It’s your Call – Overcoming Addictions
We are continuing our unveiling of the amazing Spiritual Secret that Abraham discovered.
Paul in his Letter to the Romans discusses what Abraham found out in detail.
However, Spiritual Legalism may cause us to completely miss the point of what Paul is revealing about Abraham.
We can see from the life of Abraham that he was not perfect, yet God was pleased with him.
Why would Paul , a Jewish Christian, talk to Pagan convert Roman Christians about the Jewish Patriarch Abraham ?
Paul knew that the main tactic of our Spiritual Enemy is to prevent people entering into the Blessing of the Gospel of Grace. This is accomplished by entangling Believers in all manner of Religious Observances, Rituals and Rule Keeping.
Did Paul insist that Abraham prayed a certain number of times per day as an example of piety?
Did Paul stand up before the Roman Believers and proclaim,
“I am asking you to see the life of Abraham as the example of a highly regulated extremely pious and dedicated person, who prayed several times per day with Prayer Beads and Incense, without fail . Abraham followed the Rule Book without hesitation or questioning or complaining, so get serious about these Spiritual Rules you undisciplined rabble.”?
Why do we think Religion is really just all about following a Spiritual Rule Book ?
The reason is because of our problem with Sin-consciousness.
Let’s say we have an issue with Gambling. We have tried to kick the habit, but keep getting drawn back into it. We make a personal rule to stop Gambling, but then an enticing Ad comes up promising big returns and we are ushered back into the abyss of “luck”.
So we think that our Gambling problem is that we don’t have enough personal rules, so we make a promise not watching any more Gambling Ads.
But then a well meaning friend gives us a great new Gambling Tip.
A very devout friend tries to help by telling us that our Gambling Addiction is caused by not being serious enough about following the Rule Book, and that we lack self-discipline.
However, we find that no matter how many rules we set for ourselves, we just cannot seem to break the Gambling Habit.
We ask another self-righteous ‘spiritual’ person for advice and they tells us that we are lazy and destined for failure.
In Romans Ch 4 V2-3 MSG Paul states,
“What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”
Trusting God to set you right means yielding yourself to the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It means realizing that no amount of pledges to keep Rules will set you right with God. Your Ego will find this difficult to accept because there is no room for Self effort. Grace gives you Right Standing with God when you acknowledge that you cannot be set right by yourself.
This does not mean that Grace becomes an excuse for Sinning or bad habits. On the contrary, Grace empowers you to overcome the addictions that have held you in bondage.
As you continue in Grace you will experience new Peace and Joy. An abundance of Blessings will overtake you and surprise those who have rejected you.
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Copyright – Craig Holme – 2016.
Craig Holme Spiritual Inspiration 