Take Responsibility
Question from a face book friend:
How did you start to take care of your personal and spiritual baggage when you first began to be familiar with all this stuff? Every morning in quiet times? Set a day aside? At the office? Inner healing one day, steps the next? How do you take care of the garbage now? I’m struggling and I now realize that one reason was because I wasn’t being honest and dealing with my hurts and emotions. So, now I need to come up with a plan to deal with this stuff. Will you share how you began to clear your garbage and share an idea of where to start with some encouragement?
I was fortunate to have been raised on a farm. Every farmer understands cause and effect, because you can only reap what you sow. Nobody owed us a living, and we had to work hard in order to survive. I was taught responsibility and was held accountable for it. I had to live with the consequences of my own poor choices, but it was far from a perfect home (there are none). Most of the hardships I faced when I was young were physical. There was no drugs, or pornography, and we lived in a dry county. I was introduced to pornography and alcohol in the Navy, but in a relatively minor way. I came to Christ after the Navy when I was an electrical engineer. My mind was filled with a lot of garbage, and when I made a commitment to clean up my mind – it got worse!!
Sanctification is presented as a struggle in Scripture, and it was for me. Even though I looked like the all American boy, I had one dominant flesh pattern that made progress almost impossible. I was self-sufficient, and it was keeping me from finding my sufficiency in Christ, which I wrote about in my memoir, Rough Road to Freedom. The reason I think our “stuff” works so well is because it is all dependent upon God, and it requires the encourager to assume responsibility for their own attitudes and actions. After hearing someone’s story I always ask, Would you like to resolve this? Nobody has ever said No! Then I say, If anything good is going to come from our time together it is because of what Christ has already done for you, and what you choose to believe and do. Nobody else can believe or repent for you.
“The Steps to Freedom in Christ” is an encounter with God, who is the only One who can set you free and heal your wounds. It only works if you are completely honest, both mentally and emotionally, with God. Inner healing (freedom) is the result of genuine repentance. Freedom is not an end, it is a new beginning of a grand adventure with God. You are free to be yourself, and walk in the light. Nobody can keep you doing that or being the person God created you to be.
Dr. Neil
For Spanish, see http://www.ficmm.org/blog
