Jack Watts’ weekly column is aimed at helping those who have been wounded, including those who have been abused by the church. If you are in pain—or if someone you know is in pain—you will find real comfort, wisdom, and many answers right here. Based on his book, Recovering from Religious Abuse, published by Simon & Schuster, Jack will teach you the value of working the “11 Steps to Spiritual Freedom.” Remember, recovery is a process—not a destination. The answers are simple but not always easy. Look to the Lord and allow His Spirit to heal you.
If you have experienced abuse, including religious abuse, regardless of the reason why, at least you can know that your pain has a purpose. If you are still suffering from your abuse, rest assured that your future will have value—perhaps great value. By fighting back, you are creating strong character qualities that will be vitally important in the years ahead.
For faith to have any lasting impact upon you or others, it must be robust—filled with confidence that God is in charge and has everything under control, despite your circumstances. Does that sound like a tall order? If you’re being honest with yourself, you’ll probably admit that it does. Like most, you wish you were a stronger person; but in your heart, you probably know that you are not.
If this is an accurate depiction of you, you’re not alone. America has an abundance of Christians who lack the strength of their convictions.
Being short of strong, heartfelt faith, they either become legalists or sentimentalists. The former doggedly pursue Christianity, trying to enforce harsh rules upon themselves and others, which is decidedly unappealing. The latter relegate Christianity to a small area of life, choosing to believe but not allowing their beliefs to impact their lives appreciably.
In America, there are more sentimentalists than anything else. They are certainly more fun to be around than legalists but, being shallow, they lack the resilience to have much value when the chips are down, and the chips are definitely down.
This is where the value of working your recovery comes in. By having to dig deeply within, recovering people develop a toughness that eventually becomes significant for others. Because their faith has been tested by fire, their resilience becomes established, allowing them to develop strong, positive internal character qualities. Sentimentalists, by way of contrast, do little more than hope for a “divine bailout” in the form of the Rapture, which justifies their weakness. They have a “Last-Days” mentality that venerates apathetic “lukewarm-ness,” which is never God’s Will.
If you have experienced abuse, including religious abuse, regardless of the reason why, at least you can know that your pain has a purpose. If you are still suffering from your abuse, rest assured that your future will have value—perhaps great value. By fighting back, you are creating strong character qualities that will be vitally important in the years ahead.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. (Hebrews 10:35-36)
When you come to the Lord, come as you are—not as you think you should be. When you pray, be honest. Would you pray this prayer with me right now?
Father God ~
In the midst of my despair,
When at night I longed for the day,
And in the daytime desired it to be evening,
When sorrows made it difficult to breathe,
You were always there beside me,
Even when I was certain that You were not.
As fear relentlessly rattled my being,
You continued transforming who I would become.
Ever mindful of my frailties and weaknesses,
You purged and pruned and cleansed.
Then, one day, as I waited for the gloom
To overwhelm me once again,
Which had become my daily routine,
It was gone, vanishing like it had never been there,
Leaving me stronger, more resilient, and far wiser.
In Jesus name~Amen
For deeper study, please refer to Step 10 of the 11 Steps to Spiritual Recovery
Refer to Step 10: I choose to believe God still has a purpose for my life—a purpose for good and not evil.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. (Hebrews 10:35-36)
To see more on recovery, check out The 11 Steps to Recover from Religious Abuse.
Jack Watts won the award for the “Most Inspirational Memoir” in 2011 for Hi, My Name Is Jack, published by Simon & Schuster. They also published Recovering from Religious Abuse: 11 Steps to Spiritual Freedom.His daily blog, Pushing Jesus, is read in more than 140 countries. Jack lives in Atlanta, where he broadcasts two weekly Blog Talk Radio shows—Jack Watts Live and Jack Watts on Recovery. Single, he has five children and nine grandchildren.
To see more from Jack Watts please visit https://mcgee-andme.squarespace.com/.
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