Doug Gould

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March 30 2025

Faith Requires Singleness of Mind

Doug Gould Personal Development, Spirtual, Uncategorized faith, James1:8, Proverbs, seek God first, seek His guidance, trust God

James warns that a double-minded person is unstable, like a wave tossed by the wind
(James 1:8).
Proverbs 3:5-6 reinforce this:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.

Have you ever felt tossed back and forth in your decisions, unsure of which direction to go?
The Greek word DIPSUCHOS literally means “two-souled,” describing someone who wavers between trusting God and relying on their own understanding.
How often do we seek Human counsel before seeking God?
What stands out in this teaching is that trusting God and trusting ourselves are
mutually exclusive—we cannot do both at the same time.
• If we trust God, we release control and surrender to His wisdom and direction.
• If we rely on our own wisdom, we often fail to seek God’s guidance altogether.
Psalm 119:105 reminds us that God’s Word is our guiding light:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Vance Havner’s quote is a sobering reminder:

We have more biblical knowledge than past generations, yet many Christians Walk in less light than ever.

Why? Because often we seek out human advice over God’s wisdom.
The Key to Stability: Teachability & Obedience
Wisdom isn’t just about knowing Scripture—it’s about applying it.
• Are we receptive to biblical instruction?
• Do we seek God’s wisdom first?
• Are we willing to obey even when life is hard?

In Closing: Take a firm grip on God’s Word and walk in obedience, even when life is difficult. When we choose God’s wisdom over human reasoning, we find true stability,
direction, and peace.

March 30 2025

Being Mindful of Godly Principles

Doug Gould Personal Development, Spirtual, Uncategorized Colossians, godly living, obedience, Philippians, spiritual wisdom, the holy spirit, Word of God

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking [specifically] that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [with insight into His purposes], and in understanding [of spiritual things]. (Col. 1:9).

This is a powerful reflection on godly living, spiritual wisdom, and the sufficiency of Christ. I have attempted to tie together Paul’s prayers for both the Philippians and the Colossians, showing how he encouraged them in different ways based on their unique challenges. At the heart of this passage is a call to remain rooted in Christ alone—not adding human philosophy, legalism, or mysticism to the gospel. True wisdom and transformation come only through the Holy Spirit as we prayerfully study and apply God’s Word.

Here is something for you to reflect upon:
1. Godly living begins with knowing God’s will—a deep, spiritual wisdom that leads to a changed life.
2. Paul prayed for believers to be filled with this knowledge so they would be transformed and walk in obedience.
3. False teachings threaten to dilute the gospel by adding human reasoning, legalism, or mystical experiences.
4. Christ alone is sufficient—we don’t need extra philosophies or religious rules to attain salvation or holiness.
5. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live out what Scripture teaches, giving us everything we need in Christ.

It’s a reminder that our foundation must always be on Christ and His Word. Anything outside of that is a distraction leading to spiritual confusion.

In Closing: Scripture supplies the principles you need to live a godly life. The Holy Spirit gives you the power to do so. Many false teachers will try to divert you from the simplicity of devotion to Christ by offering you hopeless alternatives. Don’t be victimized. In Christ you have everything you need!

June 24 2024

Festival Sponsorship

Doug Gould Uncategorized

February 8 2024

Forget About It

Doug Gould Uncategorized faith, forgetfulness, Having faith in difficult times, Jesus, let go; let God, Letting go of the past, surrender, trust in the Lord

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. –Philippians 3:13, 14

The past is gone. You cannot do anything about it. You cannot change one event or one experience. But Paul, the apostle, said that a Christian could do one helpful thing about the past. In fact, he made it very personal and said it is what he, himself, was doing: Say, like Paul, “This one thing I do.” Call it the power of concentration, consolidation of purpose, or singleness of heart. Whatever you call it, we need it in our walk with God. In fact, this concept is all through the Bible.

