Sunday Afternoon Musings: We had a wonderful Celebrate Recovery Friday night! God is doing great things! One of the things that was talked about is how we are not able to change ourselves but only through the power of the Holy Spirit that a true change happens. It reminded me of the scripture that says, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Amplified Bible (AMP) "Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]" Though the inward change is instantaneous, the outward changes often take time. Some are delivered instantly and sometimes it takes us pursuing God with all our hearts with whatever means it takes to finally be set free. But freedom it is!!! And especially when a person comes to realize that God cannot tolerate willful sins. If we know we have a stronghold in our life but do not go after being set free from it then it is a willful sin. The world will tell us that no one can be set free from certain habits and addictions. I do not find that in my Bible. “Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8: 34 & 37 They also will tell us that even if we are free from acting out those things that it is still who we are so we are stuck having that as our identity. Are some predisposed to certain things, like alcohol? Absolutely! And they should never have another drink. However; that does not mean that is who they are. What about the people who are hurt by other’s sins? God loves those people and his greatest desire is for them to come to know Him and be healed. Often someone’s brokenness is what brings them to Jesus. My heart breaks for those who have been deeply hurt by the sin of others. We are all broken people who sometimes hurt other people on many different levels. We hurt God with our sins. Our sins nailed Jesus to a cross as he took the punishment we deserved. That is why he says that if we do not forgive others he will not forgive us. The Bible says that the only unforgivable sin is against the Holy Spirit when we refuse to accept Christ into our lives. I am celebrating many years of being delivered from very serious and spiritually debilitating strongholds in my life. Had I not known and believed that God had the power to set me free I would still be enslaved to those things and the world would have told me that I could never be set free. People have mentioned how strong I am in my faith. This is why. As I said earlier, when we surrender our lives to Christ we are instantly changed on the inside but from there it is a process to allow God to change us into what He wants us to be. I know the journey. I have been on it for a very long time and my greatest desire is to see others set free and be welcomed into the Family of God. God still shows me things from time to time that I need to let him work on. Do we need to be naïve and stupid? Absolutely not! If I am aware that people have had particular strongholds in their past then I am not going to set them up where they might be tempted and fall. At the same time one of the main rules of Celebrate Recovery is that we are not there to change anyone. We cannot. We can only change ourselves and pray and have faith that God will do the same in others. We all have triggers that tempt us. I have them and so do you. I have found my identity in the One from whose stripes I am healed.