Bondage - There’s so much to say about this whether it be a sickness, alcohol, drugs, sex, religion, food or whatever the case may be, God can and will deliver us from any addiction and sin IF we ask him. Psalms 34:17 says “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles”. God hasn’t forgotten his covenant with us; the blood of Jesus redeemed us and because of that the enemy will keep you down with anything and everything that will kill you. I John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. Doesn’t being full of Christ sound better than full of some kind bondage!
So what does Bondage mean anyway, well its means being a slave
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One of my family members had lived her life for the Lord for quite some time and even attended Bible College and then later in life stopped attending Church and doing what the world does and thought there was no hope for her after that because in her mind she had done too much wrong in life which was a bondage that she was in! The devil constantly beat her up with that mindset telling her that she had done too much wrong and that God wouldn’t forgive her and take her back in his loving arms. I encouraged her to never stop seeking the Lord no matter the enemy was telling her! A while later she was delivered from that mindset - Praise God! She knows the Lord would never forsake her because Hebrews 13:5 tells us so. I’ve seen many people get into religious bondage to meaning various groups set rules for people and if they don’t abide by those religious rules and rituals then they 're under pressure or suppression causing them to be in bondage. Bondage is a terrible thing and is constantly hindering people, in the back of their minds they are beaten up and tormented. Jesus remains the only answer and is our deliverer! The enemy knows if we are living in fear of not been accepted by God any more then He can torment us with that. That’s why 1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made …show more content…
Once we confess Him as Our Lord and Savior and Believe in Him then we are not dominated by the sin nature any longer. Sure we will fail from time to time because we are human and not God, and that’s when the devil tries to step in and confuse us or tempt us with something that Lord has delivered us from. Always remember this scripture in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Very Clearly He says He will make our way of escape. Isn’t that great? One time after I was just delivered from alcohol I met a person who invited me to ride 4 wheelers and hang out, so I thought yes that sounds fun because my son was 12 at the time and loved riding his 4 wheeler. He used to ride a lot before I had chemo treatments. I would take him and my girls sometimes too with other friends and family members so I wanted him to continue to do what he loved doing as a kid, even when I didn’t feel like
Who could be better at helping one heal than Christ, who suffered every sin, and felt every emotion during the Atonement? Through Him, a victim of abuse can find forgiveness- and forgiveness can heal deep wounds and replace them with the love of Christ. In 3 Nephi 12:44, one of my favorite scriptures, Christ said “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.” By letting the Atonement and words of the prophets into their hearts, victims of abuse will be able to stop the cycle and truly heal. It’s my testimony that abusers will have to answer to Christ for the horrible acts they have committed, and that Christ, in his perfect love, will extend healing to those who have been hurt by the unrighteous use of agency by
Gerald May’s book Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions is a wonderful book that addresses grace, freewill, and forgiveness around addictions. The reader should keep in mind that the book is written from May’s personal views and experience. May (1988) states that he is “neither a trained theologian nor a scriptural scholar [and] this book is full of my own theological assumptions” (p. vi). The book is written to help the reader understand how addiction keeps one’s focus on things other than God. The reader learns about the struggle with sin and how the conflict creates awareness to addictive behavior. While the book offers some great understanding regarding addictions and spirituality, it is also based on a reflection of May’s own personal view and experience with addictions.
If Christ is the trajectory of our lives, then when we fail him, he will forgive us (Keller 179). He states that everybody lives for something. Nevertheless, nothing can fill up our souls like Jesus can, Keller says. A life not focused on God only leaves us feeling empty and we become like the things we use to replace God (ref. Psalm 135:15-16). That means, people who worship something other than God become spiritually senseless and perish with their idols. Humans make idols or goals out of their desires and interests. However, these gods and goals don’t last because they are man made and are prone to fail. However, God can never disappoint us. When we receive Christ as our Lord, we come to admit that we have failed and do not need to fight for perfection, but instead need God’s forgiveness and shift our reliance upon
This is then followed by insightfully examining the treatment process, specifically through grace as a key focus of overcoming addiction. May focus heavily on desire as the main cause of addiction. He sees addiction as a way to fulfill a universal need that all people have. The text focuses on how we all have this need we want met and that we desire to have more in life. The author looks at how through our desire we all fall victims to addiction because of the fall.
you must not live of it, you must avoid it and stay aimed towards salvation. Even John
NLT). We are not to walk away from sin we are to run! God makes it clear. Sin is not a bargaining tool that we allow certain sins to be more deadly than others are. Sin is sin.
