradicts it at all levels. Many times Christians mistake knowing and memorizing God’s Word as the complete source of truth, believing that intellectualism can solve their inward crisis. Learning God’s Word is vital – but it’s not enough. Just as a fancy piece of gym equipment has no effect unless its used and applied, so God’s Word has to be “worked out” into us for it be effective. We desperately need for God to take that Word and place it into our heart like a flashlight. When we see our shortcomings, the lies we believe and the spiritual needs we house, we become positioned to let God change us. His greatest act of love is helping us find the mentalities, behaviors and choices that are creating barriers to us “knowing Him.” This can feel uncomfortable, but it is, in reality, the way He delivers from perilous battle conditions. We are then transferred into the safety of His love and protection. His goal is to become our stronghold.

Overcoming Strongholds

What about you? What lies have you believed? If you don’t know where to start, pray for Holy Spirit to reveal it and ask God to send truth into your heart. In program, our main focus is to help people identify where those strongholds have been built and to transfer unhealthy strongholds into God’s hands.  This happens by doing a fearless inventory, and being willing to submit to God’s truth. Oftentimes, we don’t know that a lie exists because they can rise up quietly within, creating obstructive messages without us even knowing they exist. Issues from childhood, abuse, negative relationship and the culture at large are typically the culprit.

Here are some ways you can try to capture and demolish strongholds in your own life.

Pray to the Father to help you see and comprehend the strongholds and beliefs you might house. Be open to their existence, and ask to visualize them like a fortress that the enemy has resurrected in your soul. Allow righteous anger at the enemy to give you the courage to pursue what lies within. Refuse to let fear prohibit you from seeking truth’s remedy.

Inventory yours thoughts and continue to assault them as they try to get placement. Trace your emotions and behaviors back to potential lies that you are believing.If you know of an area of weakness (addiction, relationship struggles, low self esteem) find resources specific to that area so you can better identify this. This might be a 12-step meeting, a workshop, counseling, treatment or a friend you know has similar issues.

Stay in God’s Word, even if only in small increments. God’s Word is the power you have to speak over lies. God’s Word is literally like an arsenal. It can detonate strongholds, just so long as we believe in the words and through faith activate them.

Ask for help. Seek prayer, support from others and maintain a connective community as a lifestyle where you can hear from others in a similar battle as your own. Isolation is where all strongholds are formed.

A Prayer to Overcome Strongholds

Father God,

Help me to overcome the power of the lies I harbored, protected and listened to as my truth. Show me where lies have taken ownership of my heart. I submit myself to you so you can shine light into the darkness, and you can expel the tactics of the evil one. I choose to take hold of the weapon of truth. Make me hungry and thirsty for your Word – and help me to not only read your Word, but let it become my nature – who I am. Claim my heart to be a safe haven to your Truth, and protect that Truth at all costs. I cast out the lie that ____________________ and I replace it with the truth that ___________________.

In Jesus name – Amen

 

Read more about God and Addiction

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Honor and Recovery

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God’s love honors us. To honor is to assign value and preciousness as prescribed by the Beholder. Honor isn’t based on what we do or even the contents we carry internally. Honor is imputed to us by the God that both created us and redeemed us. God’s honor means the price and value of our life is high. For God to honor us is the highest position we will ever carry in this world. Kings and queens; presidents and diplomats are honored by the standards of this world; we are honored by the King of Kings and Lord and Lords. There simply is no greater privilege.

When we enter into healing, we can easily misinterpret God’s intents if we don’t understand honor drives the essence of everything He does. Through honor, God meets us where we are at and loves us without conditions. Before commanding we change or barging into our world to tell us what’s wrong; He tenderly injects Himself in our pain and perspective. It’s vital we know that God does this first, lest we can mistake His actions as a rejection of who we are at the moment.

God doesn’t speak down to us as though we are wretched, or dirty or defective. He loves us in the broken places and sees our value far surpassing the adjustment that needs to be made. Through honor, God allows us to feel, to hurt, to have needs, and to be where we are. In essence, He doesn’t ask us to come up to His level. He drops down and sits in the pits of our life situations with us.

Most of us will enter seasons in our life when we don’t want someone to fix us; we want someone to hear our heart. This is very much a human need, and God knows that need more than anyone. The challenge that arises is that in our pit we typically surround ourselves with faulty messaging and toxic mindsets that will destroy our inner world. The injuries we carry at a heart level can create filters that wrongly judge the situation and circumstances. We can have misplaced intimacy and misguided insights into relational principles. Thus, should God leave us where we are without offering us a redemptive tool, it wouldn’t be love at all. He will challenge us to make the choice to heal in the midst of our awareness of what’s wrong – but not because He won’t accept us and love us exactly how we are. But because He calls us to more. He calls us to freedom and wholeness in Him. He calls us into a relationship with people that allow us to give and receive love as He intended.

He loves us too much to enable us to stay in the pit and create that as our own “normal”. But the ability to leave the pit will always, always be activated through the choices we make. People will try to fix us in the pit; but only God owns the tools of redemption. And because God honors us; He lets us make a choice. We can stay in the pit if we choose.

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Goal setting: Where the practical meets the miraculous.

Most all of the work that needs to be accomplished in our lives happens in the messy and ordinary routines of life.

 

Sometimes we need God to perform something miraculous in our life; things are that are utterly impossible for us to change without His intervention. God specializes in the field of miracles and absolutely will bypass our natural circumstances in Divine ways. What we can fail to understand is that while God has His part, we have our part. More often, God uses our normal, everyday situation to initiate change. Change typically starts in small increments that increases to larger things. God may inject Himself supernaturally along the way with breakthrough moments to encourage us – but we will not stay there. Most of all the work that needs to be accomplished in our lives happens in the messy and ordinary routines of life.

Think of the Israelites. They had to have the Red Sea parted and all sorts of signs and wonders performed by God before they accessed the pathway of freedom. God opened that pathway, they needed to choose to walk in it. But when they got to the other side of the miracle, there was more work to be done. A journey unfolded in the desert that tested, tried them and prepared them for a new destiny. Through that voyage, there were more choices, and at times a sinking desire to return to comfort of the familiar. The desert even made them doubt God’s direction. God was not surprised, however. He knew that would happen and expected more work needed to be done.
Rest assured when you set out to change you will experience set-backs and will discover the contents of your heart may need cleansing. By writing down some goals, you are staking a claim in an area of your life and saying you are willing to let God orchestrate redemption. If God needs to part your “Red Sea” wait for Him to do that. But in the midst of relying on the miracle, don’t forget the step you need to take right now, today.

-Thrive, Live by Goals