The Unspoken Chain

If you've ever carried a heavy bag on your back for a long time, you'll know it begins to feel heavier and heavier as time goes on. Eventually, it becomes too much for your body to handle. And at that point you're faced with two options: carry on and suffer as it pulls you down, stopping you from moving forward, or take it off and feel the incredible freedom and weightlessness of your body. Just like carrying a heavy bag, we can be weighed down by hidden secrets. We can carry the weight of addiction on our backs and try to hide what's inside. Usually, it's feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and isolation that stops us from sharing our struggles. We can become ensnared and stopped from moving forward, from growing. What often happens is rather than overcoming the addiction, the ‘hidden’ weight becomes more and more visible to others, seeping out into bitterness, anger, jealousy and other destructive traits.

There’s a healthier way, a way that produces a physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental release. A way of taking the bag off and freeing us from its chains. We’re taught this way by our brother, James. He tells us, “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James is smart, he doesn't tell us to confess to everyone and anyone. He tells us to confess to someone who closely follows Jesus. Someone who can be trusted and who will stand by you in prayer. That's a righteous person. It’s in this confession and the prayer that you find healing.

Hidden secrets will chain you down, but they can be broken in Jesus as you confess them and pray.

Response:

Ask Jesus to show you who you can confess your addiction to, and begin praying with them.

We've been looking at the chains that keep us bound and how to overcome them in Jesus. Tomorrow we take our eyes off the chains and onto the One who goes before us, who leads by example and teaches us how He overcame temptation.