“Many a man goes through life shackled and crippled because he will not forget the
things he should forget.” – J. Vernon McGee

I. Forget your Mistakes.

First, forget your mistakes. We all blunder, don’t we? Well, let us forget them. How many of us lose sleep over things we wish we had not said or done? My friend, correct what you have done and then forget it. Move on.

II. Forget your Sensitivities.

Listen, you are going to get hurt in life’s struggle. Somebody is going to offend you. How many people nurse grudges and hurts? You may even be carrying ill feelings and spreading disruption and disturbance among God’s people. Do not let your life be ruined by old wounds and hurt. As you look back into your past and remember personal injuries, forget them.

III. Forget your Successes.

Today we measure people by the dollar sign. How much money have you made? Are you a success in business? What school did you graduate from? What title do you have at work? Hw much influence do you have? My beloved, these values are wrong. Many a man is called a success who is a sorry failure at home.

IV. Forget your Sorrows.

Child of God, He let you go down through the valley of the shadow of death in order that He—as the
God of all comfort— might comfort you. And He does it so, through you, His Word can bring comfort
to others.

V. Forget your Sins.

God’s Word makes it clear what we are to do with our sins: Confess them promptly to God, and then
forget them. God gets tired of us reminding Him of our past sins. After we have dealt with the sin and confessed it privately to God, He says it is forgotten— “forget those things which are behind.”

David spoke of a unique place:

Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? –Psalm 88:12

I do not know the actual location of the “land of forgetfulness,” but wherever it is, it is the proper
place for the forgiven failures of your past.

But your sins are not forgiven, or you are not sure they are forgiven. If that is your situation, I ask you: Would you like to wipe out the sins and stains of your past? Would you like confidence they are forgiven? God will not only forgive your sins, but He will also do something else: He will forget them.
His Word says it over and over:

VI. DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE FUTURE
We may stand on the threshold of the unknown future, but Paul stands with us, saying,

… one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. –Philippians 3:13, 14

After you have done the challenging work of forgetting what is behind, look to Jesus Christ, “the
author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

Come to Him, the One who is the way, the truth, and the life—the One who can bring you into contact
with the Father. None of us know what tomorrow will bring. But God does. Why not put Him at the
controls of your life?

December 13 2023

Through Him, We Will Be Comforted

Doug Gould Spirtual, Uncategorized anxiety, chemical imbalances, control, faith, learned behaviors, reinforcement of repetition, surrender, trust in the Lord

I’m speaking from my own struggles, and I felt like this needed to be shared.

Did you know that an estimated 2.7% of the U.S. population experienced panic disorder (PD), 7.1% had social anxiety disorder (SAD), and 9.1% were impacted by phobias?

In August 2023, almost 32 percent of women and 25 percent of men had symptoms of anxiety disorder.

So, what is it about us that creates this condition? Now, before you fill up my phone or email with comments, please hear me. I have no doubt there are many that suffer from chemical imbalances in the brain which can affect cognitive behavior. However, most human conditions are created by “learned behaviors.” Therefore. we condition our behavior through reinforcement of repetition.

So, the question is what produces anxiety and the answer is as simple as “we desire control.”

This need for control creates the idea that we must look for tangible answers to tangible problems. However, God doesn’t work the way we think or act the way we act.

Yesterday, my very dear friend, Gary, texted me this quote:

“So, you’re thinking God needs supervision.”

This was his response to me after sharing with him my concerns regarding some of our needs that we have at the ROC Recovery Center and how much of an effort that I’m trying to make in order to meet these needs.

Anyway, he got me thinking last night that what concerns me concerns God. We are even instructed in the book of Matthew, where Christ says:

“Come on to me all who are burden and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

It is sometimes a disconcerting truth for many Christians that even though we belong to God through faith in Christ, we still seem to experience the same problems that plagued us before we were saved. We often become discouraged and bogged down in life’s cares.

