Month: February 2022

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:5-6 It was in the disastrous consequences of my addiction, when I had nothing else left, that I began to learn faith – what it meant…
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Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Philippians 4:5 A while back, my wife stopped by my clinic and, while waiting for me, struck up a conversation with a nurse in my department. I entered the conversation halfway, which happened to be about me. Apparently, they found some humor in commiserating about how I can…
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But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Philippians 3:20 When I came out of treatment for my opioid addiction, I…
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Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.  Philippians 3:19 In my addiction, I started out by simply indulging a little in my appetite for the pill, but that appetite grew until it consumed my entire life. At the time, I called…
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For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Philippians 3:18 As far as I know, there’s no one out there who wants to see me relapse. If there were though, what weapons would they use to get to me?…
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Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. Philippians 3:17 Early on in my recovery, when the disaster was still brand new, someone told me that I didn’t really respect anyone else. It was true. There was no one I looked up…
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Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Philippians 3:15 Looking back thirty years to my high school pictures is always amusing. In doing so, I often find myself asking, What were you thinking? That mullet wasn’t a good…
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But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 I recently met a man who, only a few days sober, was drowning in guilt and shame. In his…
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Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Philippians 3:12 We’ve always enjoyed watching the Olympics at our house, so, over the last two weeks we’ve sat down every night to cheer on team USA.…
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I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11 NIV In my addiction medicine clinic, it’s often apparent that a patient needs to go to inpatient treatment. In his current living environment, it’s…
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