by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n
You want to make your own choices now; the freedom to succeed or fail at your own hand. It grieves me that you throw that very freedom away with each puff of marijuana. It seductively tells you that you are going your own way while chaining you up and putting a ring in your nose. “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage<\/em>” (II Peter 2:18-19).<\/p>\n You once were a free man, but your decisions are no longer your own. Every choice you make is being orchestrated by the slave master, marijuana.<\/p>\n I can’t break those chains with my tears or my fury at what Satan is doing to you. I can only offer to help you find your own way out. “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will<\/em>” (II Timothy 2:24-26).<\/p>\n I’m praying for you, my friend.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSearching for My Friend\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Freedom! by Jeffrey W. Hamilton You want to make your own choices now; the freedom to succeed or fail at your own hand. It grieves me that you throw that very freedom away with each puff of marijuana. It seductively tells you that you are going your own way while chaining you up and putting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":25976,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65589","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65611,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/are-you-happy\/","url_meta":{"origin":65589,"position":0},"title":"Are You Happy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Are You Happy? by Jeffrey W. Hamilton You are in my daily prayers and I think about you often. You want the freedom to make your own decisions, which you actually always had. But now marijuana rules your life and your thoughts and it dictates the decisions you make. So\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65806,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/growing-pains\/","url_meta":{"origin":65589,"position":1},"title":"Growing Pains (Searching)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Growing Pains by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Satan is never content with trapping a person in a single sin. There is always a possibility of escaping, so he drags a person deeper into sin to make escape look impossible. You can see this in your own life. You've told me several\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39216,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/liberty-a-study-of-galatians\/love-each-other-the-call-to-freedom-from-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":65589,"position":2},"title":"Love Each Other: The Call to Freedom from the World","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Love Each Other: The Call to Freedom from the World Galatians 5:13-26 The call to freedom (Galatians 5:13-14) Freedom from the law does not mean freedom to sin (I Peter 2:16). Freedom means the opportunity to serve each other in love. It is a freedom to serve others and thereby\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49014,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/memory-verse-cards\/memory-verse-freedom\/","url_meta":{"origin":65589,"position":3},"title":"Memory Verse: Freedom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Memory Verse Card: Freedom Memory Verse Cards","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/avoiding-stress\/","url_meta":{"origin":65589,"position":4},"title":"Avoiding Stress","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Avoiding Stress by Jeffrey W. Hamilton There are simple reasons most people aren't able to leave marijuana alone even when they know it isn't what they want in their life. The discomfort of withdrawal is more than they want to handle. \"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-gospel-accounts-a-chronological-harmony\/the-origin-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":65589,"position":5},"title":"The Origin of Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Origin of Jesus Reading Assignment: John 8:12-59 Isaiah 6:9 Did you understand what you read? What did Jesus say to which the Pharisees objected? Why did the Pharisees object to this statement? Does a statement become untrue because a person gives testimony about himself? 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