Is Freedom From Addiction Possible?

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