Abstinence is not Freedom

Dr. Ray: Hey welcome, to Self Talk. This is Ray Self, very glad you're with me. There's a difference between abstaining and being free. You know as, a Christian, we're taught to abstain, don't do this, stop doing that, refrain from that, hold on to that, don't think this way, don't feel this way, don't crave this. But that's not freedom, that's abstinence. But there's a way to get free and I want to talk to you about it in this episode. Hey again, thank you for listening to Self Talk, I appreciate you. Don't forget to go to my website for this podcast at icmcollege.org/selftalk and there you can do all kinds of cool things and also give me a review, that really helps us get more downloads. So the more you do for that, it just helps to share the message. I appreciate you very much and thank you again for listening to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self.

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Dr. Ray: Okay, here we go. Self Talk Dr. Ray Self. Episode 135, can you believe it? It's been a couple of years. Thank you for all my listeners and those who download and share. I'm doing it for you, I'm doing it for you. 

So you know, as a Christian um, we are taught there's just certain things we cannot do, okay? And, and I've lived that way. I mean, I try not to do certain things as a Christian. You know, I try not to, to cuss, I try not to say hateful things. I, I don't believe Christians should drink, that's me, I just think the alcohol has so many bad things about it, so many horrible things. If you see the negative effects of alcohol and the positive effects of alcohol, it's a no-brainer and I've had too many friends and acquaintances die from alcohol. I don't think Christians should drink. 

But many people abstain and then there's a lot of things that we don't do uh, oh, such as lust. You know, we, we don't lust, we don't, we don't mess around, we don't cheat on our wives or our girlfriends, these are things we don't do as a Christian. And there's a lot of things. You know, we're honest and we don't do this, we don't do that, but you see, there's a problem. When we are abstaining and not doing things but still want to do it. Hmm… In other words, well, I'm not, I, I'm faithful to my wife. You know, I'm faithful to my wife but oh, that girl in the office. She, she looks so fine. Oh, I just wonder… but, well, I'm not going to do anything, I'm not going to do anything, no. I'm at the beach and oh my goodness, those, those bikinis. But no, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm just, I'm not even gonna, not even gonna think about it. Or there's the um that hot summer day and, and um, boy, it, wouldn’t a tall uh, Coors beer taste good right now but you know, I know I'm not supposed to drink so I'm not going to do that.

 But you see, that's abstinence but it's not freedom. Freedom is when God takes something from you. Now, I'm not trying to make this a show about drinking or not drinking but alcohol is a good example because it's what happened in my life. I was- for many years I worked in business, I was a corporate businessman, and before I went in the ministry, a full-time Ministry, I worked for several corporations, owned several companies, and part of the business world was social drinking. There was a happy hour. I remember going to conferences and business meetings sometimes in very uh, cool places like Las Vegas and the Bahamas. But at the end of the day, there would be a happy hour for all the businessmen and, and their bosses and that was just what you do, you know. You just, you drink and then go home. And then on weekends, we- friends would come over and we would drink or might go to a party and we would drink. We might go to an anniversary celebration or a wedding and we would, and I would drink. I call it social drinking, it's kind of like a you drink, so shall I. But then one day, God set me free. I decided I didn't want to do that anymore, I just didn't want to do that anymore. And, but the Holy Spirit came on me and set me free and so I didn't quit drinking I got free from it. In other words, the desire left me completely. It was taken away from me. It was freedom.

You see, holding on to something but not being free is, is tough. There's a, a pastor, it’s a story of a pastor that I know who struggled with lust. Now he never cheated on his wife, very faithful uh, to his wife you know and he was a pastor of a church but he could not get rid of these lustful feelings until through a work of the Holy Spirit, he got free. Now, he was abstaining from acting on lust but he was not free from lust. And so there's so many things. Perhaps you've struggled with, with drug use or prescription pill use and you don't do it anymore because you've abstained from that and you have self-control, but you're not free. 