As a surrendered life to Christ, my intentions on earth are good. However, I live a human life, wretched and sinful by the simplest measures perhaps unrecognizable to most, yet blatantly known to God. In this truth I find comfort. I know that no matter how hard it gets when attempting to behave as Jesus would have me in the face of any and all adversity, “God gives me Grace!” He already knows my heart and my failures even before I experience them. He set up a way for me to be redeemed and to overcome through His son, Christ Jesus. He did this for me through grace, and He offers His love and blessings to me regardless of me. I can’t buy God’s grace. I can’t gain God’s grace by doing good deeds. God freely grants it to me, and you, simply because He loves us, who are undeserving of His love. This act of grace is nearly unfathomable as a human being! My entire being melts to ground at His feet where I wade in pool of gratitude for this benevolent undeserving gift, His grace. The moment we start to think that we deserve His grace because we are good or righteous, is a moment when we are seriously misguided and in danger. We are not perfect. We are not God. The best of us are like filthy rags when compared to His holiness. “…all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” Isaiah 64:6
In the novel Of Human Bondage, the reader comes across a truly magnificent quote on page 627. This quote is: "He had lived always in the future, and the present always, always had slipped through his fingers." In and of itself, this is a very powerful quote. However, it can be given even more power and significance if a person can relate this quote to their own life and experiences. I myself, after reading this quote, was instantly able to identify with it.
Part 1: Choose one or two of the Spinoza´s Fourth Part of Ethics and explain the sense of the proposition. Add to your explanation an example and finally your own critical assessment of Spinoza 's position.
According to Sharpe (2015), “when truly deep suffering comes into their lives, Christians will often pray to God for healing or rescue” (para. 2). Based on this fundamental belief in the Christian worldview, it is imperative that every human encounter suffering as this brings a person closer in their relationship with God. The Christian worldview holds a belief that God has a purpose for everything that happens in a person’s life, whether it is joy and happiness, pain and suffering, and life and death. This can be seen throughout the Bible such as “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11, New International Version), and in Ecclesiastes 3 “A Time for Everything.” These core Christian beliefs should cause a person to look past the suffering that he or she is facing, and try to see what kind of positives can come from the current suffering that a person is
Right now try to imagine watching a friend get married to someone who they don’t love and maybe not even like. Now imagine having to cook, clean for them and take care of your kids all day every day until you die. In "The Story of an Hour", Chopin introduced, to the world, Mrs. Mallard. To her, her life is terrible but she is constantly portrayed as a heartless woman who seems to be overjoyed by her husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard although viewed as inhumane, is actually more humane than most people would want to believe. While her actions seem questionable or even maybe harsh; but they are far from what is perceived. What readers need to think about is what it was like for women during those times. “The story itself presents a valid argument in favor of Louise as she is portrayed as the oppressed wife finally set free after her husband's death.” (Marquand) In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, she uses the feeling of bondage and true freedom through Mrs. Mallard, to show how women can be trapped in a restrictive relationship because of society's beliefs.
“The image of God in which humans were created is obscured and distorted by sin.” If this is true we then we are slaves to sin. In the Old Testament God delivered the Israelites from physical slavery in Egypt by Moses. In the New Testament God has made it possible for our deliverance from sin through Jesus, the second person of the trinity. Jesus is described as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. ( John 1:29 NIV) Hence, the freedom found in Christianity marks the start of a new freedom from sin’s bondage and for fellowship “with God and others. “God, led by his/her concern for our good and his/her desire for a relationship of mutual love and trust
Because we “all fall short of the Gospel,” according to the Holy Bible, we are in constant need of God’s grace through salvation that is extended to everyone, but is more bountiful to those who have already accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior. (At least this has been my own personal observation during the development of my own Christian faith.) Because we “fall” daily, we constantly need a savior to “wash” us, “cleanse” us, and restore us. Because of the hope that Jesus Christ brings to us daily, because “Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning,” according to the Holy Bible, in the book of Lamentations, Chapter 3, Verse 23. We as humans are always striving to find our purpose and fulfill it. So when we fall, we have a great need to know that there is hope and restoration through Jesus
The first man created on earth was Adam and since he sinned, it was passed down to his descendants. Psalms 51:5 states, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” It is natural to sin because we are sinners by nature. If we are willing to participate in sin all of our lives and choose not to give it up, we will push ourselves further away from God. Since we are born is sin we ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” to avoid taking action of sin. Willard claims that “it is not sufficient to see us boldly and confidently through a crisis, and can find ourselves driven to despair over powerless tension it will put us through (Willard 9). Our actions are what makes us further or closer to the lord and many of us choose “to withhold our bodies from religion and that can exclude religion from our lives” (Willard 31). God is a forgiving God when we ask for forgiveness of things that we do wrong in sin. People want to transform their life over to God, will be considered to be a different kind of person in which 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, “Old things that have passed away and, behold all things have become new” (Willard 20). God loves us no matter what we do but it is best to give ourselves to
We must defy and repel the doubts that enter our minds that suggest that God is not present or alive, that He is not powerful or wise enough to assist us, and that He does not truly love us. Occasions of sin should be avoided and sin must be spurned at all costs. Moreover, avoiding anger, hatred, and irritableness is crucial as these vices can divert us from the path of holiness. Interestingly, the first letter of Saint Paul to Timothy also provides us with the spiritual ingredients that nourish us for the combat. As Christians, we ought to strive to lead a life of “righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.” (1 Tim 6:11) These virtues are the prerequisite qualities for persevering in the Faith amid the hardships of