October 3, 2025 • 26 mins
What if freedom isn’t the absence of struggle but the presence of a fight you refuse to lose?
In this raw and powerful episode of Rooted & Recovered, Dan Pyles unpacks what it really means to stay free after the initial breakthrough. Recovery doesn’t end the war; it just starts the training. And sometimes, the hardest battles come after you’ve already said yes to freedom.
This episode isn’t for the ones still trying to decide if they want change—it’s for the ones who already have, but still feel the pressure, the pull, and the punch of temptation that hits when you least expect it.
From middle-of-the-night urges to silent shame loops, Dan gets real about the landmines that still lurk even years into recovery—and how to fight them with truth, tools, and grace.
Whether you're one day sober or a decade in, this one is for you.
Key Highlights:
- Why temptation isn’t failure—but silence often is
- What triggers really are (and why they scream louder in secret)
- The difference between trying harder and rooting deeper
- What grace-based resistance looks like in real life
- Why success can be just as dangerous a trigger as pain
- Tools, truths, and tactics to stay grounded when old habits come knocking
Scriptures Covered:
2 Corinthians 10:5 • 1 Corinthians 10:13 • Matthew 4:1–11 (Referenced) • John 10:27 (Implied)
Final Truth:
Triggers are real—but they don’t have to rule you. You don’t need to be flawless to be faithful. And you don’t have to be perfect to keep moving forward. Every time you say no, every time you get back up, every time you choose grace over shame—you’re winning the fight to stay free.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
This world doesn't hand outhealing.
It offers quick fixes, cheappies and empty promises, but
real recovery, it takes roots.
Roots that dig deep into truth,into identity, into the
unshakeable grace of God.
We're not here to sugarcoat thestruggle.
(00:27):
We've lived it.
Addiction, shame, relapse,regret, but we've also seen
resurrection.
We've seen what has.
Happens when broken people getanchored in something real
rooted and recovered is morethan a podcast.
It's a battleground for thesoul.
A place where scars tellstories, where scripture speaks
(00:48):
louder than shame, where freedomisn't just a word.
It's a war we win daily.
So if you're tired of surfacelevel answers, if you want truth
that convicts, hope that heals,and conversations that cut
through the noise, you're in theright place.
Welcome to Rooted and Recovered.
Dan (01:13):
Welcome to another episode of Rooted and Recovered.
I am your host, Dan Pyles, and Ijust wanna say it's an honor and
privilege to get to continuethis journey that we call
recovery together.
Thank you so very much forhanging out with me today.
Um, as we continue season two ofRooted In Recovered.
(01:35):
Today's episode is titledTriggers Temptation.
The fight to stay free.
Now family, let's talk about,let's just talk about this for
just a moment.
Let's talk about something real.
And I'm not talking just churchre, I'm not talking just
Instagram or Facebook reelfamily.
(01:55):
I mean the kind of real thatwakes you up.
Sweating at 2:00 AM the kind ofreal that whispers old lies into
your new mind.
The kind of real that makes youquestion.
Am I really free or am I justfaking it better now?
Come on man.
I know I'm talking to somebodytoday.
(02:16):
I know I'm not the only onethat's felt this way.
I'm talking about that reallymakes you question, am I really
free?
Am I really sober?
Am I really saved or am I justlearning how to fake things
better in life?
Now, family, this is for theones who've already been to rock
(02:37):
bottom.
Who've already gotten clean,who've already tasted the grace
of God and still fill the poolbecause family recovery doesn't
end the war.
You know what it does?
It just starts the training.
We think that recovery is thefinish line.
(02:59):
Family recovery is the startingline because now we've got to
learn how to live life sober.
Now I've got to learn how tofeel emotions again.
Like we talked about now I'vegot to learn how to be a dad or
a husband and a productivemember of society, family.
Just recovering from drugs andalcohol is not the finish line.
(03:21):
It's the starting line.
It's where the training of lifebegins.
You can be a year sober, you canbe five years healed.
You could be preaching on Sundaymorning and still find yourself
one trigger away from fallingback into a thought, a fantasy,
(03:44):
a habit, a secret that youthought was buried, and you know
what family.
