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| "To depart from evil, we need a healthy
fear of
the Lord. If we not, we will fear what evil will do, rather than what
He might do." |
Good
morning! Have you ever been overwhelmed with anxiety
just thinking about the possibility of falling back into your besetting
sin? Through the years, I have worked
with hundreds of people who were plagued by this very problem. These
dedicated disciples had the right idea
in that they eschewed the habits that haunted their pasts; however, they
knew
not how to be freed from fear of their custom made, designer devils. In
other words, they mistakenly feared the
evils that would result from sin
rather than setting their fear where it belonged--IN the Lord.
If you have ever been to an RU
meeting, you've probably noticed how we discourage our students from
gloating
about their particular stronghold(s). As
we say, "We don't want to talk about the things we've done to God (our
addictions), but rather, we want to talk about things
God has done for us!"
This is one
characteristic that makes Reformers unique from most addiction
programs. Why do you think we do this? It's because we understand
that in order to depart from evil we must fear our Lord, not our former
stronghold (evil). Therefore, we encourage our students to maintain
full and complete focus on the
Lord and His goodness-not their habit and its badness; hence, we don't
talk
about them with specificity. You see,
when we keep our eyes firmly fixed on the cross, all humanistic issues
begin to
wane and lose their grasp upon our lives.
Proverbs 19:23 teaches this
concept very clearly, "The fear of the
Lord [tendeth] to life; and [he
that hath it] shall abide satisfied; he
shall not be visited with evil." The
author, wise Solomon, desired to emphasize this truth so much that he
referenced "the fear of the Lord" fourteen times in Proverbs-- he "says it a
lot so it won't be forgot!"
If you think logically, my
friend, it makes good sense. For our
sanctification, God predestined the sacrificial death, burial, and
resurrection
of His Son that YOUR sin would no longer have power over YOU. But in
order to capitalize on His plan, we
must remain focused respectfully on HIM!
Now, you're probably asking, "how, exactly, do we do this?" Here are
three methods that I have personally
found effective:
First, we must immerse ourselves in God's Word. The fear of the Lord is
best defined as "a recognizing
of what God has done and a realizing of what He may very well do-for
you, or
even to you!" This recognizing and
realizing is actually a reverencing of Him. When we immerse ourselves in
God's
word, we experience revelation of His magnificence. As we see His
character and authority through
the events and teaching of Scripture, our hearts will be drawn to have a
proper
reverence toward Him.
Secondly, we must emulate David's prayer found in Psalm 86:11, "Teach me
thy way, O Lord...unite my heart to
fear thy name." In other words, we
must beseech the Lord to connect our hearts (mind, will & emotions)
to His,
thus developing fear of His name. God
desires to reveal Himself to us and align our hearts to His character. I
can assure you, friend, this prayer He
longs to hear that He may soon answer!
Lastly, we must live moment by moment IN God's presence. When we
overlook that God's attending our
daily schedule with us, we are not living in TRUE reality. We must
cultivate a mindset that is ever aware
of His omnipresence. This mindset will
certainly lend to a healthy and regular reset of our fear of the Lord
button, so to speak.
So we can conclude that when we live with a perpetual reverence of
God's ability to render according to every man's work, we will most
certainly
depart from evil. Conversely, if we fear
the ramifications of our evil deeds and make it our daily meditations,
we will
most often create a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, that will
inevitably lead
us back into our designer desires at the hands of our designer devils.
My friend, we have no choice but to fear something; don't be a
slave to evil, rather, depart from it-How?
Count all as LOSS, Focus on the
CROSS and Fear The BOSS!!!
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Have a wonderful day IN the
Lord!
Steven
Curington
 
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| Steve Curington is the founder of an international addictions program and President of a very successful and affordable residential treatment program for men and women. He is also the author of many well read books. Including an addiction recovery in home study kit entitled the personal recovery kit. For more information visit Bro. Curington's personal blog. |
| Check out Bro. Curington's new book, "Preparing for Peace", available on the RU E-Store for $12.
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| Copying permitted. To print a printer friendly version - Click here.
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