Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hi and welcome to the
Recovered Christian.
This is Suzanne, and today I'mtalking about our greatest enemy
in our recovery and why I don'tcall myself an addict.
In Peter 5, verses 8-9, sayStay alert, watch out for your
greatest enemy, the Devil.
He prowls around like a roaringlion looking for someone to
(00:37):
devour.
Stand firm against him and bestrong in your faith.
The Devil is prowling aroundeach of us, waiting for a chance
to destroy us.
He wants us to open the door tohim, to crack open our lives so
he can come in and devour us.
It's a warning we should heed.
We don't want to live our livesafraid of that, but we should,
(01:01):
especially as people in recovery, be aware and not forget it.
As a woman in long-term recovery, I have built years of sober
muscle memory and good habits,and that's awesome.
My daily life has nothing to dowith the chains of addiction
anymore.
I don't think about it, or atleast I didn't think about it
much until I started thispodcast.
(01:22):
I don't worry about it.
It rarely crosses my mind, butI am always one bad decision
away from going right back towhere I was seven years ago.
I have to.
We have to continue to makegood choices, saying no thank
you to the thing that bound usin the first place.
We have to stay vigilant aboutour recovery, guarding it and
(01:45):
protecting it against allattempts the Devil will use to
thwart us.
He is our great enemy and willnever stop trying to kill us.
Addiction often creeps in verysubtly One day we're having a
glass of wine with friends atlunch and the next we're waking
up at 3 am with shaking hands.
I've talked to so many peoplewho say something along the
(02:08):
lines of I don't know how it gotso bad so fast.
In my experience, addiction islike being on a roller coaster.
We are inching our way up tothe top, slowly and steadily, we
keep moving up, and thensuddenly we're teetering on the
precipice, knowing the fall iscoming.
(02:30):
Then, bam, there we go,hurdling down and down faster
and faster, screaming andhanging on for dear life.
I wish I had jumped off thatride before I got to the top,
but I didn't, and you probablydidn't either.
But we don't have to get on theride again.
I'm definitely not interestedin taking that roller coaster
(02:51):
ride ever again.
I spent far too many yearsriding that dang thing and I am
done Gratefully.
We don't have to do this alone.
God is right there with us.
Peter encourages us to standfirm against the enemy, to stay
rooted in our faith.
It's an invitation to resistthe pull of addiction through
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the strength of our belief inGod.
The devil wants to steal yourjoy, break your heart and ruin
every good thing in your life.
His greatest desire is to comebetween you and the Father.
In John 10, verses 10 through15, jesus says the thief's
purpose is to steal and kill anddestroy.
(03:33):
My purpose is to give them arich and satisfying life.
I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd sacrificeshis life for the sheep.
A hired hand will run when hesees a wolf coming.
He will abandon the sheepbecause they don't belong to him
and he isn't their shepherd.
And so the wolf attacks themand scatters the flock.
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The hired hand runs awaybecause he's working only for
the money and doesn't reallycare about the sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd.
I know my sheep and they knowme.
This is my Father knows me andI know the Father.
So I sacrifice my life for thesheep.
We are the sheep and we needthe shepherd.
(04:15):
The wolf will attack.
He's always looking for a wayinto the flock, but we have
protection through Jesus.
In verse 3, jesus says the sheeprecognize his voice and come to
him.
He calls his own sheep by nameand leaves them out.
He calls his own sheep by name.
(04:36):
Jesus knows us intimately.
He understands us because hewas fully human during his time
on earth.
He knows what it's like to wantand hurt and weep.
He surely understandstemptation.
Jesus was tempted in thewilderness for forty days and
forty nights by the devil, whoused everything he could to get
(04:57):
Jesus to fall, but nothingworked.
Jesus stood firm, calling onthe scriptures to refute
everything the devil said andfinally ordering him away.
In Matthew 4, 10-11, matthewwrites Get out of here, satan.
Jesus told him, for thescriptures say you must worship
the Lord, your God, and serveonly him.
