My Chains Are Gone Part 1

"My chains are gone, I've been set free.
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, Amazing grace"

How many times have we sung this song with such conviction at that point in time, believing that God has indeed set us free? And how many times have we, the very next moment, gone straight back to our addictions? What does it mean to you when you sing "my chains are gone, I've been set free"? Is it a declaration of the victory that God has already won for you, or is it just a hope that God will one day come to your rescue? Faith vs Logic and Feelings, Authority in Christ vs Begging for God's mercy, which side are you on?

Day and night we ask God to help us overcome our addictions, we cry out to Him and sometimes even question Him, we beg God for His mercy and grace. But once the temptation arises, logic and feelings will come into play. You ask God why is it so tempting, why can't He just take get rid of your addiction? You cry out to Him, telling Him that you really cannot resist the temptation anymore. And the next moment, you fall back into sin. Sounds familiar?

Logically, addictions are never easy to get rid off. It's always tempting you to do it again and again. And if you try to resist it, you will feel terrible. The outcome is you carry on with your addictions. In this trap, your faith becomes your feelings; once you were praying with authority, now you are just begging God to help you. You begin to pray with doubts, not believing that God can help you overcome your addictions. From fighting with God to fighting alone, from believing to just hoping, from God-centered to self-centered, you begin to wonder if God can do the impossible for you.

Have you realised that it's all about you so far, and never really about God? It's about you not being able to resist the temptation, it's about you feeling so terrible, it's about you not being able to live for God. The entire focus is on you, and that's the problem...