Struggling with Addiction? There’s Hope in Christ!

Here are my notes from a recent podcast I contributed to about addiction and the hope one has in Christ through His Word and with the help of His people. Listen at http://liftyourvoice.podomatic.com/entry/2015-03-02T19_54_07-08_00

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

You can see all the CR steps, principles, and their corresponding verses at http://mikesmorals.blogspot.com/2015/02/celebrate-recovery-8-principles-12-steps.html

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.