Finding Freedom from Your Hurts, Hang-ups, and Habits

[mrsct]

One Sunday afternoon a father was trying to take a nap, but his little boy kept bugging him with "Daddy, I'm bored." So, trying to occupy him with a game, the dad found a picture of the world in the newspaper. He cut it up in about fifty pieces and said, "Son, see if you can put this puzzle back together." The dad lay back down to finish his nap, thinking the map would keep his son busy for at least an hour or so. But in about fifteen minutes the little guy woke him up: "Daddy, I've got it finished. It's all together."

"Your kidding." He knew his son didn't know all the positions of the nations, so he asked him, "How did you do it?"

"It was easy. There was a picture of the person on the back of the map, so when I got my person put together, the world looked just fine."

How is your "person" doing? Are you all put together? The fact is that many of us are a mess. We're scattered all over the living-room floor with no one to put us together and no idea where to begin the process of healing. Each of our lives is tangled up with hurts that haunt our hearts, hang-ups that cause us pain, and habits that mess up our lives.

Hurts, hang-ups, and habits. There's not a person in the world who doesn't deal with at least one of these on some level-and many of us struggle with all three.

The truth is, life is tough. We live in an imperfect world. We've been hurt by other people, we've hurt ourselves, and we've hurt other people. The Bible says it plainly: "All have sinned." That means none of us is perfect: we've all blown it: we've all made mistakes. We hurt, and we hurt others.

It's amazing how much better the world looks when our person is put together. And that's what we're going to do in this book. With God's help in making eight healing choices, you are going to be able to put the pieces of your world back together.

We'll start with a promise straight from God. There are five ways He promises to help us find freedom from our hurts, hang-ups, and habits.

"I have seen how they acted, but I will heal them. I will lead them and help them, and I will comfort those who mourn. I offer peace to all, both near and far! I will heal my people."

Notice the five promises God extends:

1. If you are hurt, God says, "I will heal you."

2. If you're confused, God says, "I will lead you."

3. If you feel helpless, God says, "I will help you."

4. If you feel alone, God says, "I will comfort you."

5. If you feel anxious and afraid, God says, "I will offer peace to you."

Trusting in His promises, we find hope for a better future-a life of freedom, peace, and happiness.

HAPPINESS IS POSSIBLE-BUT YOU'VE GOT TO CHOOSE IT

Since the beginning of time, men and women have searched for happiness-usually in all the wrong places, trying all the wrong things. But there's only one place where we can find tested-and-proven, absolutely-gonna-work principles that will lead to healing and happiness. These principles come in the form of eight statements from the truest of all books-the Bible-and from the most revered Teacher of all time-Jesus Christ. Jesus laid out these principles for happiness in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5. Today we call them "the Beatitudes."

Happiness, Jesus says, can be ours, but the pathway to happiness may not be exactly what we're expecting. From a conventional viewpoint, most of the following eight statements don't make sense. At first they even sound like contradictions. But when you fully understand what Jesus is saying, you'll realize these eight statements are God's pathway to wholeness, growth, and spiritual maturity.

"Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor."

"Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

"Happy are the meek."

"Happy are the pure in heart."

"Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires."

"Happy are those who are merciful."

"Happy are those who work for peace."

"Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires."

MY OWN PERSONAL CHOICE

I know that the eight healing choices work. Why? Because they worked in my life. I have not always been a pastor. Prior to being called into the ministry, I was a successful businessman. I was also a "functional alcoholic." I struggled with my sin addiction to alcohol for nineteen years. Eventually I cam to a point where I was losing everything. I cried out to God for help, and He led me to Alcoholics Anonymous. Even then I knew that my higher power had a name-Jesus Christ!-and I started attending Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. After a year of sobriety, I answered God's call to start a Christ-centered recovery program called Celebrate Recovery. Since 1991, hundreds of thousands of courageous individuals have found the same freedom from their life's hurts, hand-ups, and habits that I did. If these eight choices worked for someone like me. I promise they can work for you too!

[mrsct]

I do apologize, I couldn't finish this tonight. I will post the rest of it tomorrow in another post.