Thankfully, He has given us the same solution He gave in both Psalms and Peter’s letter. “Cast your cares on the LORD, and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall” (Psalm 55:22), and “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Now watch this….the word “Cast” comes from the Greek Word which means “to thrown upon”. ….this throwing is the exact same description of the action that the Isarealites behavior depicted in Luke 19:35 when we read, “And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.”

In others words, friends, the revelation is this: Think about it. Ready? We are told to throw our cares, our worries, our doubts, our troubles “upon where Christ NOW SITS, not upon the colt. BUT NOW ON HIS THRONE.

Let God be you Supervisor. Give it up and give it over. Trust God.

December 9 2023

The Problem with Doubt

Doug Gould Personal Development, Spirtual anxiety, depression, doubt, faith, falling into sin, fear, God's keeper, God's power, isolation, security in Christ

Devotional:

“That you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).”

“Take the helmet of salvation.” (Eph. 6:17)

The Key to Conquering Doubt is to Focus on the Preserving Power of God

Doubt comes to Christians in many ways. After you’ve sinned, your conscience might hiss at you, saying, “Surely you’re not a Christian. You don’t deserve His mercy. You’re not good enough. How presumptuous to think God could ever use you!” Such doubts are common among Christians who focus on their performance rather than God’s power.

All too often we’re quick to acknowledge God’s power to save us but slow to understand His power to keep us. To complicate matters, many Christians believe they can lose their salvation, so they live in constant fear of falling away from the faith. Still, others have never learned what Scripture teaches about their security in Christ. They’re so intent on pleasing God through their own efforts that they lose sight of grace and drift into a subtle works- righteousness mentality.

Your Performance Doesn’t Determine Your Standing in Christ; Your Standing in Christ Determines your Performance

Jude said, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy” (v. 24).

Able: Greek Word defines it as: “To Speak of Power”

All too often when trouble strikes, we begin to play the fiddle music of “self-pity.” What follows are verses of fear, doubt, anxiety which often leads to behaviors of isolation which stimulates depression.

The word “keep” is translated and literally means “to be secure in the midst of an attack.”

“Stumbling” refers to falling into sin.

If you put the entire definitions together we see and should hear something like this:

God is powerful enough to prevent you from stumbling into sin and falling away from Him—no matter how intense Satan’s attacks might be. He will continue to protect and cleanse you until the day you enter His glorious heaven perfected.

So, the next time you find yourself with doubt, just remember that even though we live in a world that seems out of control, WITH GOD, nothing is out of HIS CONTROL. So, relax and be still, trust HIM.

Remember the old song that says…

“Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.”

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December 9 2023

Did you Hear that?

Doug Gould Personal Development, Spirtual 49ers fan, courage, discomfort, purpose, surrender, trust in the Lord, Word of God

Introduction: The number 9 is a symbol of completeness of God and also a symbol of finality,
and it is used 49 times in the Bible. The Bible uses the word “adoration” 49 times as it
describes the perfect Gift of Christ. The Bible uses the expression “good news” 49 times.
What does this all mean? It means that God is a 49ers fan and He is pleased that they we’ll be
winning the Super Bowl.

Something to Consider?

Does God’s Word ever cause you discomfort?

When you read the Bible, does what you read make you feel uneasy?

Do you find when you listen to a sermon, that they seem to be aimed directly at you?

Well, if that answer is yes, there is a reason for it. The reason is you are experiencing the reality that the WORD of GOD is alive and can read your thoughts and judge your intentions.

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12

“For the Word of God is living and effective and sharper than any
double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and
marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.”

When God Speaks to you, it is Always for a Purpose

God knows your heart and knows what you need to do to bring your life into conformity to Christ. We need to allow the WORD of GOD to conform and shape our lifestyle. WE DO NOT shape and conform our lifestyle to the WORD of God.

Listen, it is either all or nothing.

God knows what you need before you even ask….

When He knows we struggle with “sinful talk or communication,” we may hear or receive a
message on the tongue—The Book of James.

When we have a problem with showing forgiveness, the Word of God may confront you on the “standards” of Forgiveness….

