Pride: The Hidden Obstacle in Overcoming Addiction

Pride, often seen as a virtue, can become a vice when it prevents us from acknowledging our weaknesses and seeking help. This is particularly true in the context of addiction, where pride can be a significant barrier to recovery.

The Nature of Pride

Pride is a complex emotion that can manifest in various ways. It can be a sense of self-worth and accomplishment, but it can also be a defensive mechanism that shields us from acknowledging our flaws and vulnerabilities. In the context of addiction, pride often manifests as a refusal to admit that we have a problem and need help.

Pride tells us that we don't need to take responsibility for our actions, that we don't need help, and that we can handle our addiction on our own. It can make us think that others are trying to control us, causing us to be defensive, and resistant to change.  It can also disguise itself as "knowing what it is best" and "nobody can tell me what to do" twisting our perception of ourselves and others.

Pride and Addiction

Addiction thrives on secrecy and denial. It convinces us that we are in control, even when our lives are spiraling out of control. Pride feeds into this illusion of control, making it difficult for us to admit that we are struggling and need help.

Pride can also make us resistant to seeking help. It can make us feel that we should be able to overcome our addiction on our own, without the need for therapy, or support groups. This can lead to a cycle of addiction, where we continue to use despite the negative consequences because we are too proud to seek help.

Overcoming Pride with the 12 Steps

The 12 Steps of Celebrate Recovery provide a spiritual pathway to overcome pride and addiction. Here's how they can help:

1.  Admitting Powerlessness: The first step is to admit that we are powerless over our addictions and that our lives have become unmanageable. This is a direct challenge to pride, which tells us that we are in control and can manage our addiction on our own. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. (Psalm 6:2)

2.  Believing in a Higher Power: The second step is to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity. This requires humility, the opposite of pride because we are admitting that only God can help restore us.
But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

3.  Turning Our Will Over to God: The third step is to make a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God. This involves letting go of our pride and self-will, and trusting in God's will for our lives.
"Not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

4.  Making a Moral Inventory: The fourth step is to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. This requires honesty, humility, and a willingness to acknowledge our faults and weaknesses.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting. ( Psalm 139:22-24)

5.  Admitting Our Wrongs: The fifth step is to admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. This is a direct challenge to pride, which often prevents us from admitting our mistakes and asking for forgiveness.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

6.  Becoming Ready for God to Remove Our Defects: The sixth step is to become entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. This requires humility and a willingness to change. 
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

7.  Asking God to Remove Our Shortcomings: The seventh step is to humbly ask God to remove all our shortcomings. This involves acknowledging our need for God's grace and mercy, and our inability to overcome our addiction on our own.
“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” (Joel 2:12)

The remaining steps involve making amends, continuing to take personal inventory, improving our conscious contact with God, and carrying the message to others. These steps all require humility and a willingness to let go of our pride.

Conclusion

Pride can be a significant obstacle in overcoming addiction, but it is not insurmountable. By acknowledging our pride, seeking help, and practicing humility, we can overcome our addiction and start on the path to recovery. The 12 Steps provide a spiritual pathway to overcome pride and addiction and to live a life of recovery and freedom.

Breaking Free from Codependency: Being Authentic

 

Codependency is a complex and often misunderstood concept. It's a relationship dynamic where one person sacrifices their own needs and desires to meet the needs of another. This dynamic is often seen in relationships where one person is an addict but can also occur in any type of relationship.

The sad thing about addiction and codependency is that they don't allow you to be authentic. Addiction is self-absorbed and it alters your personality. Codependency always tries to please others at the cost of being true to your dreams and aspirations. Addiction destroys our dreams and codependency forfeits them to make others happy. Either way, our identity is lost in both of these situations.

As long as we keep striving to make things happen on our own, we will never be able to break the cycle, be our true authentic selves, and fulfill our God-given destiny.
So, how can we break free from this cycle of codependency?

Recognize the Problem

The first step to breaking free from codependency is recognizing that there's a problem. This can, be difficult as codependency is often rooted in our fear of rejection and our need for acceptance.
Understand the Role of Fear
Codependency is rooted in the fear of man. Not being afraid of people but rather trying to make others happy at the expense of your own happiness, personal goals, dreams, and etc. When we aim at pleasing others instead of God, we make them our idols and yield our control over to them because of our own fears.