(05:18):
Then the devil went away andangels came and took care of
Jesus.
This is how we deal with thedevil.
Use the authority given to usas children of God and order the
devil away in the name of Jesus.
The Bible tells us that theevil ones tremble at the name of
Jesus.
Use it.
Say it when you feel weak ortempted.
(05:40):
Order the devil away from youin Jesus' name.
Tell him to get out of here,get out.
Call on the name of yourshepherd, the one who knows you
and loves you and wants to carefor you forever.
Call on the name of Jesus andorder the devil to flee.
He will.
It works.
I've done it.
(06:01):
Second Chronicles 16-9 says theeyes of the Lord search the
whole earth in order tostrengthen those whose hearts
are fully committed to him.
We are not alone.
We have the most powerful andloving Father on our side, the
commander of the heavenly armies, the creator of the universe,
the one in whom there is nodarkness, the all-knowing,
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ever-present, the great I am.
He searches for you, tostrengthen you, to protect you.
Commit to him with everythingin you and watch what he does.
So now that we know the greatestenemy in our recovery, I want
to talk about the second part,for today I never refer to
myself as an addict or analcoholic.
(06:45):
I say I am in recovery and I am.
God, in his beautiful andtender mercy, recovered me from
bondage.
He lifted me out of that pit ofaddiction and set me on the
road to a new life.
Why would I want to claim thatpit as part of my identity?
I don't.
(07:06):
I have the disease of addictionand I always will Just like if I
were a type 1 diabetic or if Iwere left-handed.
I will always have the diseaseof addiction, but it is not who
I am.
It is a tiny part of me and onethat doesn't take up much space
anymore.
My identity is as a child ofGod, a lover of Jesus Christ, a
(07:28):
believer in the resurrection.
I am a wife and a mom, abusiness owner, an entrepreneur,
an author, a podcaster.
I am a person called by God tominister to those still bound in
addiction.
I am a woman who is free fromthe chains that bound her for 20
years and I refuse to namemyself anything related to those
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chains.
I will never name myself, thething that the devil tried to
kill me with.
I just will not.
I am delivered from that.
God recovered me and I willforever be in recovery, and
that's a wonderful place to be.
God lifted me out of theclutches of the devil and tucked
me under his wing, and there Iremain and I pray that I always
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will.
Let's pray Gracious, god, thankyou.
Thank you for delivering usfrom the bondage that the devil
kept us in.
We are so grateful for a newlife, for health, for the
recovery you gave us.
Father, please turn your eyestowards those still struggling,
still bound.
Open their hearts to you.
(08:35):
Help them lay down their livesto you to surrender their will
and everything in them to you.
Help them break the chains ofthe devil and find glorious,
full lives with you.
Grant all of us theperseverance to overcome, to
withstand any attack, knowingthat through Christ, victory is
assured.
In Jesus' name, amen.
(08:57):
You are not your addiction, youare not your disease.
You are a child of God, abeloved child of God.
You are a life restored, aperson known by the shepherd and
loved by the Creator of allthings.
You are loved.
Never forget that you are notat inconvenience to God.
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You are not forgotten or unseen.
You matter.
You are important.
In the parable of the lost sheepin Luke 15, jesus says Rejoice
with me because I have found mylost sheep.
In the same way, there is morejoy in heaven over one lost
sinner who repents and returnsto God than over 99 others who
(09:42):
are righteous.
And heaven straight away.
I was a lost sheep, but I'm notanymore.
Come home, friends.
Heaven is waiting to rejoiceover your return.
Thank you so much for beinghere today.
I'll see you next time.
Thank you so much for listening.
(10:04):
I hope your bite-sized devotiontoday was very satisfying.
If you enjoyed this episode,I'd be honored if you'd leave a
review or a rating.
We are new, so every little bithelps me bring the word to the
world.
I'd love to get to know youbetter at our Facebook group,
the Recovered Christian.
I'll put a link to it in theshow notes.
(10:24):
So thanks again for being hereand I will see you next time.