That doesn't mean that you and Iare broken beyond repair.
You know what it means?
It means we're human.
It means that you and I are in afight.
(04:05):
So let me be clear.
Temptation isn't failure.
I wanna debunk that lie.
Temptation isn't failurefeeling, it doesn't mean you've
fallen.
You know what it means.
Family it means that you and Iare still standing.
(04:26):
But what is failure?
It's silence.
It's shame.
It's pretending you don't have aweak spot when you know you do
family.
That's failure.
Recovery isn't just about notusing, it's about learning how
(04:48):
to stand when the pressuremounts.
It's about identifying thoselandmines in your soul before
they go off.
You see triggers are likealarms.
They don't just tell you what'swrong.
They reveal what's unhealed.
(05:09):
They scream for your attention.
That song, that smell, that oldneighborhood, that text from a
number you deleted, but stillremember.
That anniversary of the worstday of your life, that news
(05:33):
story that hits too close tohome.
The lonely silence aftermidnight when no one is watching
you and you just want to escapeagain.
Family.
That's the war.
And in this episode.
(05:54):
I'm not gonna sit here and weare not gonna sit here and
pretend it's not real.
Today we're pulling the curtainback.
We're talking about how to faceit, how to fight it, and stay
free even when every fiber inyour flesh wants to cave in.
(06:18):
Because here's the truth, youand I are not weak, fulfilling
it.
We're not disqualified forwrestling with it.
We are not a fraud because thestruggle didn't magically
disappear after the altar call.
You see family, when I gotclean, I still had a recovery
(06:43):
process I had to go through.
I did not.
When I gave my heart and life toGod, he didn't take everything
away from me.
I had to flush dope down thetoilet.
I had to go through the recoveryprocess and it was not easy.
(07:04):
We think that the moment that wegive our heart and life to God
that everything just magicallydisappears and everything now
all a sudden is, is unicorns andrainbows and and sugar cereals,
but family, sometimes Sometimesin life, we are just gonna have
to take a bite of that sandwichand it's not gonna taste good.
(07:28):
It's not gonna feel good.
It's not always your spiritualwalk.
Your recovery walk is not alwaysgoing to be magical.
But see, freedom.
Isn't the absence of temptation,it's the ability to say no.
(07:49):
Even when everything in you isscreaming and wanting to say
yes, it's learning to sit in thetension of the trigger and
choose truth anyways, it'srewiring your responses.
(08:10):
So that you don't just run fromsomething, you run towards
someone.
Catch that.
That's freedom Family.
When you have developed enoughstickum in your life that you
don't run from something, yourun to someone because here's
(08:31):
what the enemy doesn't want youand I to realize.
He.
Can't make you go back.
Do you hear me?
The devil does not have thepower, the authority, or the
ability to make you, and I goback.
But what he can do and all hecan do is lie loud enough that
(08:56):
you and I forget how far we'vecome.
And let me tell you something,you and I.
Have come too far to go backnow.
I don't care if you have been inrecovery for 10 minutes, you
have come too far to go backnow.
(09:20):
You didn't survive all that helljust to hand the keys back over
to your past.
You didn't claw your way out ofdarkness just to sit in silence
while the enemy whispers guiltover your growth family.
This episode today is for thefighters.
(09:43):
The ones who are tired,triggered, tempted, but still
choosing freedom.
It's for the ones who arerefusing to go numb again.
Who would rather wrestle in thelight than hide in the darkness?
(10:05):
Because family, you and I weremade for more than relapse.
We were made for victory.
And no matter how loud thetrigger screams, God still
speaks louder.
She triggers family.
They're real.
(10:26):
I am not gonna get up here anddisqualify triggers.
I'm not going to downplaytriggers.
I'm here today to validate thembecause I have dealt with them
and there's still times in mylife that I still get triggered.
They are real, but they don'thave to rule you.
(10:48):
And let's be honest, triggersaren't imaginary.
They're real.
They come outta nowhere and theypunch you right in the gut.
It can be a certain smell, asong, a season.
Maybe it's a social media memorythat pops up and takes you right
(11:09):
back to the pain that youthought you were past.