Trusting in God

Trust in God is not just about belief, but also about hope. It's about having faith that God will guide us, even in our darkest moments. When we trust in God, we are blessed and filled with hope. This trust is not passive, but active. It's about believing that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. When we aim at pleasing others instead of God, we make them our idols and yield our control over to them because of our own fears. By placing our trust in God, we can break free from the cycle of codependency and live a life that is true to our authentic selves.

Let Go and Let God

There's a misery to playing God in other people's lives. First, you can never get it right. You don't really know how to meet the deepest need of the human heart. That's when you choose either to allow God to step in or continue doing a lousy job playing his role. You need to step down so he can step in. This is the famous let go and let God thing everyone talks about. This is breaking codependency. You step down from your position of being God and trust Him to do his job.

Being Authentic

Breaking free from codependency means being authentic and transparent. It means letting go of the need to please others and instead focusing on pleasing God and fulfilling your own dreams and aspirations.

In conclusion, breaking free from codependency is a journey. It's a journey of self-discovery, of letting go, and of embracing your true authentic self. It's a journey that requires courage, faith, and a lot of self-love. But it's a journey worth taking.

Prayer

Father, we humbly ask you that you help us trust you and surrender the ones that we love to you. You are God and we are not. We don't know what is best for them and we can't fix them. We are going to stop compromising just to keep them happy. We command all fear of losing control to leave us now in Jesus' name! All anxiety and fear of the unknown to go in Jesus' name! We thank you now that you will take care of all our concerns the moment we let go and let you do your job.

Addiction: The Illusion of Liberty

One of the biggest lies of the enemy is believing that liberty means living for ourselves and doing what we want to do. From the beginning of time, Satan has tempted mankind to take the same route as he did and so we can become our own masters. Like he told Adam and Eve, 'you shall be like gods.' Just like he did when he said, 'For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.' (Isaiah 14:13) Satan did indeed become his own master to sit on his own throne in hell. Separated from love, light, peace, and a life without God. Like they say, misery loves company. Believe me when I tell you that the devil wants your company.

The Kingdom of Darkness is always promising liberty to those who still want to be in control of their lives. The truth is the solicitors from hell know that the moment we take their offer we come under the bondage and slavery of whatever we yielded to. They seduce and deceive us to be, 'Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.' The word heady means to fall headlong by being reckless. The word highminded means to be blinded with pride. Pride is the devil's ticket into our lives. If he can convince us that we know better than God then he convinces us to become gods over our own lives. What he doesn't tell us is that we become his slaves the moment we do. There are only two masters in this world: Yahweh or Satan. There is no middle category. We are either servants of God or servants of the devil. Jesus said, 'No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and ?.' (Luke 16:13) You fill in the blank.

Today you have a choice. Are you going to serve self, and your fleshly desires so you become Satan's slave or will you serve Jesus and become his servant, fully surrendered to do His will? Who are you going to yield your life to?

In the context of addiction and codependency, this choice becomes even more critical. Addiction and codependency are forms of bondage, where we become slaves to our desires or to the desires of others. They rob us of our true identity and prevent us from living our God-given destiny. As the scripture says, 'While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.' (2 Peter 2:19)

Breaking free from the cycle of addiction and codependency is a multi-step process. It begins with acknowledging the existence of a problem. This is followed by understanding the role fear plays in our lives, often acting as a driving force behind our unhealthy behaviors.

Next, we must place our trust in God, believing in His power to heal and transform us. This involves surrendering control, a concept often referred to as 'letting go and letting God.' It's about releasing our tight grip on our lives and allowing God to guide us.

Being authentic about our struggles is another crucial step. It's about being honest with ourselves and others about our experiences, feelings, and the challenges we face. It's about removing the masks we wear and revealing our true selves.

The journey also involves soul searching and taking a fearless inventory of our lives. This means examining our past decisions, understanding why we made them, and acknowledging their impact on our lives.

This journey isn't easy. It requires courage to face our fears and shortcomings, faith to believe in a power greater than ourselves, and a lot of self-love to nurture our wounded spirits. But despite its challenges, this journey is worth taking. It's a path to freedom, healing, and a more authentic life.

So, who are you yielding your life to today?"