By Brenda Groves
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
They say that by this time each year most New Year’s Resolutions have fizzled and gone by the wayside. I can relate.
I use to make yearly resolutions. I had several declarations tied up into one, which was to get free from ALL my addictions.
So every December 31st I would vow to quit, stop and change.
But I never made it past January 1st before I found myself lighting up or overeating or buying Lotto tickets or doing drugs.
Does any of this sound familiar to you? Or if you have a loved one caught up in addictions I want to share some truths with you.
Now, some of you may be surprised at this but I had already given my life to Christ several years earlier yet still struggled to get free from things of my past.
I was truly born again, I had met Jesus in the Spirit and I knew Him but what I did not know who I am now in Christ and Christ living in me. I came from a strict religious background so I felt like I had to earn God’s love. I believed that He loved me when I did good but distanced Himself when I failed Him.
Of course, this theology was ALL wrong.
See, I don’t believe that any person is an alcoholic or drug addict or smoker etc. These are just the things they are doing but it’s not who they are or who God created us to be. This goes back to the truth that we are a spirit, we have a soul (mind/will/emotions) and we live in a body. (1 Thess. 5:23)
I do not have the space to go into all the details but I’ll share what I can and I’ll say some bold things here but it’s the truth.
The root cause, the real reason we choose these destructive habits is because there is a void in our hearts where we need Jesus. His love filling any void in our hearts.
We are all born with a spiritual heart defect (spiritually disconnected from God), a deep void that we crave to be filled.
Our soul needs God but our flesh does not comprehend the things of God so it reaches out to physical things for temporary comfort, (including food/people/careers etc). (Gal. 5:17). (Even Christians can become prey to some form of addictive strongholds if we do not keep filling ourselves with the word of God. Jesus said in John 15:4, “… abide in Me and I will abide in you.”)
Also, when traumatic things happen and we are dealing with loss, grief or fear our soul cries out for help, love, comfort- peace.
Satan wants to be worshiped like God so he presents false imitations of God’s love to us to prevent us from seeking the Lord. (Matt: 4:8-10).
(These imitations can even be in the form of a person but even a good person who comes into your life does not necessarily mean that they are sent by God.)
God has a good plan for each of our lives and the devil wants to steal God’s word and His good promises for our lives because “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
The Bible also declares that “how a person thinks in their heart so are they.” Proverbs 23:7
In my heart I thought I was a drug addict, smoker etc. But I was not in my right mind. I was under demonic strongholds. You must understand that you are not battling against your flesh and blood. It’s not hereditary, it’s not in your DNA. (But I do believe that generational curses exist, meaning a family can be under the influence of demonic activities passed down through generations. But Jesus became cursed for us! That’s another column.)
So for several years I went around the same mountains and did the same things yet expecting different results. That is a sign of insanity.
But when I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (speaking in tongues), the word of God opened up to me. I began reading/studying the New Testament and finding out about God’s grace and unconditional love for me and this knowledge I was learning in my mind got planted in my heart. For the first time I began seeing myself differently in my heart.
For example, in the area of smoking, and this is very important, I took the addiction to the Lord. It was like being bullied for years but finally telling on the bully. I had enough! I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. (As it turned out, Jesus already freed us, but this verse is so true …. “my people perish for lack of knowledge.”
Now I did not love smoking anymore even though my body craved it and my soul had relied on it. But once I really gave it over to the Lord a shift happened in the spiritual realm. I remember telling Him, “Heavenly Father, You know I smoke and I know you love me no matter what because of my faith in Jesus, but I don’t want to do this anymore. I still like to smoke but I don’t love it anymore. Thank you for helping me.”
At that moment I “submitted to God and was resisting the devil so the devil had to flee from me.” James 4:7 He had to vacate the premises- my body- the temple of God. But how do you evict a tenant who has been living in a place for over 32 years?
Well, for example, as I read the New Testament and believed Jesus had already set us free over 2,000 years ago I began thinking and talking like a free person. Even while I smoked I would read out loud between puffs as Proverbs 18:21 declares that “life and death are in the power of the tongue.
Even as I lit up a cigarette I would open my bible and declare, “I am a born again child of God. I am a non-smoker. I curse the root of addiction and nicotine to death in my body in Jesus name. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Old things have passed away and all things have become new …”
Even as I bought another pack of cigarettes, even as my lungs had coughing fits and I could barely breathe, (32 years at a pack 1/2 day does a lot of damage in a body). I took hold of these truths instead of what I was experiencing in the physical realm.
And within a few months, on January 11, 2009, I literally felt the very root of that addiction being pulled from my heart. For the first time since I was 13 years old, I no longer had any desire whatsoever to smoke. Instantly, the cough was gone, my raspy voice was clear, my lungs were clear! I could take a deep breath without having a coughing fit. Energy returned to my body! As if it never happened.
The Lord restored me back to that moment before I ever smoked that first cigarette.
AlI that was left from those years of bondage … were those ashes in my Bible.
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
