July 2016
Make quitting addiction a simple 2 step process. Step one is planning and step two is doing what you are supposed to do or executing your plan.
A plan to quit with a plan to pray is a perfect plan (the 40 day program will teach you what prayers to pray to start getting answers). A plan to quit without a plan to someday help others is an empty plan. A plan to quit without an action plan of what you will do instead is a high risk plan.
A good plan to quit involves studying the Scriptures so that you can be 100% aware of the destruction that all sin and all addictions bring. A good plan to quit involves having a time and a place for prayer every day. A good plan to quit starts with Spiritual activities but also involves other clean healthy fun activities. A good plan to quit involves searching for real dynamic Christians who can help you during hard times. A great plan to quit involves being determined to grow Spiritually so that someday you can pay everyone who helped you back by helping (maybe them or) others who are chained up in sin.
It is helpful to write out your plan to quit. A few of you will spend a few hours and write out a few pages with a great plan. Many won’t, but it is vital that everyone writes a few ideas and prayers down. Here is an example of how this works. I advise praying: “Father, take away my love of pleasure and help me to hunger and thirst after righteousness instead.” If you write this down and put it in a prominent place you will be more likely to pray it. And since this is a powerhouse prayer for addictions you will start to see some results if you pray it in earnest.
Now plan what you will think about. A sugar addict thinks about how great sugar is 287 times per day. They think about how lousy it is to be overweight 2 times per day. My 18 year old daughter thinks about how important it is to be in shape a million times per day. Yep, you guessed it – she is in great shape. When my daughter thinks about sugar she is highly motivated to be moderate with it because her motivation is high because she is always thinking about being in shape.
Now I often think about having fullness of joy. You get fullness of joy when you always do things God’s way. So even though I have the same weakness for temptation that you have – now it is different. Since I have spent so much of my time thinking about my great desire to have fullness of joy – the temptation which would ruin what I want most is not as great.
Even more importantly I am happy when I fight off temptation. I have a great goal and the rewards of achieving it are great. Compare this with a porn addict who continues to think about and look at the wrong things.
They are tempted to fall and they succeed in not falling. But they are very frustrated by the fact that they did not get what they wanted. Yes they avoided the destruction (a porn addiction will eat you up, run you over – and then spit you out) but they had to do without the one thing in the world they really wanted.
They wanted pleasure – a short season of sinful pleasure more than fullness of joy. It is really not what they want, but it is what they are always thinking about and looking at. So it is what they think they want. Many would not sell away a year with fullness of joy for a short season of sinful pleasure. But if you keep thinking about the wrong things you will be convinced that the short season of sin is what you have to have.
To reverse this situation they may need to find new TV shows, new people to hang around with etc. But most importantly they need to think about and focus on new things.
#1 The Bible says to always meditate on the Word. So that is one thing to think about. #2 It also says in Philippians 4:8 Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable–if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise–dwell on these things. Think on these things.
#3 Buy my book – read a page every day and think about that.
#4 Lastly, have a goal of achieving one or more of the Biblical promises. Look up all the Biblical promises and pick one or two that you would like to have. Now study what the Bible says you need to do to get the promise. Now do that, now think about that.
What The Bible Says About Addiction is my new 340 page e-book which is filled with new information about quitting addiction. This book is Based 95% on the Bible (New Testament) with a few of my Christian theories added. Reading it allows the Holy Spirit to renew your mind. Click here to access it. Please leave a good review if you like it.
Below is a reprint of my article – How to Quit Drinking.
How to Quit Drinking
I have a 40 day program called Drugs and Drinking no more (which you can access on the left). With that program I give you a few things to work on each day. Quite frankly I put in way more idea’s in this article than I should have put in for a single read. So you can choose to read this or start with day one of my 40 day program (which you can access on the left).
I usually start these articles by talking about the massive amounts of destruction the addiction will do to you. In this case I am not going to do that because many drinkers know all about the destruction but they still can’t stop. But I will give you the short version. How to quit drinking #1: drinking will ruin you, destroy everything and depending on your drink of choice possibly or likely kill you. But instead of dwelling on that I am going to talk a little bit about why many people drink.
Drinking is popular when people have something missing in their lives or when they need to bury some pain or hurt. But when drinking becomes an addiction it quickly becomes a dark hole where relationships, ethics and morals become a much lower priority than they should have.
