Working The Word (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms Of Jesus) Taking Steps

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around the Globe”

September 27, 2016

Taking Steps

Psalm 40:2

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 

What does it mean to the addict to take steps? Well, let’s start with the many who are still battling with addiction yet call themselves a born again Christian. These are staggering numbers unfortunately. I was one who has been there. I know the meaning of this all too well. I know what it is like to call Jesus my Lord while the food and sugar was really still the lord of my life. I had to start at the bottom of the pit I was in and begin to take steps of faith to walk up and out into the broad and spacious land of plenty and healing with the Lord. It did not happen overnight. Big  goals come one day at a time.

As I listened to our pastor on a CD in the car today speak about taking steps, it really resonated in my heart. I felt led to talk about this today in the daily addiction devotional. For an addict of food, this will apply more in some ways than to people who are hooked on heroin, cocaine, or other drugs/alcohol and substances. A person with a substance issue has to take a bigger step by force initially than a food addict in that they cannot afford to “slow down” their use a little each day. That would only prove to be fatal. With cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc, these things should be instantly stopped  - cold turkey - all at once.

What’s the difference between that and food addiction you ask? Plenty! We need food to live. It puts that addiction in a field of its own. The other things are not necessary for human survival, though many seem to think they are. Stopping the drugs at once is vital to taking the intital steps to recovery. Food, on the other hand, poses a day by day challenge that is unique to its very nature. The entire purpose of food is to sustain our physical body. That is its only purpose. We have to have it – usually three times a day. We do not need drugs to live. We don’t need a beer to keep us alive.

Regardless of what the addiction is that we have been dealing with, there will be steps necessary to reach the desired goal of complete freedom from it. “But I thought only Jesus could heal us of addiction.” That’s 100% accurate. However, we must do our part. We have to take steps of faith to get to the healing. We have to take what He said He has already done for us – by faith and apply it to our hearts every day. For the food addict, it means making the right food choices every day and exercising our bodies to stay strong.

For me, I  was up to 215 pounds. This on a frame that was used to 120 pounds growing up. For me, 215 was a very large body. I didn’t even look like myself any longer. I was miserable every time I saw my reflection in the mirror. I wondered where  Hanny had gone. I did not see her anymore. As of today I have lost 83 pounds and all the glory goes to God. “Ya, but you just said we have to do our part.” That’s true. Without us doing our part, God is not able to do His bigger part. If we do not stop eating the wrong things for example, how can He help us? When we will not even try, we are showing a complete lack of trust in Him and that means zero faith.

When I first started eating the way the Lord was showing me, I would make plenty of mistakes by veering off the path and eating this or that here and there to satify the cravings of my flesh. But while I was doing that I was keeping my eyes in the Bible. This verse has more meaning to me now than it ever did…

Zechariah 4:6-7

⁶ So he answered and said to me:

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts.
⁷ ‘Who are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
And he shall bring forth the capstone
With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”

As of this writing I can’t begin to tell you how many times the Lord would show me this verse. It was as if He was saying, Hanny, your own efforts alone will not get you there. But, if you will obey Me, my Spirit within you will get you to your desired goal. So I had to keep getting back on the path when I slipped off – again and again and again. Over time, my path got smoother. The way became easier and less stressful to me.

I was taking steps of faith. I did not understand how God’s Spirit could help me lose weight. To my natural mind it made no sense. But over time, I can look back and see how keeping my eyes in the word and responding to the promptings of Holy Spirit has guided me closer and closer to my goal. His word convicts – or convinces us to do something. Because He is living inside of us, there is a will do do His good pleasure…

Philippians 2:13

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Addiction or no addiction, if we are born again, His Spirit is inside of us and He wants us to do the right thing. It grieves the Holy Spirit of God when we are sinning. The two cannot coexist together at all any more than oil will mix with water. One has to go, and by His grace may it never be Holy Spirit because we turned from Him back to the world!

One day I said to the Lord, “I just can’t get to my final goal Lord. You are going to have to get me there.” I kept slipping here and there just enough to keep me a short distance from finally reaching my goal. But I stayed in the word every day. I stayed teachable. I was listening – at least sometimes. What was I doing? I was taking steps. Some of them were bigger than others, but every time my rebellion took me down, I got right back up and tried again. I never gave up.

At first I couldn’t see how I could eat healthy and cook like that for just one person. I was single, but had been used to feeding a family of four. Now it was just me, yet the diet I was placed on seemed so big at the time. Now I know it off the top of my head – glory to God. More than once I had to cry out to Him to help me get there.  I knew my own effotrs wouldn’t cut it. It was my steps of faith that healed me. Jesus had already provided all the healing I needed. I just needed to take it by faith. A great saying I recently heard is this: “What grace has already provided faith must possess.” Without faith, our works are dead in the water.

I started to exercise by walking around the neighborhood. Today I do a rigorous workout in the gym, including lifting wieghts. Did I get there over night? Absolutely not. I took steps. Now when I work out, I ask the Lord to help me. I pray before I go. On the days when my strength is small, I say His word out loud – “Lord, Your power is perfect in my weakness. You increase the strength to them that have no might – You give power to the faint. I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” Then I take my mind off of how I feel and I step onto the treadmill to warm up, or do one of my praise dances, and pow! His power is on the scene and I am rolling like thunder through the gym singing His praises and rejoicing in God my Savior. Praise His name forever! Some of my best workouts have been when I went in thinkiing I couldn’t do much, but came out ready to do more!

When we face something that looks too big, but we know we are supposed to do it, we just have to take those first steps of faith. Like stepping into the Red Sea or the Jordan. The waters didn’t part until their tippy toes were stepping in. The same rings true today. Whatever sea or river you need to cross, you can do it by faith in God who will part the waters for you. But you have to step in. Over time, you will find that you have reached your goal and you will stand amazed at how the Lord’s power got you there when you placed your trust in Him.

Today I am following my food plan better than ever. I work out regularly. Some weeks more than others depending on my schedule. But I am consistent with it and it is paying off. Like a little snail that moves along the ground ever so slowly, (we call her Sadie) - after a time she is out of sight. And why? Was it because she was moving fast? Certainly not. She was moving slow, but she was moving. So if we have a goal to stop eating too much, or whatever it is that we need to get loose of, we can just get up and start taking steps of faith. If we can do this much today, then we will will surely be able to do more tomorrow with God’s power working in us – hallelujah!

His word always works when we work it. But it requires steps of faith. Will you start taking some for yourself?