When we struggle with Anger or Pride, we may hear a message from God’s Word on
humility…

BUT—Whatever we have in our lives that seems to be a struggle for us, or perhaps a word of
rebuke, or reproof, or a correction or an instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), you can
be sure you will either hear or read a message about it.

I saw this saying the other day and it really spoke to me:

So how does one escape this uncomfortable feeling? IT’S SIMPLE, AVOID HEARING THE WORD OF GOD.

This is usually done by avoiding going to church and even neglecting to spend time in God’s Word. It can be done by a family member (wife) or a brother in the Lord. It can be done while driving and hearing a message on the radio-or better yet, that gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit. But whatever it is, if you are a follower of Christ, you can be sure you will be confronted.

GOD DOES THIS THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT AND IT LOOKS LIKE
CONDEMNATION BUT IT REALLY IS CONVICTION—

Conviction is one of the first visible signs of the Gospel at work in someone’s life.

For a person to see his or her need for a Savior, conviction of this truth must happen so that the action of repentance can take place.

God gave us the Bible, His Word, so that we may hear from Him. So that we can be challenged.
So that we can be encouraged. So that we can be changed. Hebrews 4:12 is one of several
passages in the Bible that explains the power of God’s Word:

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and
piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge
the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Are you listening?

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December 9 2023

Being Too Guarded and Secretive

Doug Gould Personal Development authenticity, fear, guarded, self disclosure, shame, vulnerability

Having Problems with Self-Disclosure

Shy, awkward people are sometimes overly guarded and secretive. When everyone is talking about more personal subjects, they’re good at hanging back and not contributing, changing the topic, taking the attention off themselves, giving vague, evasive answers, or deciding now’s the right time to get up and see what everyone else at the party is doing. There are topics they’re uncomfortable with, and they’re always a little on edge when they’re socializing because they never know when they’ll come up.

They may dread situations where their feared subjects are more likely to arise, like when their friends are all sitting around and drinking. They can become touchy and defensive when certain people try to ask about their lives, like a lonely teenager may feel grilled and interrogated if his parents good-naturedly ask him about his friends, when he doesn’t have any.

There Are Two Broad Ways the Problem Can Show Up:

First, overly guarded people can be reluctant to make the kinds of personal self-disclosures that help deepen relationships. Usually as people get to know each other they move past safe, surface-level topics and start opening up to each other and sharing more and more of their vulnerabilities and true selves.

Reasons People Can Become Overly Guarded

They’re embarrassed about their secrets and flaws and are trying to save face by hiding them. This can be a side effect of a lack of social success. They don’t want to talk about their weekend because they unwillingly stayed in and played on their computer for the sixth week in a row. They don’t want to talk about their dating history because they’re 22 and have never been in a relationship. They shy away from telling stories of painful experiences of the past in fear of exposure.

They’re shy and socially anxious and see social situations as more high stakes than they are. They view other people as judgmental, choosy, and mean-spirited. They think sharing their vulnerabilities, or even their taste in music, is a high-risk move and they’ll get rejected if they say the wrong thing.

They’ve been picked on in the past and had their secrets and weaknesses used against them. Maybe they’ve had the experience of bullies pretending to start a friendly conversation, when they really wanted to mess with them and dig for material they could use as ammunition later on.

As teenagers, they had nosey, distrustful parents who always grilled them about their lives. They learned to be secretive and deceptive to protect their privacy or avoid getting in trouble over nothing. When a co-worker or friends ask how their weekend was, they instinctively feel like dad is interrogating them and become tight lipped.

They had a rougher childhood and picked up closed-off habits they have trouble breaking as adults. Things may have gone on at home they were legitimately wary of anyone finding out about. They may have gotten good at covering up their family’s problems and making it seem like everything was perfect on the surface. When they tried making self-disclosures as kids their parents may have harshly shot them down.

