Denial - Lesson 1 | Pastor Jeno Orchard CR

As I said earlier, before we can take the first step of our recovery, we must first face and admit our denial. God says in Jeremiah 6:14 (TLB), "You can't heal a wound by saying it's not there!"   Effects of Denial   Okay, let's look at tonight's acrostic:   DENIAL   Denial DISABLES our feelings.   Hiding our feelings, living in denial, freezes our emotions and binds us. Understanding and feeling our feelings is where we find freedom. I can feel the feeling without having to numb it out. The test to this is I'm free to feel this and I don't need to use________   Second Peter 2:19 (GNB) tells us: "They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of destructive habits—for a man is a slave of anything that has conquered him."   Denial causes ENERGY lost.   A major side-effect of denial is anxiety. Anxiety causes us to waste precious energy dealing with past hurts, hiding stuff, and fear of being found.   Change can only happen in the present . Worrying about the past and dreading the future makes us unable to live and enjoy God's plans for us in the present.   Psalm 146:7 (TLB) says, "He frees the prisoners, he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads."   Letting go of the burden of hiding, (or trying to prove myself) allowed me to experience God's freedom to love others and myself in healthier ways.   Denial NEGATES growth.   We are only as sick as our secrets.   "They cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he rescued them! He led them from the darkness and shadow of death and snapped their chains" (Psalm 107:13–14, TLB).   God never wastes a hurt; God will never waste your darkness. But He can't use it unless you step out of your denial into the light of His truth.   Denial also ISOLATES us from God.   After they sinned, their secret separated them from God. Genesis 3:7 tells us that Adam and Eve hid from God because they felt naked and ashamed.    Remember, God's light shines on the truth. Our denial keeps us in the dark. "God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:5–7).   Our denial not only isolates us from God, it ALIENATES us from our relationships.   In denying a hurt, it also keeps us from helping ourselves or the people we love the most.   My denial causes me to be more judgmental of others with the same struggle   We don't dare reveal our true selves to others for fear of what they will think or say if they knew the real us.   We must protect ourselves—our secrets—at any cost. So we isolate ourselves and thereby minimize the risk of exposure and possible rejection from others.   But at what price (The eventual loss of all our important relationships)?   What's the answer? Listen to Ephesians 4:25 (TLB). "Stop lying to each other; tell the truth, for we are parts of each other and when we lie to each other we are hurting ourselves."   Remember it is always better to tell the ugly truth rather than a beautiful lie.         Finally, denial LENGTHENS the pain.   We have the false belief that denial protects us from our pain. In reality, denial allows our pain to fester and grow and to turn into shame and guilt. Denial extends your hurt and it multiplies your problems.   Truth, like surgery, may hurt for a while, but it cures. God promises us in Jeremiah 30:17 (TLB), "I will give you back your health again and heal your wounds."   Wrap-up   Walking out of your denial is not easy. Taking off that mask is hard. Everything about you shouts, "Don't do it! It's not safe!" But it is safe. It's safe at Celebrate Recovery. Here you have people who care about you and who love you for who you are—people who will stand beside you as truth becomes a way of life.   Jesus tells us, "Know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). Step out of your denial so you can step into Jesus' unconditional love and grace and begin your healing journey of recovery