See, Paul wrote, \u201cBe transformed by the renewing of your gym membership.\u201d Wait… no he didn\u2019t. He actually said, \u201cBe transformed by the renewing of your bank account.\u201d Hold up\u2026 no, not that either. Paul wrote, \u201cBe transformed by the renewing of your MIND.\u201d He understood then, while sitting in a prison cell, that your mind is where the battle is. Paul understood that when Jesus did what He did, that concluded the real war. From that point forward, the battle wasn\u2019t against flesh and blood, but against\u2026 and I quote, \u201crulers, powers, principalities of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavens\u201d<\/em> (Eph. 6:12)<\/a>. None of that sounds like the stuff we usually think we\u2019re warring against. If that\u2019s all off the table, then the only thing left is the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I firmly believe that no one is called by God to have these issues plaguing us our entire lives<\/span><\/em><\/u><\/strong><\/p>Jason Grainger<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not going to address each of the aforementioned issues society deals with individually. What I want to focus on here is what God says about these issues, what HE says about you, and what I believe are practical ways to both get out of the shackles of these issues and avoid going back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n See, Isaiah 64:6<\/a> says that all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Romans 3:23-24<\/a> says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. These verses basically state that no matter how good we are, we come short of God\u2019s worthiness. The anecdote is Jesus. Once the crucifixion took place, you became heirs of God; adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God. That\u2019s who we really are. God made us in HIS image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To briefly address one aspect of anxiety, many times, anxiety comes about in \u201cpeople pleasers.\u201d The idea that we made mom and dad proud consistently and now it seems we can\u2019t make anyone happy. This leads us to a dark place, wondering what it is we\u2019re doing wrong. The sooner we see ourselves through God\u2019s eyes, the less we care what others think. If someone is angry at you and you know you did nothing wrong, guess who isn\u2019t angry at you\u2026 your God (and very possibly your spouse). I say that because that\u2019s the only two people whose opinion of me I care about, God and my wife. For people pleasers, anxiety can begin to erode away when we really begin looking at ourselves through God\u2019s eyes and understand that we simply cannot make everyone happy. So there\u2019s no sense in worrying too much about it. Remember, if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ok, I get that He is for me, but what can He do about the issues at hand, depression, anxiety, and addiction?<\/strong> Check this out, \u201cI will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation (enemy) you encounter. I will make ALL of your enemies turn their backs and run\u2026But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land\u201d<\/em> (Exodus 23:29-30)<\/a> The land is your own individual liberty from the bondage of depression, anxiety, and addiction. And it won\u2019t go away all at once. Little by little God will drive it out! That\u2019s great news!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what if it was brought on by my own mistakes?<\/strong> Well, welcome to the club. This club includes\u2026every single person that has ever lived, except Jesus. As Pastor Kody Woodard of Renovation church<\/a> recently said, \u201cFailure is an event, not a person.\u201d Your issues don\u2019t define you, regardless if it was brought on by your own transgressions or not. This goes for depression, anxiety, and addiction. That doesn\u2019t define you. So if you\u2019re not defined by that, then how are you defined? The Cross. That\u2019s how you\u2019re defined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/alcohol.jpg\")
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