How to quit drinking #2: For some people one of the main reasons you drink is because that is one of the few things that you feel like you have control over. It is your choice, it is your thing – it is who you are. But this is a cruel lie. Drinking is a force and it is a driving force. How to quit drinking #3: There are some addictions that we think we are controlling but those addictions are actually controlling us. Over time drinking causes a loss of control of everything.
So why do people keep drinking after they have decided to quit? In most people there is a dueling of personalities. Your mind tells you that you have to stop drinking but your pleasure seeking flesh tells you that it will feel good.
Key Point #1 As long as you are ruled by the pleasure principle you will always struggle with addiction. The pleasure seeker may become selfish, immature, demanding and short sited. How to quit drinking #4: In the long run, pleasure which is from an addiction always has a price to pay which is much higher than what you want to pay.
How to quit drinking tip #5: Instead of being ruled by the pleasure principle strive to be ruled by the moral principle. The moral principle is wise and rational and it leads to real long term joy instead of fake short term pleasure which leads to destruction. This principle believes that rules like that of your country or laws from the Bible are there to make your life better. When you follow this principle you willingly give up your solution of choice (drinking) in exchange for another activity. How to quit drinking tip #6: The reason you make this choice is because you now believe that choosing an alternative activity will give you the best life over the next 7 days and longer. So if you stay clean today and develop new activities you may have a hard day today but your week and your future will be better.
How to quit drinking tip #7: Always choose the Wisdom of staying clean today so that you can have a good life all week, and all year instead of giving in to the short term pleasure and destruction of drinking for one day. Over time staying clean is a lifestyle which is always better.
Drinking is an escape for many people. One can escape from tension, anger, lack of success, pain and many other things. How to quit drinking tip #8: We need to get rid of the escapist mindset because our one day of escape always ruins more than one day and it often ruins a whole week or longer. Along the same lines many have the philosophy that if it feels good do it. The problem is, that the feeling good of a few hours usually causes the feeling bad of a few days. Instead of having this damaging mindset, embrace finding your purpose, and living the right way which will lead to happiness over time.
How to quit drinking tip #9: John Howard Prin in his book Secret Keeping wrote about his past addicted behavior. He said “Drinking in private both elevated my joys and numbed my distress, a dual benefit. Looking back, these fundamentals of addiction gradually became habits:
1st: Resentment. I was reliving all my past hurts. Another 30 years would pass before I could face these resentments and get rid of their corrosive power.
2nd: Isolation. My drinking intensified when I spent time alone. Solitary time was to become the riskiest situation for me to be in.
3rd: Drama and crisis. Overreacting, partly learned from Mom’s open display of temper and partly do to my brains overly sensitive conditioning, ruled me.
4th: Exaggerated emotions became my way of responding to life.
5th: Delusional thinking. My choice of a high profile film career had already hatched a larger dream to make movies in Hollywood and-why stop there-To win an Oscar. Excessive boozing inflated these unrealistic expectations.
Unwittingly I fell into the trap of living for the outside in. Accountable to no one, losing my bearings, I cared little about my character development yet easily became a slave to the ambitious pride that had aroused me”.
How to quit drinking tip #10: We can see that being overly sensitive to emotional pain or failure is often a trigger to addiction. So first of all we need to be determined to be tougher and more emotionally ready for life’s constant problems. 2nd, negative emotions can lead us into addiction.
How to quit drinking tip #11: we need to always work on getting rid of anger and other negative emotions which are often hidden triggers. Lastly we need to avoid circumstances which lead to negative emotions (if possible). Good planning and flexible planning can help you avoid circumstances which will trigger you.
How to quit drinking tip #12: John Howard Prin also wrote “In time I learned that if my external motivation was strong enough, then my internal impulses could be curbed.”
For some people a great enough amount of pain or a change of thinking will cause them to change their behavior.
How to quit drinking tip #13: If what you think about has changed, then your internal impulses can be controlled.
This is key point #2. You need to think about the benefits of quitting more often than you think about the experience of drinking. How to quit drinking tip #14: Make a note to remind yourself to do this untill it becomes a daily habit.
How to quit drinking tip #15: You need to think more about the destruction drinking causes you than you think about the pleasure/pain relief it gives.
But we have to be brutally honest: we are as sick as our addictions are. If your drinking is causing harm to others you need to immediately get outside help.
