I wanna be free...

O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. (Psalm 86:5 NLT)

Did you ever stop to think that the struggle you keep engaging in is because you really haven't asked God for help? Oh, sure, you ask in a casual sense, "God, help me get over this issue," then you don't stop to listen to what he says might be at the root of it. Later, as the issue arises time and time again, you get rather defeated because you don't know why it is still an issue. Perhaps it is because the issue is not the problem - it is us not really wanting to engage with God long enough and often enough to really fix whatever it is within us that makes the issue no longer an issue.

He stands ready to forgive. We often ask for forgiveness and deliver our half-hearted plea to 'never do it again' and 'I just wanna be free of this', but then when the temptation arises again, there we go down that rabbit hole once more. Forgiveness is all well and good, but repentance involves more than seeking forgiveness. It involves us being willing to turn our backs on that sin and do whatever it takes to finally allow the cycle of sin to be broken once and for all.

Ask for his help and he gives it. It isn't just advice he gives, though. He turns us toward certain places in scripture, giving us insight into what we might use in our war with that sin. God never asks us to put off the sin and just stand there naked. He asks us to put on his Word, his power, and his Spirit. We are only naked because we don't make the effort to 'put on' what it is he is giving us! Scripture tells us to pray continually - so bring the topic before him more than once, then listen intently to where he may be leading you. It isn't by accident that you are led to others who struggle with similar sin and have overcome. They can undergird you as you walk through your movement from bondage to total freedom.

We pray, believing he will intervene. Prayer isn't just a passive thing, though. I used to have a pastor that said we had to 'put feet to our prayers'. In other words, we engage in the process of finding out what God has to say about living free from that sin, then we do as much as he shows us in our times of study in his Word, prayer, wise counsel, and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Too many times, we live with the struggle because we choose to ignore the very thing we need the most - God's counsel. Just sayin!