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More resources are being
directed toward recovery than ever before, but it doesn't seem to help.
Why? Doesn't God's word tell us, "It is for freedom that Christ has set
us free..." (Galatians 5:1)? What's missing? The key to recovery is to
understand your identity in Christ and receive your freedom from sin as
a result of what Christ did on the cross.
Mike Quarles had been a
Christian for fifteen years, was a seminary graduate and served as a
pastor. More than anything he wanted his life to count for God. But he
felt like a failure, so he left the ministry. He soon found himself
hopelessly addicted to alcohol. He attended hundreds of A. A. meetings
and had five different sponsors. He went to counselors, psychiatrists,
and psychologists (Christian and secular). He tried all the Christian
disciplines he heard about. He even tried the drug antabuse. He was in a
Christian 12 Step group, an accountability group and group therapy. He
went through a secular and a Christian treatment center. He was called
before the Church Discipline Committee. Nothing he tried helped. He
believed he was an alcoholic, a failure and a sinner.
Finally he learned the
transforming truth that he was a child of God who was in Christ and that
Christ had done everything necessary for him to walk in freedom. Then he
experienced the truth that, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free
indeed." (John 8:36) Now Mike helps others to experience the peace,
freedom, joy and victory that is their rightful inheritance as children
of God.
"The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom
for the prisoners and recovery of sight
to the blind, to release the oppressed..."
Luke 4:18
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