How to quit drinking tip #16: Addiction tells us that something we can do (indulging in drinking) can compensate for what is missing inside of us. It is a lie. Religion will tell you to quit drinking. To control the fire that burns inside of you. But I will tell you that you need to increase the passion in your life. Your life needs to surge with more passion for something then it ever has before. You were created to have a dramatic impact on this world. Most of you have never experienced the rush of knowing what God wants you to do.
How to quit drinking tip #17: “Solutions” Try Christianity. Study the Bible and learn how to get prayer answered (you will learn how in my 40 day program. Pray about negative emotions that may be a trigger for you. Learn to understand that the commands in the Bible are there so that you can avoid destruction and find real joy. Learn to understand the destruction of sin. Pray always about finding your purpose and learn about living in the glory of Jesus Christ. He will fill what is missing in your life but you have to figure out what He wants you to do. God wants you to find your purpose and He might someday want you to spread the Gospel. When you learn how to do what God wants you to do, you will have more passion and joy than you ever had.
How to Quit Drinking
I have a 40 day program called Drugs and Drinking no more (which you can access on the left). With that program I give you a few things to work on each day. Quite frankly I put in way more idea’s in this article than I should have put in for a single read. So you can choose to read this or start with day one of my 40 day program (which you can access on the left).
I usually start these articles by talking about the massive amounts of destruction the addiction will do to you. In this case I am not going to do that because many drinkers know all about the destruction but they still can’t stop. But I will give you the short version. How to quit drinking #1: drinking will ruin you, destroy everything and depending on your drink of choice possibly or likely kill you. But instead of dwelling on that I am going to talk a little bit about why many people drink.
Drinking is popular when people have something missing in their lives or when they need to bury some pain or hurt. But when drinking becomes an addiction it quickly becomes a dark hole where relationships, ethics and morals become a much lower priority than they should have.
How to quit drinking #2: For some people one of the main reasons you drink is because that is one of the few things that you feel like you have control over. It is your choice, it is your thing – it is who you are. But this is a cruel lie. Drinking is a force and it is a driving force. How to quit drinking #3: There are some addictions that we think we are controlling but those addictions are actually controlling us. Over time drinking causes a loss of control of everything.
So why do people keep drinking after they have decided to quit? In most people there is a dueling of personalities. Your mind tells you that you have to stop drinking but your pleasure seeking flesh tells you that it will feel good.
Key Point #1 As long as you are ruled by the pleasure principle you will always struggle with addiction. The pleasure seeker may become selfish, immature, demanding and short sited. How to quit drinking #4: In the long run, pleasure which is from an addiction always has a price to pay which is much higher than what you want to pay.
How to quit drinking tip #5: Instead of being ruled by the pleasure principle strive to be ruled by the moral principle. The moral principle is wise and rational and it leads to real long term joy instead of fake short term pleasure which leads to destruction. This principle believes that rules like that of your country or laws from the Bible are there to make your life better. When you follow this principle you willingly give up your solution of choice (drinking) in exchange for another activity. How to quit drinking tip #6: The reason you make this choice is because you now believe that choosing an alternative activity will give you the best life over the next 7 days and longer. So if you stay clean today and develop new activities you may have a hard day today but your week and your future will be better.
How to quit drinking tip #7: Always choose the Wisdom of staying clean today so that you can have a good life all week, and all year instead of giving in to the short term pleasure and destruction of drinking for one day. Over time staying clean is a lifestyle which is always better.
Drinking is an escape for many people. One can escape from tension, anger, lack of success, pain and many other things. How to quit drinking tip #8: We need to get rid of the escapist mindset because our one day of escape always ruins more than one day and it often ruins a whole week or longer. Along the same lines many have the philosophy that if it feels good do it. The problem is, that the feeling good of a few hours usually causes the feeling bad of a few days. Instead of having this damaging mindset, embrace finding your purpose, and living the right way which will lead to happiness over time.
How to quit drinking tip #9: John Howard Prin in his book Secret Keeping wrote about his past addicted behavior. He said “Drinking in private both elevated my joys and numbed my distress, a dual benefit. Looking back, these fundamentals of addiction gradually became habits:
1st: Resentment. I was reliving all my past hurts. Another 30 years would pass before I could face these resentments and get rid of their corrosive power.
2nd: Isolation. My drinking intensified when I spent time alone. Solitary time was to become the riskiest situation for me to be in.
3rd: Drama and crisis. Overreacting, partly learned from Mom’s open display of temper and partly do to my brains overly sensitive conditioning, ruled me.
