Month: October 2017

Galatians 6:1,2 If anyone is caught in any transgression… restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens… Though we all struggle with something, we would much prefer to struggle in secrecy.  We desperately want to keep our garbage private.  Sure, if we have…
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Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. I must have been eight or ten years old when I found myself overweight the day before a wrestling weigh-in.  I hoped to be in one weight class, but I was a half-pound heavy with less than a…
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Galatians 5:22,23 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… Methadone, a long acting pain (opioid) medication, is sometimes used for addiction maintenance therapy.  In this type of treatment for heroin addiction, the addict is prescribed this long acting pill, taken daily, in an attempt to curb the…
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Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Occasionally, I…
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Galatians 5:16,17 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want…
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Galatians 4:8, 5:1 When you did not know God, you were enslaved…  For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. In our addiction, those around us want to know why.  Why would you do this?  How could drugs be more important to you…
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Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I know two versions of me.  It is…
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Galatians 2:16 A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ… because by works of the law no one will be justified. Have you ever wondered if you were good enough for God?  Have you ever worried that perhaps your bad behavior left you beyond redemption?  The beautiful,…
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Galatians 1:10 Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. You may think that getting my name in the paper for my addiction would diminish my ego and concern…
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2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. If you are like me, at some point, in your recurrent failures, you have come to question the authenticity of your faith.  The thinking goes like this:  My faith is supposed to make me a better person but I do…
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