How to Become Less Guarded and Open to People

However, the reason that someone’s too guarded and self-protective is a self-defeating strategy. It’s stressful to carry around a bunch of supposedly shameful secrets and worry about what will happen if someone finds out about them. Ironically, secretiveness can sometimes bring on more scrutiny and judgment than it helps avoid. If you have a secret, no one may think it’s a big deal if they found out what it was, but they’ll form a poor impression of you if you’re always closed-off and cagey. Their imagination may run wild, and they’ll assume something worse about you than what you’re actually hiding. Here’s some advice for breaking the secretiveness habit:

Change your attitude about what it means to reveal your weakness.

People who are guarded and secretive believe other would reject them if they learned about their weaknesses. Similarly, they think that the way to be liked is to come across as flawless and impressive. The opposite is true. When we reveal our vulnerabilities and rough edges, we seem endearingly human. When we try to act like there’s nothing wrong with us, we become distant and unrelatable, or bland and unmemorable. Have you ever met someone who totally had it together and came across as a little too perfect? People like that are often seen as mildly annoying.

2 Corinthians 12:10

“That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

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July 22 2023

The Gift of Making Amends

Doug Gould Personal Development, Spirtual, Uncategorized amends, defining moments, fear, Having faith in difficult times, our walk with Christ, surrender, trust in the Lord

It was years ago when I heard this comment from a Pastor friend of mine. He said, “There will come a time in life when you will be faced with a decision; that decision will define you.”

During a recent bible study, I began thinking of that thought when I stumbled upon another two additional quotes regarding defining moments:

“When a defining moment comes along, you define the moment, or the moment will define you.”

“It has been well said that a crisis never made any man; it only reveals what he already is.”

That statement, in my opinion, is true if we allow it to be. It is my understanding of God’s Word, that although God allows man “free will” it is the free will of the other peoples’ behaviors that can annoy us.

In the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, Clarence, the angel, says to George Bailey when he wishes that he had never been born and finds out that his own actions really did make an impact on others, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

Before the crisis a man will look at life one way; however, afterwards-and possibly forever-he will begin to see the whole world around him in a different way.

Some of you may be there right now. It may be a health problem, and unless God intervenes, there’s no hope. Perhaps, it’s a serious marital or family problem, a financial problem or a desperate need for work. It may be a personal problem, such as loneliness, guilt, anger, bitterness, or anxiety. It could be some life-dominating sin, such as alcohol, drugs, pornography, or gambling. But whatever the crisis may be, how is it defining you?

Now to fully understand this passage of scripture and how this relates to our walk with Christ today, let us examine this defining moment more closely for in the Book of Genesis we read:

Genesis 32:3-6 “Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes. 6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

It was Jacob that cheated Esau out of his birthright over a bowl of stew. This family puts the funk in dysfunctional. He then proceeded to impersonate his brother, Esau, and trick his father, Isaac, on his deathbed, who was old and unable to see.

Yet, 20 years later, Jacob was met with a defining moment. Jacob heard that his brother, Esau, was traveling to meet with him. So, Jacob, not knowing the intention behind Esau’s visit, sent messengers to meet him, for he was unaware if Esau was coming as a brother or an enemy.

Upon his meeting, Jacob’s moment was that of reconciliation. How do we know this? He begins by showing and expressing humility when he says to his brother “your servant Jacob.” He then proceeds not to brag about what he had gained in his life but to offer his amends through his own material gain.

The Gift of Making Amends.

Isn’t it funny how the pains of yesterday’s past can cripple our behaviors today?

I am a firm believer that we are not defined by our past. If we continue to live our lives through our past behaviors, then we will have no JOY of the Present.

Jacob was in fear in meeting his brother, Esau, because of his past behaviors toward him but humility of making amends softened the heart of Esau.