4th: Exaggerated emotions became my way of responding to life.
5th: Delusional thinking. My choice of a high profile film career had already hatched a larger dream to make movies in Hollywood and-why stop there-To win an Oscar. Excessive boozing inflated these unrealistic expectations.
Unwittingly I fell into the trap of living for the outside in. Accountable to no one, losing my bearings, I cared little about my character development yet easily became a slave to the ambitious pride that had aroused me”.
How to quit drinking tip #10: We can see that being overly sensitive to emotional pain or failure is often a trigger to addiction. So first of all we need to be determined to be tougher and more emotionally ready for life’s constant problems. 2nd, negative emotions can lead us into addiction.
How to quit drinking tip #11: we need to always work on getting rid of anger and other negative emotions which are often hidden triggers. Lastly we need to avoid circumstances which lead to negative emotions (if possible). Good planning and flexible planning can help you avoid circumstances which will trigger you.
How to quit drinking tip #12: John Howard Prin also wrote “In time I learned that if my external motivation was strong enough, then my internal impulses could be curbed.”
For some people a great enough amount of pain or a change of thinking will cause them to change their behavior.
How to quit drinking tip #13: If what you think about has changed, then your internal impulses can be controlled.
This is key point #2. You need to think about the benefits of quitting more often than you think about the experience of drinking. How to quit drinking tip #14: Make a note to remind yourself to do this untill it becomes a daily habit.
How to quit drinking tip #15: You need to think more about the destruction drinking causes you than you think about the pleasure/pain relief it gives.
But we have to be brutally honest: we are as sick as our addictions are. If your drinking is causing harm to others you need to immediately get outside help.
How to quit drinking tip #16: Addiction tells us that something we can do (indulging in drinking) can compensate for what is missing inside of us. It is a lie. Religion will tell you to quit drinking. To control the fire that burns inside of you. But I will tell you that you need to increase the passion in your life. Your life needs to surge with more passion for something then it ever has before. You were created to have a dramatic impact on this world. Most of you have never experienced the rush of knowing what God wants you to do.
How to quit drinking tip #17: “Solutions” Try Christianity. Study the Bible and learn how to get prayer answered (you will learn how in my 40 day program. Pray about negative emotions that may be a trigger for you. Learn to understand that the commands in the Bible are there so that you can avoid destruction and find real joy. Learn to understand the destruction of sin. Pray always about finding your purpose and learn about living in the glory of Jesus Christ. He will fill what is missing in your life but you have to figure out what He wants you to do. God wants you to find your purpose and He might someday want you to spread the Gospel. When you learn how to do what God wants you to do, you will have more passion and joy than you ever had.
How to Quit Drinking
I have a 40 day program called Drugs and Drinking no more (which you can access on the left). With that program I give you a few things to work on each day. Quite frankly I put in way more idea’s in this article than I should have put in for a single read. So you can choose to read this or start with day one of my 40 day program (which you can access on the left).
I usually start these articles by talking about the massive amounts of destruction the addiction will do to you. In this case I am not going to do that because many drinkers know all about the destruction but they still can’t stop. But I will give you the short version. How to quit drinking #1: drinking will ruin you, destroy everything and depending on your drink of choice possibly or likely kill you. But instead of dwelling on that I am going to talk a little bit about why many people drink.
Drinking is popular when people have something missing in their lives or when they need to bury some pain or hurt. But when drinking becomes an addiction it quickly becomes a dark hole where relationships, ethics and morals become a much lower priority than they should have.
How to quit drinking #2: For some people one of the main reasons you drink is because that is one of the few things that you feel like you have control over. It is your choice, it is your thing – it is who you are. But this is a cruel lie. Drinking is a force and it is a driving force. How to quit drinking #3: There are some addictions that we think we are controlling but those addictions are actually controlling us. Over time drinking causes a loss of control of everything.
So why do people keep drinking after they have decided to quit? In most people there is a dueling of personalities. Your mind tells you that you have to stop drinking but your pleasure seeking flesh tells you that it will feel good.
Key Point #1 As long as you are ruled by the pleasure principle you will always struggle with addiction. The pleasure seeker may become selfish, immature, demanding and short sited. How to quit drinking #4: In the long run, pleasure which is from an addiction always has a price to pay which is much higher than what you want to pay.