Sometimes it's not evensomething external.
It's a thought.
Maybe it's a mood shift.
Maybe it's a feeling that youjust can't name.
But here's the truth.
You can feel a trigger withoutbeing owned by it.
(11:33):
Triggers are signals, notsentences.
They, don't mean you failed.
they mean.
There's still something insideyou that's healing.
So what do we do?
What do you do?
You name them.
You don't ignore them.
You bring them into the lightbecause what stays in the dark
(11:56):
will keep you stuck in cycles.
Listen to me on that family.
Listen to me.
You must bring those triggersinto the light because what
stays in the dark will keep youstuck in cycles.
You can't control what pops intoyour mind, but you can control
(12:20):
what stays.
Let me be clear to you.
You are not your thoughts.
You can't always stop that.
The intrusive idea that tries tomake a home in your head, but
you can stop feeding it.
(12:42):
You can stop renting space toit.
You can evict it the moment itstarts unpacking shame and
condemnation in your life.
You know why?
Because second Corinthians 10,five tells you and I to take
every thought captive.
(13:04):
That doesn't mean that thatthought's not gonna show up
family.
It means.
You and I have to refuse to letit run the show.
Think about this for a minuteand be real.
Be real with yourself.
A relapse starts in the mindbefore it ever shows up in your
(13:25):
body.
A spiral begins with oneunchecked lie un left to grow in
silence, a breakdown begins.
With a buildup of unspokentriggers, but here's your power.
(13:45):
When that voice whispers, youhaven't changed, you can
respond.
I've been made new.
When it says, just one moretime, you declare I've already
died to that lie.
See, recovery isn't aboutavoiding temptation.
(14:06):
It's about facing it with toolsand truth.
You see family as much as Iwould wish we could, and I hope
we could, you can't wishtemptation away.
Jesus himself was tempted.
(14:26):
You know what he did?
He responded with scripture.
You see, because the enemy isstrategic, this bum knows your
weak spots, and he doesn't wastetime attacking what's strong.
He goes after what's wounded.
That's why your defense justcan't be, well, just try harder.
(14:52):
It's got to be root deeper andhere's what recovery with God
looks like.
You build awareness and youstart to recognize patterns
before they come problems.
You lean into accountability.
You stop isolating.
(15:12):
Why?
Because you have someone you cancall, maybe that's a sponsor,
maybe that's a, a friend, yourcounselor, a therapist, your
pastor, a family member.
You develop spiritual reflexes.
You don't wait until you'rehalfway into your relapse.
Before you pray, you learn topray at the first flicker of
(15:36):
temptation.
See, this is the differencebetween surviving and staying
free.
First Corinthians 10 13 tellsus, and this is our scripture
focus for today.
No temptation.
Has overtaken you except what iscommon to mankind.
(15:57):
Listen to this, and God isfaithful.
He will not let you be temptedbeyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, hewill also provide a way out so
that you can endure it.
(16:17):
Let that sink in.
Your struggle isn't strange.
Others are fighting it too.
Family.
Your weakness isn't bigger thanhis faithfulness and your
temptation always has an exitsign.
God never traps you.
(16:39):
There's always a way out.
It might be hard.
It might require callingsomeone.
Turning off your phone, hittingyour knees, but there is a way
out.
And freedom isn't about findingit once.
It's about choosing it everytime.
(17:00):
I love that portion of thescripture.
But when you are tempted, hewill always, Provide a way out
so that you can do it.
Why?
Because it says God is faithfuland he will not let you be
tempted beyond what you canbear.
(17:23):
See, feeling tempted doesn'tmean you failed family.
It means you're fighting.
You know what failure lookslike?
Failure is giving in and thengiving up.
That's not you.
That's not me.
Not anymore family.
We've come too far.
(17:44):
You and I have tasted too muchgrace.
You and I have fought throughtoo many battles to lay down our
swords.
Now, yeah, temptation mightknock on the door, but it
doesn't have to get a seat atyour table.
You can be tempted and stillchoose freedom.
(18:07):
You can feel weak and still beheld strong by the spirit of
God, and you can want to give upand still take one more step
forward.