You see, self-control is good, that's what I call step one, but freedom is when the Lord sets you free and takes the desire away from you. There's a story I read, you know, many years ago. It was about two pastors walking down the street, I believe it was downtown Atlanta, and there was a newsstand. And in the newsstand you know, they had all the magazines out front in, in the newsstand where there were some risque magazines. Well, the pastor sees this newsstand and he literally walks across the street to get away from it, okay? The other pastor just walks right by it. And so the pastor who walked across the street said yeah, I just, I can't, I can't let that stuff get into my eyes, you know? I, I, I, I don't want to, I don't want to lust. But the other pastor walked right by it, didn't pay it any attention. And the difference was the pastor who walked right by the newsstand, didn't pay any attention, was free from lust but the pastor who had to go to the other side of the street was not free from lust. He was abstaining from lust and trying to get the temptation away from him.

Now, and I'm not saying abstinence is bad but I'm saying abstinence is only a step. The next step should be freedom and to me, only God can do that. And if we pray and say Lord, I need to be free. Lord, I need to be free. The bible says that we should confess our faults one to another and pray for each other. First John says we should confess our sins and he's faithful and just to forgive us. Let's confess our sins to the Lord. He's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. In other words, we can go to the Lord and with things that we're abstaining from and get free. So what I want to get across to you is, if you're not doing something but- that you shouldn't do, that's a good thing but if you still want to do it, that's not a good thing. In other words, you're not free, you're abstaining, you're not doing it but you would like to do it. You're not lusting but you would, you would imagine what it would be like. You're not free from that and there can be a lot of things. Maybe, maybe you've had a problem with drugs in your past, and well, and you don't do drugs anymore but you still have periodically a craving for them. 

Many, many years ago - now don't judge me - many years ago. I'm 72 now, so I'm talking 40 years ago, I struggled with marijuana. I just craved it all the time. I craved it all the time. And I finally got where I just, you know, I got married, I got kids, I had, I had to stop, I got to stop doing this; but then, but I still had the cravings; I still had the cravings. But then when the Lord set me free from it, the cravings left me. I was not trying not to smoke marijuana, the desire completely left me. So yes, we need to control our sinful nature, okay?

Maybe this is the best way to put it: We need to abstain from our sinful nature, but even greater than that is to get free from our sinful nature. Now, the bible gives us several ways to do that. The bible says in Romans, the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the Spirit is life. So when we set our mind on the Holy Spirit, commune with the Holy Spirit, talk to the Holy Spirit, pray, ask God to send the Holy Spirit, use the power of the Holy Spirit, we can get free. And the mind set on the Spirit is, is life, is life. And Paul talked a lot about freedom. He says that, that sin has no more power over us and so - this is in Romans chapter six. So what Paul is trying to tell us is that Jesus has won the victory over sin and has given us that victory to be free from sin. So if you're not sinning, doing something that is sinful but you want to do it, that's okay but that's not the best. The best thing is to be free from sin where the desire for it is completely gone, it's just not there.

Just another example: You know, I'm real and open. When I was young I had a, I had a potty mouth. I had a dirty mouth, I, I cussed and um, you know, things would happen and I would go “Oh, blankety blank.” But the Lord took that from me. I mean, I just don't do it. It's just, you know, I'm not saying I'm perfect but I'm just - the desire to use curse words, it's just not there; it's gone. I'm not trying not to curse, it's just not really who I am. And so maybe that's another way to look at it. When the Lord sets us free we become different on the inside, we become another person. You know, when you're saved you become a new creation but to me, the Holy Spirit has to make that manifest. So when I became - and the Holy Spirit started changing who I was - my, the desire to drink, to cuss, to, to smoke marijuana, lustful stuff, all that left. It wasn't part of me anymore. Why? Because I had been made free.

