You can bounce back

Are you battling a stubborn habit like drugs and alcohol? Gambling? Overeating? Pornography? Here’s good news. Jesus said He came “that captives will be released” (Luke 4:18 NLT). You can recover. You can get back what you’ve lost, or something better. How? By doing two things David did when the Amalekites destroyed his home and took his family captive: (1) He turned to God for strength. “David strengthened himself in the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6 NKJV). Face it; if you could solve the problem yourself, you’d have done it. Acknowledging your powerlessness is the first step to victory. But acknowledging it is not the same as giving in to defeat and despair. It means that you can’t, but God can, and He will when you surrender to Him. (2) He turned to God for a strategy. “David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?’ And He answered him, ‘Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all’” (v. 8 NKJV). Note the word pursue. David was relentless; he didn’t stop until he recovered everything the enemy had stolen from him. And that must be your attitude too. You say, “But I’ve failed so often.” The Bible says, “Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again” (Proverbs 24:16 NIV). You say, “How can I be righteous in God’s eyes and keep falling?” Because your righteousness is not earned by your performance, it’s transferred to you through Christ’s performance on the cross (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). Knowing that will give you the faith and courage to “pursue…overtake…and recover all”—and bounce back.