Let's get brutally honest for aminute.
(18:29):
What are your biggest triggers?
Not the ones that you tell youraccountability partner.
Come on, family.
I'm talking about the real ones,the quiet ones, the ones that
creep in when you're tired,alone and nobody's watching.
(18:49):
Is it rejection?
Boredom.
Loneliness.
Maybe even success.
sometimes success is a trigger.
Why?
Because when things are good,what happens?
We drop our guard.
(19:10):
We start thinking, you knowwhat?
I've got this, and what happens?
We stop clinging to grace.
And we start managing ourrecovery on autopilot.
But here's the dangerous truth.
Unattended triggers become opendoors.
(19:30):
See, there's a differencebetween surrendering your
triggers and simply tryingharder not to act on them.
Some of us pray over ourcravings.
Hold on to the coping mechanismjust in case we say we've laid
(19:51):
it at the altar, but we keep akey to the back door just in
case.
This whole grace thing that Dankeeps talking about doesn't work
out today.
That's not surrender.
That's survival.
And survival will wear you out.
(20:15):
The longer you try to managetriggers with willpower alone
family, listen to me, the morediscouraged you'll get.
You know why?
Because willpower eventuallywill run out.
But grace builds strength.
(20:36):
Grace builds endurance.
You see, grace doesn't justforgive your relapse.
It fortifies your resistance.
Grace isn't a magic eraser thatwipes away failure while you're
trying to knuckle your waythrough life.
(20:56):
It's a foundation, it's astrategy.
It's a strength that comes fromknowing that I'm not alone in
this moment of weakness.
I'm not the sum of my thoughts.
I have the power to choosedifferently.
I have a savior who has alreadydefeated this battle at the
(21:19):
cross.
Here's what grace based strategylooks like.
Know your early warning signs.
Not when you've already pickedup the drink or that substance
or that old behavior, but thefirst thought that takes you
(21:41):
there.
Track it, write it down,recognize the pattern, and begin
to create interruptions.
What do you do when temptationhits?
Do you run to scripture?
Do you call someone?
Do you worship?
(22:03):
Do you step outside for a secondand breathe journal?
Do you speak truth out loud?
Build those interruptions like afire escape plan before the fire
starts.
And every time you feel shamecreeping in.
(22:26):
I want you to pause and saythis.
This is not the voice of myshepherd.
I'm not being shamed.
I'm being shaped family.
Ask yourself today, what momentsor mindsets make you most
vulnerable?
(22:47):
What's the difference betweenhow you've tried to fight
temptation in the past?
How God is asking you to fight.
Now, what is your way out firstCorinthians 10 13.
When temptation flares up, haveyou confused?
(23:11):
Being tempted with beingdefeated?
See, this is a spiritual, thisspiritual reflection isn't about
pretending temptation doesn'texist.
It's about calling it what it isand then calling on the one who
has already overcome it.
(23:33):
You don't have to be perfectfamily to be free.
You just have to stop doing italone.
The fight to stay free is real,but so is the grace in your life
that surrounds you.
And as we get ready to wrap thispodcast episode up today.
(23:53):
You're not weak because youstill have triggers in life.
You're not broken becausetemptation still knocks you're
human.
The goal of recovery was neverto erase your humanity.
The goal was to heal it, redeemit, strengthen it.
The old you used to run, but thenew You knows how to stand.
(24:20):
But here's the truth.
Family triggers don't disappearovernight.
Temptation doesn't always comeknocking on the door politely,
and freedom isn't always theabsence of struggle.
Sometimes it's the presence of afight you refuse to lose.
(24:43):
Every time you resist, even whenit's messy, every time you reach
for grace instead of shame,every time you get back up
again, instead of giving upfamily, you're winning.
You don't have to be perfect tobe free.
You don't have to be flawless tobe faithful.
You just have to be willing tokeep showing up, to keep
(25:05):
surrendering, to keep fighting.
So let this be your remindertoday.
There's power in truth.
There's strength and surrender,and there's freedom on the other
side of every single fight.
You come too far to turn aroundnow, family.
