Road to Freedom

Who Is On Your Throne

Road to Freedom | Part 1

Isaiah 57:18, God speaking, “I have seen how they acted but I will heal them, I will lead them and help them and I will comfort those who mourn. I offer peace to all near and far.”

Notice there are five parts to recovery that God wants to do in your life.

1. -First, if you have been hurt, God says “I want to heal you.”

2. -If you’re confused, “I want to lead you.”

3. -If you’ve ever felt you were helpless to change anything, “I want to help you change that.”

4. -If you’ve ever felt no one understands your problem, “I want to comfort you.”

5. -If you feel anxious and worried and afraid, “I want to offer peace to you.”

Steps to R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y  

R- Realize I’m not God…You are not all knowing, You are not all powerful, you make mistakes,  

                                           You are a sinner and are in need of a savior.  

So what is the root to our problem:  My Sin Nature (Romans 7:15)

The first step to recovery is you must understand the cause of this problem. Why does this happen in my life? You need to understand the cause of it, then the consequences of the problem, then the cure.

What’s the cause of my problem? The cause of all your problems is this—I want to be God.

I want to call my own shots, I want to make up my own rules, I want to be my own boss, live my own way.  I want to be in complete control

-This is called Playing God

-This is Man’s oldest problem…Adam and Eve

-God said “You have control of the whole Garden, but don’t eat the fruit from that tree

-Serpent “When you eat from it your eyes will be open and you will be like God.”

That’s been the problem from the very start…I want to be God. I want to call the shots. I want to be in control.  

How do we play God?

1. We try to control our Image.  We want to control what other people think of us. We play games, wear masks, we pretend, we fake it because we want people to see certain sides of us and we hide the other parts.  

2. We want to control other people. Parents try to control kids, kids parents, wives husbands, husbands wives.  We use different tools to manipulate each other…we use guilt to control, we use fear, praise, some use silent treatment to control, use anger.

3. We try to control problems, our problems.  We use phrase like “I got this” or “I can handle it” “I don’t need any help, I can do it on my own”.  That’s somebody trying to play God.  The more you fix the problem yourself, the worse the problem gets.  

4. We try to control our pain.  Have you ever thought how much time you spend running from pain…avoiding it, deny it, escape it, reduce it, postpone it by eating, drinking too much, drugs, etc..

4 consequences that happen when we try to play God:

1. Fear…we live in fear of what people will say or think

-Adam said “I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid”

2. Frustration…Mallet game at Chuck E. Cheese…that’s like life

3. Fatigue…it’s tiring trying to play God.  

David said in Psalm 32 “My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them.”

4. Failure. When you try to play God that’s one job description you’re guaranteed to fail at. 

Prov. 28:13 “You’ll never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them. Give them up. Then God will show you mercy”

The Cure: Admitting I’m not God means I recognize 3 important facts of life:

1. I admit that I am powerless to change my past.  

-It hurt, I still remember it, but all the resentment in the world isn’t going to change it.  I’m powerless to change my past

2.   I admit that I am powerless to control other people.  

-You are responsible for your actions, not theirs…you can’t control other people

3.   I admit that I am powerless to cope with my harmful habits, behaviors, and actions

2 Cor 12:9-10 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.