How to quit drinking tip #5: Instead of being ruled by the pleasure principle strive to be ruled by the moral principle. The moral principle is wise and rational and it leads to real long term joy instead of fake short term pleasure which leads to destruction. This principle believes that rules like that of your country or laws from the Bible are there to make your life better. When you follow this principle you willingly give up your solution of choice (drinking) in exchange for another activity. How to quit drinking tip #6: The reason you make this choice is because you now believe that choosing an alternative activity will give you the best life over the next 7 days and longer. So if you stay clean today and develop new activities you may have a hard day today but your week and your future will be better.
How to quit drinking tip #7: Always choose the Wisdom of staying clean today so that you can have a good life all week, and all year instead of giving in to the short term pleasure and destruction of drinking for one day. Over time staying clean is a lifestyle which is always better.
Drinking is an escape for many people. One can escape from tension, anger, lack of success, pain and many other things. How to quit drinking tip #8: We need to get rid of the escapist mindset because our one day of escape always ruins more than one day and it often ruins a whole week or longer. Along the same lines many have the philosophy that if it feels good do it. The problem is, that the feeling good of a few hours usually causes the feeling bad of a few days. Instead of having this damaging mindset, embrace finding your purpose, and living the right way which will lead to happiness over time.
How to quit drinking tip #9: John Howard Prin in his book Secret Keeping wrote about his past addicted behavior. He said “Drinking in private both elevated my joys and numbed my distress, a dual benefit. Looking back, these fundamentals of addiction gradually became habits:
1st: Resentment. I was reliving all my past hurts. Another 30 years would pass before I could face these resentments and get rid of their corrosive power.
2nd: Isolation. My drinking intensified when I spent time alone. Solitary time was to become the riskiest situation for me to be in.
3rd: Drama and crisis. Overreacting, partly learned from Mom’s open display of temper and partly do to my brains overly sensitive conditioning, ruled me.
4th: Exaggerated emotions became my way of responding to life.
5th: Delusional thinking. My choice of a high profile film career had already hatched a larger dream to make movies in Hollywood and-why stop there-To win an Oscar. Excessive boozing inflated these unrealistic expectations.
Unwittingly I fell into the trap of living for the outside in. Accountable to no one, losing my bearings, I cared little about my character development yet easily became a slave to the ambitious pride that had aroused me”.
How to quit drinking tip #10: We can see that being overly sensitive to emotional pain or failure is often a trigger to addiction. So first of all we need to be determined to be tougher and more emotionally ready for life’s constant problems. 2nd, negative emotions can lead us into addiction.
How to quit drinking tip #11: we need to always work on getting rid of anger and other negative emotions which are often hidden triggers. Lastly we need to avoid circumstances which lead to negative emotions (if possible). Good planning and flexible planning can help you avoid circumstances which will trigger you.
How to quit drinking tip #12: John Howard Prin also wrote “In time I learned that if my external motivation was strong enough, then my internal impulses could be curbed.”
For some people a great enough amount of pain or a change of thinking will cause them to change their behavior.
How to quit drinking tip #13: If what you think about has changed, then your internal impulses can be controlled.
This is key point #2. You need to think about the benefits of quitting more often than you think about the experience of drinking. How to quit drinking tip #14: Make a note to remind yourself to do this untill it becomes a daily habit.
How to quit drinking tip #15: You need to think more about the destruction drinking causes you than you think about the pleasure/pain relief it gives.
But we have to be brutally honest: we are as sick as our addictions are. If your drinking is causing harm to others you need to immediately get outside help.
How to quit drinking tip #16: Addiction tells us that something we can do (indulging in drinking) can compensate for what is missing inside of us. It is a lie. Religion will tell you to quit drinking. To control the fire that burns inside of you. But I will tell you that you need to increase the passion in your life. Your life needs to surge with more passion for something then it ever has before. You were created to have a dramatic impact on this world. Most of you have never experienced the rush of knowing what God wants you to do.
How to quit drinking tip #17: “Solutions” Try Christianity. Study the Bible and learn how to get prayer answered (you will learn how in my 40 day program. Pray about negative emotions that may be a trigger for you. Learn to understand that the commands in the Bible are there so that you can avoid destruction and find real joy. Learn to understand the destruction of sin. Pray always about finding your purpose and learn about living in the glory of Jesus Christ. He will fill what is missing in your life but you have to figure out what He wants you to do. God wants you to find your purpose and He might someday want you to spread the Gospel. When you learn how to do what God wants you to do, you will have more passion and joy than you ever had.