(25:25):
You have come too far in yourjourney to go back to Egypt.
You got to believe me.
You got to trust the processfamily.
The Bible tells us that he willgive us a way out.
We just got to trust theprocess.
I love and honor you, family.
Thank you so much for hangingout with me, and until next
(25:49):
time, you know the game.
Stay rooted, stay recovered, andlet's get to work.
You are not just surviving.
You are becoming, becomingrooted in truth, becoming
recovered by grace, and becomingthe person God always knew you
(26:09):
could be.
Thanks for joining us on Rootedin Recovered.
If this episode stirredsomething in you, don't keep it
to yourself.
Share it, live it, let it takeroot.
We'll see you next time righthere where scars become
testimonies and hope rises fromthe ashes.
This world doesn't hand outhealing.
It offers quick fixes, cheappies and empty promises, but
real recovery, it takes roots.
Roots that dig deep into truth,into identity, into the
unshakeable grace of God.
We're not here to sugarcoat thestruggle.
(00:27):
We've lived it.
Addiction, shame, relapse,regret, but we've also seen
resurrection.
We've seen what has.
Happens when broken people getanchored in something real
rooted and recovered is morethan a podcast.
It's a battleground for thesoul.
A place where scars tellstories, where scripture speaks
(00:48):
louder than shame, where freedomisn't just a word.
It's a war we win daily.
So if you're tired of surfacelevel answers, if you want truth
that convicts, hope that heals,and conversations that cut
through the noise, you're in theright place.
Welcome to Rooted and Recovered.
Dan (01:13):
Welcome to another episode of Rooted and Recovered.
I am your host, Dan Pyles, and Ijust wanna say it's an honor and
privilege to get to continuethis journey that we call
recovery together.
Thank you so very much forhanging out with me today.
Um, as we continue season two ofRooted In Recovered.
(01:35):
Today's episode is titledTriggers Temptation.
The fight to stay free.
Now family, let's talk about,let's just talk about this for
just a moment.
Let's talk about something real.
And I'm not talking just churchre, I'm not talking just
Instagram or Facebook reelfamily.
(01:55):
I mean the kind of real thatwakes you up.
Sweating at 2:00 AM the kind ofreal that whispers old lies into
your new mind.
The kind of real that makes youquestion.
Am I really free or am I justfaking it better now?
Come on man.
I know I'm talking to somebodytoday.
(02:16):
I know I'm not the only onethat's felt this way.
I'm talking about that reallymakes you question, am I really
free?
Am I really sober?
Am I really saved or am I justlearning how to fake things
better in life?
Now, family, this is for theones who've already been to rock
(02:37):
bottom.
Who've already gotten clean,who've already tasted the grace
of God and still fill the poolbecause family recovery doesn't
end the war.
You know what it does?
It just starts the training.
We think that recovery is thefinish line.
(02:59):
Family recovery is the startingline because now we've got to
learn how to live life sober.
Now I've got to learn how tofeel emotions again.
Like we talked about now I'vegot to learn how to be a dad or
a husband and a productivemember of society, family.
Just recovering from drugs andalcohol is not the finish line.
(03:21):
It's the starting line.
It's where the training of lifebegins.
You can be a year sober, you canbe five years healed.
You could be preaching on Sundaymorning and still find yourself
one trigger away from fallingback into a thought, a fantasy,
(03:44):
a habit, a secret that youthought was buried, and you know
what family.
That doesn't mean that you and Iare broken beyond repair.
You know what it means?
It means we're human.
It means that you and I are in afight.
(04:05):
So let me be clear.
Temptation isn't failure.
I wanna debunk that lie.
Temptation isn't failurefeeling, it doesn't mean you've
fallen.
You know what it means.
Family it means that you and Iare still standing.
(04:26):
But what is failure?
It's silence.
It's shame.
It's pretending you don't have aweak spot when you know you do
family.
That's failure.
Recovery isn't just about notusing, it's about learning how
(04:48):
to stand when the pressuremounts.
It's about identifying thoselandmines in your soul before
they go off.
You see triggers are likealarms.
They don't just tell you what'swrong.
