Does “rehab” really work?  Like never before, rehab is in the news.  Rehab,
is a critical and serious place for many to find hope, help, and deliverance
from the bondages people become enslaved to during this life.  Lately, it
has been turned into a joke by Hollywood stars who use rehab as a place to
hide when their addictions and poor choices catch up to them and are exposed
to the world.  A few weeks later they emerge, claiming they are “cured” when
nothing has really changed.   So this does raise the legitimate question,
does going to rehab really cure people of their addictions, does rehab
really work?

It is important to understand, there is no magical place to go to be
delivered from an addiction.  That place doesn’t exist.  Please listen to
me.  Nobody will ever be delivered from whatever they are in bondage to
until they want to be delivered.  I have to say this again since this goes
to the very heart of the issues today.  NOBODY WILL EVER BE DELIVERED FROM
WHATEVER THEY ARE IN BONDAGE TO UNTIL THEY WANT TO BE DELIVERED!

Here is another very important truth for you today.  Even God won’t deliver
you unless you want to be delivered and set free.  Why?  Free will.  God
gave you the free will to make your own choices.  You are the one who
chooses to take drugs, drink, smoke, overeat, engage in sinful sexual
activities, shop for things you don’t need, gamble, and anything else that
you become enslaved to.  When YOU are ready to stop, to be set free, God
will be there to strengthen you and help you find the deliverance you seek.
But YOU have to first make the choice to stop and seek the Lord’s help.
Until you come to that place, NOTHING will change.

Please don’t underestimate the “God factor” in people being set free from
their addictions.  IT IS THE KEY once a person decides to seek freedom from
their bondage.  That is why Christ-centered rehab programs have a
dramatically lower recidivism rate than secular rehab programs.  Once you
take your stand and are determined to be free from your addiction, you need
a power greater than yourself to be able to walk in victory day after day,
week after week, month after month, year after year.

The clich� “one day at a time” is real.  For the person who has fought and
won the battle over their addiction, they are acutely aware that the battle
never stops.  The reason people “relapse” or “fall off the wagon” is because
they quit doing the things they need to on a daily basis to walk in victory.
For someone who has been delivered from an addiction, they MUST do the
things they need on a daily basis to live in victory, or they will wake up
one morning back in the jaws of their addiction.

The good thing all rehab programs do is help educate a person about their
addiction.  It helps them to understand the psychological and physiological
factors involved.  It also gives a person the practical tools to live
“clean.”  The greatest of those tools is accountability.  None of us can
walk through this journey of life alone.  We all need others in our life to
guide us, strengthen us, and encourage us along the way.   That is
especially true for someone who is battling to live in freedom from some
addiction.  Having someone in your life to hold you accountable who has
fought the battle and is living in victory over their addiction, is critical
to helping you live in that same victory.

I love you and care about you so much.  The reality is no place or program
will ever work until you are ready to live in freedom from whatever your
bondage may be.  The same free will you use to make the choice to drink, do
drugs, gamble, smoke, overeat, shop for things you don’t need, engage in
sinful sexual activities, or whatever your bondage may be, is the same free
will you have to exercise to make the choice to live in freedom from that
bondage.

When you make that choice to be free, rehab and programs like AA can be very
effective in helping educate you and giving you the basic tools you need to
live your life in freedom.  The critical element at that point in finding
your life again is a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Without Christ you can
be delivered from your bondage and live in freedom .  However, like all who
live without Christ you can never know the true joy, peace, and abundance of
this life, and when this brief journey is over you will be forever separated
from God your Creator in hell.  *There is no rehab or programs to escape
from hell once you die and are there!

By surrendering your heart and life to Christ by faith, you will not only
find freedom from your addiction, but you will find the strength to live a
victorious life each day.  This life is not about just living until we die,
but living in victory and making our lives count.  Without Christ, that is
impossible, with Christ, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

I will be praying for you today.  If you are currently battling with an
addiction, I pray that you will open your heart today and hear God’s voice
speaking to you through these words  He is telling you that you don’t have
to be a slave to your addiction any longer.  You can be free.  Freedom from
your addiction is only a prayer away!  The fact is your life is a mess right
now, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  God will help you,
but YOU have to be ready to live in freedom from your bondage.  Ask God to
open your heart to His love and Truth and watch this video clip:
http://www.liveprayer.com/altarcall.cfm

I will also be praying today for all those who are in rehab or some program
today, trying to be free from whatever has enslaved them.  I pray that they
will open their hearts to the Lord who loves them and wants them to not only
be free from their addiction, but know the true joy, and peace, and
abundance this life can offer through a relationship with Him.  No place or
program will ever work until the person is ready to quit, and no victory
will ever be complete without Christ!