Mar 17 2010
Miracles Part 2: Freedom from Addiction
MIRACLES PART II: FREEDOM FROM ADDICTION
Chemical dependence tears apart the lives of millions of people every year. According to the Centers For Disease Control, alcohol induced the deaths of 22,073 Americans in 2006, not counting accidents or homicides. Drug addiction, both legal and illegal, also plagues millions. Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and a number of other multi-step self-help programs exist for those desperately seeking freedom from their addictions, but even with support systems and loved ones available to help, too many people continue to fall and return to their drug of choice. It could be said that a miracle has occurred any time somebody escapes an addiction. While some people struggle for years and years and never seem to find true victory, we will look at three men today whom God clearly and obviously set free, giving hope to countless others. No names have been changed.
Mark Boyle:
Mark’s father left the family when Mark was nine, leaving him without a positive male role model. As he grew into a teenager, Mark said, “I was fairly rudderless.” Despite having vowed to avoid drugs, he succumbed to peer-pressure in his late teens and began to experiment with marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and LSD. By the time he was 21, Mark told us, drugs “pretty much consumed my whole life.”In 1984, though, at the age of 22, things changed for Mark. The friends that had been a negative influence on him began to move away. He was lonely and isolated and reaching the bottom. About that same time, a young lady named Alison began to tell him about Jesus. “I didn’t appreciate it at the time,” he said, but the seeds were being sown.
Mark told us, “One evening after I was done with work, while I was drinking and smoking pot like always, I was flipping through the channels and I stopped on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club. Why would a guy who doesn’t want anything to do with God, who just wants to live his life partying, why would he stop on that channel?” Looking back, Mark said, he believes the Holy Spirit was getting his attention. The seed that had been planted was taking root.
“Pat Robertson was reading my mail. He was praying for lonely people caught in drugs and alcohol, saying, ‘God’s calling you.’” Right there, Mark prayed along with Robertson. He didn’t understand it all, but he believes the Holy Spirit was prompting him, letting him know that there was something better out there.
“So here comes the cool part. The following weekend, what did I do? I did what I’d normally do - go out to the bar and go dancing. I ordered a beer like normal, and when I took the first sip of it, it had the most awful, the most foul taste I’d ever tasted in my life. Right then I remembered that I’d prayed that God would take this desire away from me. And I knew that God was real and that he cared for me and had plans for me.”
Not only did God free Mark from his addiction to drugs and alcohol that week, but Mark ended up marrying Alison. Now, more than 25 years later, the two of them are preparing for the marriage of their oldest daughter.
Chuck Munson:
Chuck began smoking in the Navy during the Vietnam Era, and he found it impossible to quit later on. Within five minutes of waking up in the morning he would have to have a cigarette. He would try to quit on Sundays, which were the calmest day of his week, but he could never make it past 1:00 pm, and he wouldn’t even bother trying the rest of the week. Chuck had plenty of will power and self discipline. He would eventually build his own business up from the ground and go on to be one of the most respected commercial real estate appraisers in the Seattle area. Walking away from cigarettes, though, was “like being chained, and it was impossible to break the chains. It was like walking into the La Brea Tar Pits,” he said.One day in 1974, Chuck was at a Bible study in the office of Pastor Joe Harris at a small church in Bellingham, Washington. In the middle of a sentence, Pastor Joe stopped and said, “I feel like God has a mandate for somebody in this room.” He then went on with the study. Chuck said, “I’m sure that ten seconds later he’d forgotten he’d said anything, but I knew the meaning of what he said and who it was for and what it was about.” Earlier Chuck had been annoyed with himself, “because I knew that these cigarettes had become more important to me than God, and it wasn’t a good thing.”
Chuck went home after the Bible study, and before he went to bed he had a cigarette. The next morning he got up, and after five minutes he didn’t need a cigarette the way he normally did. Pretty soon it was 11:00 and then it was noon, and then it was 1:00, “and I had never made it past 1:00 before,” and then it was 2:00, and he still didn’t want to smoke. The next day passed and the next day, “and what had happened,” Chuck said, “is that God had given me freedom from a desire for cigarettes.”
About four months later, Chuck was in a lounge in Edmonds, Washington with his two brothers and his wife, all of whom smoked. His brother offered him a cigarette, and Chuck took it and put it in his mouth, “and inside me there welled up this feeling, like a silent roar. It was like somebody roared at me, and I felt like Somebody was very very angry at me. So, I took the cigarette out of my mouth and gave it back to my brother.”
Chuck has never had a problem with cigarettes since, “and I think I would probably be dead now if I hadn’t stopped, the way I used to smoke.”
Randy Hess:
Randy suffered with both emotional and physical pain for much of his life. He had been sexually abused, and as a teenager he turned to illegal drugs for relief from the deep shame he felt. Throughout the next 15 years, he was also seriously injured in a series of accidents. Car accidents injured his back. A backhoe accident left his neck damaged. Two discs in his back were ruptured when a front end loader ran into him. He suffered from constant physical and emotional pain, even after giving his life to Christ.In the summer of 1996, Randy was sitting on his front porch smoking a cigarette, and the Holy Spirit said, “What’s that in your hand?” Randy looked down and saw the cigarette, and he put it out. He never had the urge to smoke again. The next day, the power of the Holy Spirit covered him, freeing him from the shame he’d suffered for nearly 20 years. He felt the love of God like he never had before. He still had to endure the physical pain of his injuries, however, and for the next two-and-a-half years he continued to depend on prescription pain pills.
In 1998, Randy moved across the country, and in January 1999, his prescription refills ran out. He faced a decision. He would either have to find a new doctor and get new prescriptions or go without. “Lord,” he said with all his heart, “I don’t want to take drugs anymore.” During the next several months he felt his body grow stronger than it had been since he was a teenager. He was able to work hard and not suffer from horrible headaches and back pain. During the next several years he refused to even take an Advil, and he praised God for His goodness and power in his life.
Do some Christians continue to struggle with debilitating, embarrassing addictions? Yes. Do we always know why? No, we don’t. There are many variables involved, and in each situation we need the Spirit of God to lead us in how to confront the problem. What we do know is this: Christ came to set us free, and He is stronger than our worst habits and addictions. If we have any hope for true freedom, it is in total dependence on Him, moment by moment, day by day.
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” - John 8:36 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” - Romans 8:2 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
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