They reveal what's unhealed.
(05:09):
They scream for your attention.
That song, that smell, that oldneighborhood, that text from a
number you deleted, but stillremember.
That anniversary of the worstday of your life, that news
(05:33):
story that hits too close tohome.
The lonely silence aftermidnight when no one is watching
you and you just want to escapeagain.
Family.
That's the war.
And in this episode.
(05:54):
I'm not gonna sit here and weare not gonna sit here and
pretend it's not real.
Today we're pulling the curtainback.
We're talking about how to faceit, how to fight it, and stay
free even when every fiber inyour flesh wants to cave in.
(06:18):
Because here's the truth, youand I are not weak, fulfilling
it.
We're not disqualified forwrestling with it.
We are not a fraud because thestruggle didn't magically
disappear after the altar call.
You see family, when I gotclean, I still had a recovery
(06:43):
process I had to go through.
I did not.
When I gave my heart and life toGod, he didn't take everything
away from me.
I had to flush dope down thetoilet.
I had to go through the recoveryprocess and it was not easy.
(07:04):
We think that the moment that wegive our heart and life to God
that everything just magicallydisappears and everything now
all a sudden is, is unicorns andrainbows and and sugar cereals,
but family, sometimes Sometimesin life, we are just gonna have
to take a bite of that sandwichand it's not gonna taste good.
(07:28):
It's not gonna feel good.
It's not always your spiritualwalk.
Your recovery walk is not alwaysgoing to be magical.
But see, freedom.
Isn't the absence of temptation,it's the ability to say no.
(07:49):
Even when everything in you isscreaming and wanting to say
yes, it's learning to sit in thetension of the trigger and
choose truth anyways, it'srewiring your responses.
(08:10):
So that you don't just run fromsomething, you run towards
someone.
Catch that.
That's freedom Family.
When you have developed enoughstickum in your life that you
don't run from something, yourun to someone because here's
(08:31):
what the enemy doesn't want youand I to realize.
He.
Can't make you go back.
Do you hear me?
The devil does not have thepower, the authority, or the
ability to make you, and I goback.
But what he can do and all hecan do is lie loud enough that
(08:56):
you and I forget how far we'vecome.
And let me tell you something,you and I.
Have come too far to go backnow.
I don't care if you have been inrecovery for 10 minutes, you
have come too far to go backnow.
(09:20):
You didn't survive all that helljust to hand the keys back over
to your past.
You didn't claw your way out ofdarkness just to sit in silence
while the enemy whispers guiltover your growth family.
This episode today is for thefighters.
(09:43):
The ones who are tired,triggered, tempted, but still
choosing freedom.
It's for the ones who arerefusing to go numb again.
Who would rather wrestle in thelight than hide in the darkness?
(10:05):
Because family, you and I weremade for more than relapse.
We were made for victory.
And no matter how loud thetrigger screams, God still
speaks louder.
She triggers family.
They're real.
(10:26):
I am not gonna get up here anddisqualify triggers.
I'm not going to downplaytriggers.
I'm here today to validate thembecause I have dealt with them
and there's still times in mylife that I still get triggered.
They are real, but they don'thave to rule you.
(10:48):
And let's be honest, triggersaren't imaginary.
They're real.
They come outta nowhere and theypunch you right in the gut.
It can be a certain smell, asong, a season.
Maybe it's a social media memorythat pops up and takes you right
(11:09):
back to the pain that youthought you were past.
Sometimes it's not evensomething external.
It's a thought.
Maybe it's a mood shift.
Maybe it's a feeling that youjust can't name.
But here's the truth.
You can feel a trigger withoutbeing owned by it.
(11:33):
Triggers are signals, notsentences.
They, don't mean you failed.
they mean.
There's still something insideyou that's healing.
So what do we do?
What do you do?
You name them.
You don't ignore them.
You bring them into the lightbecause what stays in the dark
(11:56):
will keep you stuck in cycles.
Listen to me on that family.
Listen to me.
You must bring those triggersinto the light because what
stays in the dark will keep youstuck in cycles.
You can't control what pops intoyour mind, but you can control
(12:20):
what stays.
