Going To Treatment
People don’t have a sex, or drug, or alcohol problem. They have a life problem. Whatever flesh pattern people may be struggling with, it cannot be resolved as a single entity divorced from all other reality. For instance, virtually every person addicted to something has many people they need to forgive and they will never resolve their addiction problem until they do. We have to first remove the barriers to our intimacy with God, then we can deal with our flesh patterns. In too many cases that doesn’t happen when turning to God does not include complete repentance, which is a problem plaguing the church all over the world. To illustrate, I will share a testimony from my book Winning the Battle Within over the next three days.
As a child Rick was sexually abused by his grandmother after his father committed suicide. As a young man, he embarked on a desperate search to fill the void in his life. He married his college sweetheart, but tried to cover his bitterness and pain with extra-marital sexual encounters, and excessive work. He longed for the approval of others, but the need was never fulfilled. His wife lost patience and left.
He turned to Christ after listening to a TV pastor. He and his wife were reconciled and together they had four children. They appeared to be a respectable Christian family, but Rick was still haunted by the lies that his needs could be met by satisfying his lusts for sex, and food; and was still driven to gain acceptance and affirmation. No wife can satisfy a man’s lust, and it would be degrading for her if she tried. So he turned to numerous sexual partners, including a married woman, while trying to keep up appearances as a family man. His double life left him in turmoil. Devastated by the breakup of an affair, Rick confessed everything to his family and entered a secular three-month in-patient program hoping to overcome his addictions.
Dr. Neil
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