It is healthy to take a day off once a week. It is important to take a rest from work but in 2017 it is also important to take a day off from everything we do that adds stress to our lives.
We have talked about learning what negative emotions or behaviors lead back to addiction. Now we must also understand how good activities “done in excess” also lead back to addiction. For example: we have Bill (clean from alcohol for 25 days) increasing his exercise program. This is highly recommended behavior. But if after 6 straight days of running 2 miles per day he runs 3 miles on Sunday to really up the ante. Then he felt really charged up so he decided to do a little extra work to get ahead financially. But 45 minutes into the work his friend asks him if he still wants to play a bit of pool. He says “just give me a few minutes and I will be done”. An hour later he realizes his buddy went out.
They next day Bill gets up feeling very tired. One mistake at work turns into two. When he gets home he is hoping to get some support from his buddy. But 10 seconds into the phone call he realizes his buddy is still a bit miffed about being blown off yesterday.
This leads to enough consumption of booze to make Tuesday just as bad a day as Monday was. His alcohol detox program is forgotten.
Let’s do a count of the # of staying clean commandments that were broken. #1 even though running is a great way to help stay clean – After 6 days (Okay for some of us after one day) resting for a day was in order. Commandment #2 broken – people are more important than fighting for a few extra dollars (if you have enough for basic necessities).
Commandment #3 broken – stay moderate in all things even if they are good. Commandment #4 broken – God says take a day off. It is shocking how much easier it is to avoid addiction when we always do things Gods way.
Commandment #5 broken – call your sponsor when you know you are in trouble.
A good quitting alcohol or quitting drugs program recommends that you list your positive behaviors which you have done “in excess” in the past. Things like games, too much work, TV, Sports etc. We overdo because we don’t focus on moderation enough. We keep going because we are not content with our life. It is better to “be content” with a small house, an average job and a regular life than having a mansion, a high paying job and an attitude of “I have to fight to get more, more, more.” We also need to be content with the amount of pleasure we try to have today. Todays “extra” pleasure is tomorrow’s disaster. If we are not content with todays “clean” pleasures” we will have destruction as well as less pleasures later in the week/month.
Pray every day – Father, take away my __________ and help me to be content.
Pray every day – Father, take away my __________ and help me to be moderate in all things.
For me stress can lead back to addiction. When I put a specific time frame on activities which raise my stress level, plus praying about being moderate in all things – I probably triple or quadruple my odds of success.
If you are not a Christian you may want to try it because when we have the Spirit of the Lord with us we will find Liberty.
Pray “Lord, help me to always be moderate in all things”. Remember that to improve the chances of getting your prayers answered you sometimes need to do something. In this case planning to be moderate today may cause God to notice that you are serious about living right and He may say – you know what, I normally don’t step and change the course of history, but this person really wants to live the way I want them to live.
One big problem that many users have is that they just don’t know what to do. If you are a Christian you are told in the Bible that you were created to Worship God.
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God 1 Corinthians 10:31
16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord2 Corinthians 3:16-18
Look at the HOPE we should have for real change as we focus on learning how to keep the Spirit of the Lord near us. We get the Spirit of the Lord near us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. But we know for sure that when we fiddle with sin we lose our Liberty over sin and our quitting drugs program (or drinking program) is forgotten..
Therefore make it your goal to do everything to the glory of God. This will lead to liberty over sin and liberty over intoxication.
Psalm 31:16
Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.
Overcoming the fear of Rehab. If you have accepted Christ and plan from now on to do things his way you can overcome fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 says “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Pray “Father I plan to do things your way, please take away my fear.
If you want to start living for the Glory of God, pray about it. Have a time and a place to pray every day.
Let’s continue to watch people who are trying to quit to see what they are doing. After his blowout Bill prayed “Father, forgive me of my sin. Help me to learn to be moderate in all things. Help me to value people more than I value money or the party or any other things which do not satisfy.”
Lisa decided to make it a habit to pray at least 3 times per day “Lord, keep me from temptation.”
Mike made it a habit to have a time and place to pray every day.
Ty continued to read “The Purpose Driven Life”.
Do not think that what your thoughts dwell on does not matter. Your thoughts are making you.”
Overcoming Addiction Quote by Bishop Steere
Lastly if you are not a Christian but you would like to become one, here is how to do it. #1 Confess your known sins to God #2 Ask him to forgive you for your past sin. #3 Ask Him to be your personal Lord and Savior.
#4 Find a good church where you can find a pastor (usually from a smaller church) who can work with you on your addiction. #5 There is power in prayer. Pray about your addiction. Will God give you an instant cure? Sure he will to the 1/10 of 1 % of those who will stop looking back at their addiction. But for the rest of us who want to look back because we are stupid, there is no instant cure. But we still need to pray because when we pray and are right with God the light goes on in our life. Then if we mess up it is very obvious that Gods way is best and that Christianity is the only real thing we have in the scope of an everlasting lifetime.
2nd Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
Don’t sacrifice the future. Plan a better future and think 10 times today how tomorrow will be better because you did the right thing today.
PRAYER FOR FREEDOM FROM ADDICTION
Lord Jesus, You said, “I have come to set the captives free.” We are captive and need Your help. Free me, Lord, from my addiction, take away my sin – to which I cling;
Give me the wisdom to fight, pray, plan and work for my permanent freedom. In your great name, amen.
Fire
Sally is having a bad day. Yesterday her new boyfriend dumped her and it was obvious that every job she applied for was rejecting her. Today she is ready to party nonstop and drive all over town getting into trouble everywhere.
She is 100% committed to quitting drugs program but she always goes back to them. So she had said to her preacher – “tell me what to do to quit, I will do anything.” He first told her, drugs will kill you. Focus on that. She replied – “I really don’t care anymore.” He then told her – “do an internet search that says “What does the Bible say hell is like.” So she looked up every Bible verse on the subject.
After doing this She said “The problem currently is that now I am scared to drive all over town high as a kite. In the past I had run a million stop signs, crashed about 12 times and been in accidents that almost killed me and often ended up with me in the hospital again. That moron preacher has messed with my head and now I am scared to do what I want to do. But, I don’t want to go to that hell.
Well, uh, um, I guess what I want to do is quit but he has no right to mess with my head like that. Well, on the other hand maybe my head is such a mess – maybe I do need to think about things like hell. The preacher did tell me that people who are afraid of speeding tickets, car crashes, jail and waking up completely hung over do live happier lives. They do have less problems.
My preacher does fear God, hate sin, love people and he sure helps people all the time. He does seem to be very happy. Maybe I should call him.
Read Matthew 4 and First Corintians 4 from the Bible.
Consider adding notes to your journal and study it as if it is going to change your life.
Copyright 2015 © THR Publishing LLC
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Thankyou for reading Day 7 of our Quitting Alcohol and Quitting drugs Program.