THE NARROW ROAD

Are you on the lonely narrow road to Heaven,

 or the crowded wide road to destruction?

Proverbs 3:5-6
 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6, In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Romans 12:2
  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Christians in addiction recovery must repent and change the road they’re on to experience victory over their addictions! We must get off the wide road to destruction, and pick up our cross and follow Christ on the narrow road to Eternal Life and freedom from addictions! 

The narrow road is only lonely because there are only a few others on it! There are no crowds as one might expect. The crowds are all on the wide road “that leadeth to destruction,” and headed over a cliff into eternal damnation! If we’re genuine, God fearing, Spirit-filled and guided, obedient, and born-again Christians, according to Jesus own words in Matthew 7:13-15, we’re supposed to be on a very lonely, deserted, and narrow road. (Matthew 7:13-15 KJV, 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.)  If we’re being obedient to God’s Word along our journey, it can get very dark, discouraging, and lonely along this road we call life as we navigate around satan’s many roadblocks and obstacles that he sets in our path to distract and discourage us from continuing. We must learn early along our journey not to forget who set us on this narrow road and why. We must remember God’s words to us in  Deuteronomy 8:11, Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: and take heed not to follow those wolves in sheep’s clothing, that are around every corner of our journey, that would lead us astray, into a ditch, or off the narrow road, and onto the wide one. Exodus 34:12, Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: We really shouldn’t expect to see a lot of traffic on this road as Jesus explains to us above in Matthew 7:14, “and few there be that find it.”  If you’re feeling uncomfortable Sunday in your overcrowded mega-church, as you sit in a traffic-jam in the parking lot filled with Mercedes Benz type luxury cars trying to get home to watch the football game on TV, it might be The Holy Spirit telling you that you’re on the wrong road!  “IF” you’re a spirit filled Christian, that will be Him, (The Holy Spirit), tugging on your conscience when you drift off the narrow road and onto the “broad” one that satan dresses up as a “shortcut” to someplace where God had no intension for you to be in the first place! It’s crucial that we learn very early in our Christian walk to recognize God’s voice and trust His every Word. The minute we question any of it, we’re allowing satan to deceive us with a lie. Living in a world where the Church has become overcome with false teachers, we must learn to be as the Bereans in Acts 17:11, and search the scripture daily to stay abreast of all that we are being told and taught about God’s Truth.  John 4:23, But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. We are not to worship false idols! 1John 5:21,  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

       There are millions of professing Christians today who have been mislead into believing that they can travel the wide road to destruction by disobeying God, living a fast and reckless, sinful life, and that God will forgive them simply because of one verse that declares that we’re “all sinners,” taken out of context. They have no idea that forgiveness and Salvation are conditional promises that require repentance, Faith, surrender, and obedience. This leads us to the circumstances we find today in a world overcome with unimpeded immorality and an epidemic of unrestrained drug and alcohol use and abuse even within the walls of The New World Christian Church where sin is overlooked and tolerated for the sake of growing the attendance numbers and the bank accounts.

       In the past 10 years of ministry in numerous Christian addiction recovery groups, after writing volumes of material including a book regarding the false teachings, heresy, and blasphemy that transpire in groups within thousands of churches around the country, I think I can sum up the entire contents of my book as well as the ministry with this; it’s less about being sober, and more about being the above described Christian, or not!  If we’re performing the role of Christian as we’re expected too according to the Word of God, if we’re walking the road above as directed and obeying the rules set before us, (this having nothing to do with being “legalistic” or not, but living according to His Word),  if  we’ve picked up our cross, and are denying ourselves, (Matthew 16:24, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”), and are following Christ instead of satan and his worldly ways, we can be assured we will no longer be burdened with addictions! We will have no desire to spend another minute in such willful, sinful behavior. Why not, you ask? “Aren’t we all sinners”? Yes we are; each and every one of us will stumble from time to time, and will be forgiven when we admit that we’ve sinned, ask for forgiveness, and repent. That however is a far cry from being an alcoholic or an addict, or someone lost in their sins. As born again believers, we become ambassadors for Christ. It becomes our duty to represent Him and share His Good News with the rest of the World. We can’t serve God if we’re addicted to drugs and alcohol and other sin. Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” If we claim to be born again Christians and still struggle with addictions, we need to get on our knees, truly repent, and ask God to change our Hearts, and set us on the “narrow road that leads to eternal life with Him” Then we can be SAVED and SOBER!

       Many of us today in addiction recovery have succumbed to the misunderstanding of the passage in, 1 John 1:8-10, 8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”  means that the fact that “we’re all sinners” is an excuse to sin! Nothing could be further from the Truth! There is no excuse to sin! The above passage simply explains that none of us are perfect and will all fall short of God’s Glory because of Adam and Eve’s failure in the Garden, and that Christians who confess their sin and repent can be forgiven. We must never use scripture like this to condone our sinful behavior.         

       While many of us, (myself included), focus on Christ Crucified, and His Work on the Cross, I all too often forget that "HE IS RISEN"! And sometimes I forget to invite Him to "come join me" in whatever daily function I may be involved in. As born again believers He is not only risen, but He dwells within us in the form of the Holy Spirit! (1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV , Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?) Learning to accept His presence in us is part of the total and complete surrender process, part of the sanctification process that we are involved in if we are born again. We fall short of God’s Glory and often fail, when we fail to invite Him into the moment at hand! We fail, when we fail to recognize that HE empowers us to overcome sin. (Romans 12:21, Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.) We fail and fall into sin when we take our eyes off of HIM even for a minute! It's our choice whether we fail or succeed. 
      We need to focus not only on HIS work on The Cross, but also on the fact that HE IS RISEN! That if you have accepted His invitation, and asked him into your heart, repented and turned from your sinful ways by being obedient according to His Word, and in Faith accepted him as your Lord and Savior; He will take up residence in your body, and be no further away from you than a gentle whisper. When we learn to seek His presence in every minute of our lives, our journey along this narrow road will become “a walk in the park”! And we won’t be lonely because we’ll be walking hand in hand with Jesus! We will learn to embrace the challenges that we’ll undoubtedly be faced with, with great optimism, knowing that we need them to grow and mature our Faith and wisdom, and knowing that not only will He provide us with the means to overcome and have victory over those challenges, but also that,… 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”