Hello, I’m Mike, a grateful
redeemed Christ-follower and I’m recovering from a former addiction to
smokeless tobacco and sexual lust when I was an adolescent and young adult and
I continue to struggle from time to time with various issues like
perfectionism, controlling behaviors, and anger. Basically, I’m a mess without
the regular intervention of Jesus Christ, His Word, and His people in my life
to help me be the person of God He wants me to be.
We all have broken areas in
our lives. No one has it all together. Everyone has been hurt by others, we’ve
hurt ourselves, and we’ve hurt others. These things can result in some sort of
hurt, hang-up, or habit that prevents us from being all that God wants us to
be.
When I was nine years old I
received Christ as my Savior and I’ve been a Christ-follower for about forty
years but it was a very up and down spiritual journey in my adolescent years.
As a teen, God blessed me
with a powerful youth ministry experience related to church but away from
church I engaged in a lot of foolish immoral behaviors. It was during those
years that I developed an addiction to lust and to smokeless tobacco. I also knew
someone close to me who struggled with drug abuse and following a suicide
attempt was placed in a drug program. There were also some alcoholics in our
family tree. I praise God that I was never hooked on drugs and alcohol but I know
I am vulnerable to getting hooked on those substances. I was certainly hooked
on dip/chewing tobacco and lust which were bad habits I could not stop on my
own in the flesh. I needed help beyond myself, especially God’s help.
At around twenty years of
age, I was spiritually convicted to be more surrendered to Christ which led to
a more God-honoring set of friends, improved behaviors, and leadership
involvement in the church’s youth ministry. I wanted to help younger people
avoid the foolish immoral activities I engaged in during my teen years.
It was during this timeframe
that I zeroed in on a computer programming career and volunteer youth ministry
on the side and God blessed greatly on that path. I backslid a little bit in my
twenties regarding drinking alcohol and lustful behaviors but God redirected me
on the right path and I stepped up with my personal responsibility as a
Christ-follower to be more consistently God-honoring with my life.
I remember with smokeless
tobacco I could never seem to stop for more than a few months until one day I
cried out to God in prayer to take away the craving and help me lead the girl, I
loved at the time, to Him as Savior and about thirty minutes later we were on
our knees and she received Christ. And for the past twenty years or so I no
longer have the craving to use smokeless tobacco. God got my attention with an
answered prayer and I stepped up with consistent self-control abstaining from
tobacco and He removed the craving.
My fairly consistent victory
in Christ over lust was more of a tapering off journey of me engaging in more
holy thinking and behavior and less and less worldly carnal thinking and
behavior. Prayer, Bible application, Christian community, accountability, serving
the Lord, and getting married to a godly woman has helped greatly with
experiencing more consistently victory over temptation to lust.
God has blessed with me a
wife and we have four children. I’ve been a pastor for 14 years and I was
involved in lay ministry for years before that. I’m passionate about helping
people know Christ and become more like Christ and help others in the same way.
And in such ministry, we have
to address various hurts, hang-ups, and habits that prevent a person from being
all that God wants them to be.
An example of a negative habit
that gets in the way of God’s will for our life is addiction.
When I use the word “addiction”
I’m referring to a negative reoccurring action or thought that can be
pleasurable at first but interferes with normal life situations and
responsibilities like relationships, employment, and health. Such addictions
include compulsive behaviors, lack of self-control, and a sense that one can’t
live without the addiction whether they acknowledge the word “addiction” or the
truth about their “addiction” or not.
People can be addicted to all
sorts of things like drugs, alcohol, nicotine, gambling, lustful thoughts, sexual
activity, spending, caffeine, over-eating, and over-working.
I’ve known people who are
addicted to drinking soda daily. They will not stop drinking it because that
drink and their behavior have their hooks in that person as a habit that runs
deep. A daily soda may seem like small potatoes but it can become unhealthy and
may point to some spiritual issues, biblically. A more obvious problem
addiction is shooting heroin into your veins which is illegal, unhealthy, very
difficult to stop, and could kill you.
There are various reasons why
people fall into addictions. Perhaps there is some genetic vulnerability due to
addicts in the family, or influence from people close to you, or poor emotional
processing and not coping with stress well, escapism, curiosity, medical use, and
others.
Addictions often snowball and
get worse over time. They should be acknowledged and taken seriously.
There can certainly be a
complexity to addictions, like how it came about and whether it is physical,
psychological and/or a moral issue. I usually approach it holistically; that is
to say that we have thoughts, emotional processing of feelings, physical
conditions and behaviors, and a spiritual aspect to our lives.
Of course, being a
Christ-follower and believer in God’s holy Word, I believe what matters most is
a person’s relationship with Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, so the
spiritual component when addressing addiction is most important in my approach
to helping someone, but I understand that there are other aspects of the human
life and experience to address.
Depending on the individual’s
addiction and circumstances they may need medical and law enforcement
intervention and removal from what they are addicted to. Sooner rather than
later, I want to know who that person thinks Jesus Christ is and do they know
Christ as their Savior or not because I believe true freedom from sin bondage,
true healing from addictions, and true hope in this life and for eternal life
with our Holy Creator God is only found in Jesus Christ.
I
want to write briefly about a model (Overcoming Temptation to Sin) I use personally
and help others with one on one when it comes to reoccurring sin habits. And
then I will summarize a group ministry approach (Celebrate Recovery) that can help
as well.