And so the reason I'm doing this podcast is I want you to be free, where you do not have to use self-control all the time, although self-control is not bad, but freedom is better. Freedom is better than abstinence. Abstinence what I would say, is step one but step two is freedom and I want you to be free. The bible says who the Son sets free it's free indeed. The bible says you shall know the truth and the truth shall do what? Shall make you free. But the power of the Holy Spirit, by surrendering to the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, and letting the power of God - humbling yourself, admitting the fault, admitting your weakness, humbling yourself, and ask the Holy Spirit to come and set you free. You can get free today, you can get free right now. Whatever it is you're struggling with, whatever the, the issue is, the, the temptation that it's like: I don't do it but I'm constantly tempted and I kind of want to do it but I know I can't do it so I'm not doing it because I'm abstaining from that - well you see, that's not freedom, that's uh, that's self-control which is not a bad thing, that's one of the fruits of the Spirit. But when you have freedom, you don't have to have self-control because you're free and you become another person.

So this is what I want to do right now. I just want to pray for you. I want to pray for freedom for you and I thank you for listening. This is a short podcast but I felt in my spirit that there are people here that are struggling with a lot of things but you've never really gotten free. And so the first step is just to admit it. “God, I am still struggling. Lord, I'm struggling with this. Lord, I've sinned. Lord, I don't do these things but Lord, I confess to You I still want to do it. Lord, I'm not doing it but the desire is still there. Father, I confess this to You now. I ask You to forgive me. I thank you, Lord, that Your word says if we confess our sins, You’re faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Now Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ I ask You to send Your Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit. Touch me right now. Touch me now, set me free. I don't want this desire anymore, I don't want this temptation anymore. I thank you, Father, for setting me free. I thank you right now for setting me free. Come, Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, set me free. Thank you for giving me self-control but now Lord, change who I am. Make me into a different person. Set me free from this desire that I hide in my heart, these hidden things that nobody knows about but You know about. Lord, set me free tonight, set me free this morning, set me free today, set me free right now. In the name of Jesus Christ.”

Now Holy Spirit, I ask You to touch each person who's praying with me. Come upon them now in the name of Jesus. Holy Spirit, come upon them now and deliver my listeners from whatever they're struggling with, whatever they're abstaining from, but still desiring. Lord set them free, set them completely free. And I pray right now that this temptation will not come back. Temptation will not return; this desire is gone in the name of Jesus Christ and so Father, I thank You, I praise You, and now bless those that are listening to Self Talk. Thank You, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen, amen. Well, thank you for listening folks. I appreciate you. I hope this has been a blessing to you. Again, this is Dr. Ray Self and God bless you.

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Well, this is Ray Self and thank you for listening to another episode of Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self, and I appreciate you, could not do this without you. Again, I want to make an offer to you, and this is not just a fundraiser although funds would be great to help us do this show, but you know guys I've got some great courses. These are called audit course downloads. Um, the course I'm going to emphasize to you right now this is a six-lesson course. You will like it a lot, it's got notes with it, it has a, a video - I mean, a PowerPoint that comes with it - it's a college course, it's called uh, it's called Dealing with Controlling People. You know, we've got, we've got one of these people… every family's got at least one. But how as a Christian do you deal and handle relationships with controlling people? Now these courses are yours for a $35 donation and what you do to get this is, send me an email if you would, drayself@gmail.com. drrayself@gmail.com and say “I want the course, Dealing with Controlling People.” I'll send you a link to make the donation but again, drrayself@gmail.com. Tell me the course you want, the course I'll send you the link to, it, it's yours, okay? Anyway, I hope that's been a blessing to you. Don't forget to go to the, my podcast website, icmcollege.org/selftalk. 

Also, as you know, I'm president of the International College of Ministry. We've had a tremendous surge of enrollment. If you want to get an online college degree that’s affordable, where you can work on your own schedule if you want a degree. And I mean, I'm talking about associate’s, bachelor's, master's, even a doctorate degree in ministry, theology, Christian counseling, or uh, prophetic ministry. You can do this, we're affordable, we even have scholarships for people struggling financially. All you do is go to icmcollege.org - that's the main website - click the apply button, or click the free evaluation button. I love you so much. You know, I don't get to see you but I know you're listening to me and it means a lot to me. I just want to say thank you so much and I hope this show today has been a great blessing to you. This is Dr. Ray Self and uh, I pray God's favor and blessing and anointing on you as you move forth in your life.