Let me be clear to you.
You are not your thoughts.
You can't always stop that.
The intrusive idea that tries tomake a home in your head, but
you can stop feeding it.
(12:42):
You can stop renting space toit.
You can evict it the moment itstarts unpacking shame and
condemnation in your life.
You know why?
Because second Corinthians 10,five tells you and I to take
every thought captive.
(13:04):
That doesn't mean that thatthought's not gonna show up
family.
It means.
You and I have to refuse to letit run the show.
Think about this for a minuteand be real.
Be real with yourself.
A relapse starts in the mindbefore it ever shows up in your
(13:25):
body.
A spiral begins with oneunchecked lie un left to grow in
silence, a breakdown begins.
With a buildup of unspokentriggers, but here's your power.
(13:45):
When that voice whispers, youhaven't changed, you can
respond.
I've been made new.
When it says, just one moretime, you declare I've already
died to that lie.
See, recovery isn't aboutavoiding temptation.
(14:06):
It's about facing it with toolsand truth.
You see family as much as Iwould wish we could, and I hope
we could, you can't wishtemptation away.
Jesus himself was tempted.
(14:26):
You know what he did?
He responded with scripture.
You see, because the enemy isstrategic, this bum knows your
weak spots, and he doesn't wastetime attacking what's strong.
He goes after what's wounded.
That's why your defense justcan't be, well, just try harder.
(14:52):
It's got to be root deeper andhere's what recovery with God
looks like.
You build awareness and youstart to recognize patterns
before they come problems.
You lean into accountability.
You stop isolating.
(15:12):
Why?
Because you have someone you cancall, maybe that's a sponsor,
maybe that's a, a friend, yourcounselor, a therapist, your
pastor, a family member.
You develop spiritual reflexes.
You don't wait until you'rehalfway into your relapse.
Before you pray, you learn topray at the first flicker of
(15:36):
temptation.
See, this is the differencebetween surviving and staying
free.
First Corinthians 10 13 tellsus, and this is our scripture
focus for today.
No temptation.
Has overtaken you except what iscommon to mankind.
(15:57):
Listen to this, and God isfaithful.
He will not let you be temptedbeyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, hewill also provide a way out so
that you can endure it.
(16:17):
Let that sink in.
Your struggle isn't strange.
Others are fighting it too.
Family.
Your weakness isn't bigger thanhis faithfulness and your
temptation always has an exitsign.
God never traps you.
(16:39):
There's always a way out.
It might be hard.
It might require callingsomeone.
Turning off your phone, hittingyour knees, but there is a way
out.
And freedom isn't about findingit once.
It's about choosing it everytime.
(17:00):
I love that portion of thescripture.
But when you are tempted, hewill always, Provide a way out
so that you can do it.
Why?
Because it says God is faithfuland he will not let you be
tempted beyond what you canbear.
(17:23):
See, feeling tempted doesn'tmean you failed family.
It means you're fighting.
You know what failure lookslike?
Failure is giving in and thengiving up.
That's not you.
That's not me.
Not anymore family.
We've come too far.
(17:44):
You and I have tasted too muchgrace.
You and I have fought throughtoo many battles to lay down our
swords.
Now, yeah, temptation mightknock on the door, but it
doesn't have to get a seat atyour table.
You can be tempted and stillchoose freedom.
(18:07):
You can feel weak and still beheld strong by the spirit of
God, and you can want to give upand still take one more step
forward.
Let's get brutally honest for aminute.
(18:29):
What are your biggest triggers?
Not the ones that you tell youraccountability partner.
Come on, family.
I'm talking about the real ones,the quiet ones, the ones that
creep in when you're tired,alone and nobody's watching.
(18:49):
Is it rejection?
Boredom.
Loneliness.
Maybe even success.
sometimes success is a trigger.
Why?
Because when things are good,what happens?
We drop our guard.
(19:10):
We start thinking, you knowwhat?
I've got this, and what happens?
We stop clinging to grace.
And we start managing ourrecovery on autopilot.
But here's the dangerous truth.
Unattended triggers become opendoors.