Sin
is anything that goes against the character and commanding will of God.
Temptation is not sin but can lead to sin. Not only does everyone have
experience sinning, we also have lots of experience being tempted to sin.
Check
out this early occurrence of the Holy Bible of the word ‘sin.’ God was speaking
to Cain.
Genesis
4:7 NLT You will be accepted if you do what is
right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching
at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
Here are three principles to heed from this verse:
First, acknowledge and learn more about the
temptation to sin conflict. There is a real spiritual
war going on and we continue to be tempted to sin.
Secondly, discern between right and wrong. Our greatest resource and standard for such discernment
is God’s Word.
Third, master your temptations to sin. The master of all masters, the master over all, is Jesus
Christ (Mt. 28:18, 1 Tim. 6:15). The key to our mastering temptation is based
on the person and work of Jesus Christ, trusting Him as Savior and Lord, and
living for the glory of God based on God’s Holy Word for His people today.
Here
are ten biblical principles to help you overcome temptation to sin and overcome
spiritual enemies of God:
1) Trust God; He’s Powerful and He’s faithful to His
people.
2) Pray for victory over your temptation.
3) Keep God's Word close to your heart.
4) Christ followers are to stand strong in the Lord
and put on the full armor of God.
5) Holistically submit
yourself to godliness.
6) Abstain, resist, and flee from what’s
wrong in the eyes of God. Don’t just say “no” to
temptation to sin, say “yes” to holiness and godliness in Christ.
7) Be an overcomer by faith in Christ.
8) Be an overcomer with good.
9) Walk the way of the wise and understand the
Lord’s will.
10) Do all to the glory of God.
Think
of this spiritual war in terms of your offense and defense. The offense
includes preparing for battle, preparing for the attacks of the enemies of God,
building on the foundation of Christ day to day with increased faith in Him,
learning and living out biblical principles individually and in Christian
community, and honoring the Lord. I call this The Holy Foundation Stage. This is how we are to live daily
according to God’s Word. Then there is the defense that includes responding to
specific temptations by crying out to Christ and praying some ‘go to’ prayers
and Bible verses, and reaching out to mature Christ followers for help. I call
this The Holy Fighting Stage. Consistently
overcoming temptation must include both of these stages.
God
provides and promises His people all kinds of help in the battle with
temptation and sin.
His
divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and
excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great
promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful
desire. 2 Pet. 1:3-4 ESV
If a person is willing to
trust Christ and apply these biblical principles, I believe they will begin to
experience more and more victory over the temptation to sin, and healing and
freedom from a struggle like addiction. You can read this link for the longer version
of the above principles, which includes several Bible verses (http://mikesmorals.blogspot.com/2014/10/overcoming-temptation.html).
For some people, I believe
they can receive help with their addiction by participating in a group program
or ministry. Celebrate Recovery (CR)
is one such ministry. I’ll summarize it for you.
CR began two decades ago in a
CA church and is now global, being used in 20,000+ churches and other
locations. At the core of the CR ministry is Jesus Christ, His Word, the
Christian 12 steps for recovery, 8 recovery principles based on the Beatitudes,
and a community of Christ-followers who help CR participants through recovery
and spiritual growth in Christ. And it has worked and continues to work in many
lives; to the glory of God.
CR is designed to provide a
safe place to find freedom and healing, in Christ, from life’s hurts, hang-ups,
and negative habits including addiction and any other issue that keeps people
from being all that God wants them to be. There is a celebration of God’s
healing power through the recovery process which is based on the power of
Christ through God’s Word and His people. The entry level to a weekly CR
ministry has a large co-ed group in the first hour that includes worship,
teaching and/or a testimony of life change in Christ, and some fellowship. Then
participants have the opportunity to open up in a same-gender small group
setting and possibly in one-one-one coaching/accountability relationships.
Here are a couple of the recovery
steps, principles, and verses used in CR:
Step 1. We admitted we were
powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors. That our lives had
become unmanageable.
Romans 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that
is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot
carry it out.
Principle 2 Earnestly believe
that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me
recover.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and
to act according to his good purpose.
Step 3. We made a decision to
turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of
God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
Principle 5 Voluntarily
submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to
remove my character defects.
Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do
what God requires, Matthew 5:6a
One key component of CR is
the testimony. People who have been experiencing recovery and spiritual growth
in Christ, people who have been healed of hurt, hang-ups, and/or addictive
habits share their testimony to the participants of CR. Praise God! This can be
a powerful ministry tool for the person sharing, their own healing journey, and
to impact people’s hearts who are also on a journey of recovery or need to be. There
is hope in Christ!
You can go to
CelebrateRecovery.com to find out more about this ministry and to find a CR
location near you.
Regardless of the addiction,
hurt, hang-up, or habit in your life or loved one’s life there is hope in Jesus
Christ!
God bless you and your loved
ones.
What are your thoughts on
Jesus Christ, His Word, and His redeemed helping people experience healing and
freedom from addiction?
Mike
Note: the above notes are not
intended to be a comprehensive look into the issue of addiction or give the
impression that helping someone struggling with addiction is a simple quick
process. My goal was to share a little bit about addiction and point to the
hope that exists in Jesus Christ working through His Word and working in and
through His people.