Allow me to give you a couple of points on what fear does immediately when it hits our brain:

Fear creates a “fight or flight” reaction – immediately! This causes us to either run from facing the issues or modify our behaviors, so we don’t think about it any longer.
Fear creates distractions – Fear creates distraction, which is absolutely a scheme the enemy wants us to do in our lives. If the enemy can distract us from using the mistakes of our past then we will not spend time with God in the present. The longer we keep our mind’s eyes on the problem instead of the solution, the enemy wins! We should be reminded everyday with what we read in Proverbs.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.

So, what can we learn from this?

God must break us of our self-dependence, so that we can cling to him through our brokenness.

Brokenness and humility lead us in having a heart of surrender.

Before God can use you in this defining moment to a pathway of blessings, we must be broken – Why? Because all of us have this innate ability to put our trust and security in something that is tangible -stay with me—so what happens-Jacob sends his entire family across the river and he finds himself alone—

Before God could deliver him from the hand of his brother, he had to deliver Jacob from his own self will and self-reliance.

Many times we think the real enemy is our opposition when the real enemy is our own nature that needs to be surrendered.

So, here is our defining moment! If we come into the proper relationship with God, of clinging to Him in our brokenness, then we have power with Him.

We prevail with Him when we allow God to prevail over us.

April 24 2023

The Greatest Recovery Program of All

Doug Gould Personal Development, Spirtual faith, forgiveness, God's grace, Having faith in difficult times

As you know the ROC Recovery Center is a Christ-centered recovery program that offers men, women, and youth everything they need to succeed on a journey to freedom and long-term sustainable sobriety.

In making Christ at the center of our recovery, we see that all things come from His teachings. The freedom from bondage of addiction is just another one of His many gifts. But that doesn’t mean the road isn’t going to be met with an occasional obstacle or two.

ROC Recovery Center offers an approach in cleaning up the wreckage of our past that is free from shame and judgement so we can be free from addiction.

Step #1: We Admitted That We Were Powerless Over Alcohol—That Our Lives Had Become Unmanageable

The bible says:

“I know, O LORD, that the way of human beings is not in their control, that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps”

Jeremiah 10:23

David faced this dilemma many times in his life as well. In Psalms 38:4 David admitted that he, too, was overwhelmed by sin when he writes:

“For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.”

Even the Apostle Paul described his own struggle with sin and his need for God’s deliverance when he wrote in Romans 7:24-25:

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Step #2: We Came to Believe That a Power Greater Than Ourselves Could Restore Us to Sanity

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “He who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

So, in Step 2 we are urged to acknowledge that recovery depends on “a power greater than ourselves.” To fully understand our dependence on God, we must examine our human sinful condition. We read in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

We have all sinned. We have all done things that are displeasing to God. There is no one who is innocent, therefore, since all have sinned, God designed a plan for man’s redemption. In Romans 6:23, we read:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

There is a way out! The Lord reveals this as we continue to read verse 23: “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Furthermore, in Romans 5:8, we see just how much God loves us:

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

But wait, there’s more!

Step #3: We Made a Decision to Turn Our Will and Our Lives Over to the Care of God As We Understood Him

How do I apply this step? In Romans 10:9, we read that this gift is free to anyone who seeks it.

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 says it again, “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and rescue us from eternal death. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is available to anyone who will trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Addiction doesn’t often have a direct cause-and-effect relationship to the person struggling with addiction. Not only will we have to expose our own shortcomings (sins), but we also have to examine and address the damage caused personally to us by the behaviors of others.

In other words, sometimes bad things do happen to us because we live in a world where man has free will to choose. This is when we offer to God our will, so that hopefully we will get to that moment to walk and live in complete forgiveness. One of Christ’s greatest teachings is forgiveness. This applies to us forgiving ourselves for our past mistakes, as well as forgiving others. This is why we celebrate the Life of Christ from death to resurrection. We live today because He lives.

We all can grow, change, and become what God has called us to be; however, we are not going to be able to do this unless we can let go of the past.

Christ’s forgiveness extends to people struggling with addiction as well. And when you make the decision to leave that life behind, the judgement that you might expect won’t be found in a Christ centered recovery program.