(19:30):
See, there's a differencebetween surrendering your
triggers and simply tryingharder not to act on them.
Some of us pray over ourcravings.
Hold on to the coping mechanismjust in case we say we've laid
(19:51):
it at the altar, but we keep akey to the back door just in
case.
This whole grace thing that Dankeeps talking about doesn't work
out today.
That's not surrender.
That's survival.
And survival will wear you out.
(20:15):
The longer you try to managetriggers with willpower alone
family, listen to me, the morediscouraged you'll get.
You know why?
Because willpower eventuallywill run out.
But grace builds strength.
(20:36):
Grace builds endurance.
You see, grace doesn't justforgive your relapse.
It fortifies your resistance.
Grace isn't a magic eraser thatwipes away failure while you're
trying to knuckle your waythrough life.
(20:56):
It's a foundation, it's astrategy.
It's a strength that comes fromknowing that I'm not alone in
this moment of weakness.
I'm not the sum of my thoughts.
I have the power to choosedifferently.
I have a savior who has alreadydefeated this battle at the
(21:19):
cross.
Here's what grace based strategylooks like.
Know your early warning signs.
Not when you've already pickedup the drink or that substance
or that old behavior, but thefirst thought that takes you
(21:41):
there.
Track it, write it down,recognize the pattern, and begin
to create interruptions.
What do you do when temptationhits?
Do you run to scripture?
Do you call someone?
Do you worship?
(22:03):
Do you step outside for a secondand breathe journal?
Do you speak truth out loud?
Build those interruptions like afire escape plan before the fire
starts.
And every time you feel shamecreeping in.
(22:26):
I want you to pause and saythis.
This is not the voice of myshepherd.
I'm not being shamed.
I'm being shaped family.
Ask yourself today, what momentsor mindsets make you most
vulnerable?
(22:47):
What's the difference betweenhow you've tried to fight
temptation in the past?
How God is asking you to fight.
Now, what is your way out firstCorinthians 10 13.
When temptation flares up, haveyou confused?
(23:11):
Being tempted with beingdefeated?
See, this is a spiritual, thisspiritual reflection isn't about
pretending temptation doesn'texist.
It's about calling it what it isand then calling on the one who
has already overcome it.
(23:33):
You don't have to be perfectfamily to be free.
You just have to stop doing italone.
The fight to stay free is real,but so is the grace in your life
that surrounds you.
And as we get ready to wrap thispodcast episode up today.
(23:53):
You're not weak because youstill have triggers in life.
You're not broken becausetemptation still knocks you're
human.
The goal of recovery was neverto erase your humanity.
The goal was to heal it, redeemit, strengthen it.
The old you used to run, but thenew You knows how to stand.
(24:20):
But here's the truth.
Family triggers don't disappearovernight.
Temptation doesn't always comeknocking on the door politely,
and freedom isn't always theabsence of struggle.
Sometimes it's the presence of afight you refuse to lose.
(24:43):
Every time you resist, even whenit's messy, every time you reach
for grace instead of shame,every time you get back up
again, instead of giving upfamily, you're winning.
You don't have to be perfect tobe free.
You don't have to be flawless tobe faithful.
You just have to be willing tokeep showing up, to keep
(25:05):
surrendering, to keep fighting.
So let this be your remindertoday.
There's power in truth.
There's strength and surrender,and there's freedom on the other
side of every single fight.
You come too far to turn aroundnow, family.
(25:25):
You have come too far in yourjourney to go back to Egypt.
You got to believe me.
You got to trust the processfamily.
The Bible tells us that he willgive us a way out.
We just got to trust theprocess.
I love and honor you, family.
Thank you so much for hangingout with me, and until next
(25:49):
time, you know the game.
Stay rooted, stay recovered, andlet's get to work.
You are not just surviving.
You are becoming, becomingrooted in truth, becoming
recovered by grace, and becomingthe person God always knew you
(26:09):
could be.
Thanks for joining us on Rootedin Recovered.
If this episode stirredsomething in you, don't keep it
to yourself.
Share it, live it, let it takeroot.
We'll see you next time righthere where scars become
testimonies and hope rises fromthe ashes.
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