- www.wikihow.com noted the following: “Make a list of positive changes you want in your life., think about how much your life will improve once you’ve kicked the habit. Create a picture of your life post-addiction. How do you want it to look?
- Maybe you’ll feel a sense of freedom you haven’t had in years.
- You’ll have more time to spend on people, hobbies, and other pleasures.
- You’ll be able to save money again.
- You know you’re doing everything you can to stay healthy. You’ll feel immediate physical improvements.
- You’ll feel proud and confident again.
Thomas Horvath in his book Sex, Drugs, Gambling and Chocolate said the following: “Addiction can be thought of as a bad habit. If you eliminate this bad habit, you will be creating a vacuum, an empty spot in your life. Nature abhors a vacuum. If you do not fill this vacuum with something new (like a good habit, a positive addiction), there is a significant risk that the addiction will return.
Imagine that your ultimate goal, as you understand yourself, is to serve others. You believe that serving others will give you the best happiness you can imagine. This goal is related to your value that human life is more important than anything else you can think of. In order to serve others, you will need to have something of value to them. Based on your natural talents, suppose that you decide to become a teacher. In order to become a good teacher, one who truly can serve others, you will need a variety of good habits. These good habits will assure that your preparation to become a teacher and your efforts as a teacher will be effective.”
What goals and habits can you develop to help to use up the time vacuum created by quitting smoking?
What person can you watch who lives in a way that you would like to live?
How can you arrange to spend more time talking to that person?
What routine can you start that will help you fight addiction. Such as reading a page or two each day of a quitting addiction book. Or getting involved in your church or helping with your favorite charity.
Youth is a time when our passions are strongest. Death seems far away, and to enjoy ourselves in this life sometimes seems to be everything. Many people over time place pleasure on a pedestal. Time would not permit me to tell you all the fruits this love of pleasure produces, and all the ways in which it may harm you. All things that give a feeling of excitement for the time, all things that drown thought and keep the mind in a constant whirl, and all things that please the senses and delight the flesh, these are the sort of things that have mighty power over your life. They owe their power to the love of pleasure. There is no surer way to get a seared conscience and a hard heart toward the things of God than to give way to the desires of the flesh and mind.
Every day we need to pray that we will increase our love of people and caring about how we can learn to be a soul winner instead of a lover of pleasure. Pleasure is great when it is not sinful, when it is done in the right way, at the right time. The ultimate pleasure for me is to see a sinner set free from their bondage and to see then now helping other people. Seek this first, then seek clean pleasure and you will be amazed at how the simple things in life will give you pleasure and how you will start to find fullness of joy in your life.
Read Proverbs 13
Continue to read the Purpose Driven Life
Say this morning noon and night: “This temptation will go away if I don’t act on it. If I give in it will return and it may be even stronger next time. If I don’t give in it will go away and someday it will go away for good. I have the self control to change”.
Church is often an important factor in overcoming addiction. The right Pastor or Priest is even more important. We need to attend a Church that will consistently help us to fight addiction. A Church that will help us to never look back at the addiction that has caused us much pain and destruction. A Church that has a leader who will help us to increase our learning about how to conquer addiction until we are expert at it. A Church that has wise counsel so that we can learn rapidly. Many of you have attended Church for years but you will be shocked to hear me say that the Bible says over 100 times that we are to fear the Lord. A great Church teaches what the Bible teaches. They will teach you to obey the commandments because of a fear of the Lord.
Steps to Quit Smoking: Study the Bible books of Matthew and 1 Corinthians. Then make it a priority to find a great Church. A Church that teaches obedience. Make a list of Churches you want to try. After you visit each one make an appointment with the Pastor or Priest to meet with them to see how much help they can give you with your addiction.
Do not attend a Church that tells you that you will go to heaven even though you keep committing the same deadly sins over and over again. Only Almighty God can give you grace. If they tell you that you will get to Heaven because you attend Church then change Churches. Find one that teaches obedience.
So what Churches are good? Sometimes the Assembly of God or the Nazarine Churches are good, sometimes they are not. Ask people that you know; what Churches around here really help people change for the better? Then try them and see if they are good for you. The only Christ following Churches that I would avoid are the Jehovah’s Witness (who subtract multiple verses from the Bible saying they are not true) and the Mormons (Who add multiple verses to the Bible from the writings of a very mixed up man). Avoid Churches that give you a guaranteed ticket to Heaven. If it sounds too good to be true it is. However, sometimes these Churches are great at helping you with your addiction. You can attend their and believe and follow what the Bible says and be just fine.
Believing the Bible allows you to live in the light. It allows you to fight your way to joy through a relationship with Jesus. Find a Church that believes every verse in the Bible because it will be led by a Pastor who has real answers for you.
This week make it your written goal to find a great Church that can help you. Lastly keep working on your own to seek out help about addiction from experts, groups, books, web sites and everything else we can get help from.
Read Proverbs 11
Continue to read the Purpose Driven Life
If you are on track great; if not review the red letters from day 5.
For those of you who are now overcoming addiction, you now need to start helping others. If you are still too early in recovery to start helping others in a one on one situation you can start by praying for other addicts. Pray: “Father, bring people to this website and give them a chance to overcome addiction, find your love, start to find their purpose and starting to find joy again. You may be able to help others by advising them to go to a self help group like AA. Think about, pray about and plan how you can help others both now – as well as in the future.
- Pray: “Father give me the wisdom to write a prayer that will help me to start overcoming my addiction.” For example – you feel like your addiction has hurt your ability to be a great example as a parent. You might pray “Father help me to care more about my kid’s future than I care about smoking.” Once you have that prayer that really speaks to what will motivate you – start praying it in earnest. You can pray it as many times each day as you want as long as you are sincere in increasing your desire to change with each prayer. God is not counting how many times I pray my prayer. He is looking at how my heart changes as I sincerely pray it each time and how I allow him to lead me to better choices because now (because of prayer and extra effort) I am starting to see reality clearer.
- Checklist for avoiding relapse: Realize that you have become stronger now. Your life may spin out of control for a bit and you start to slip up. You have crossed the line you know you should not cross. We know drinkers just can’t have that one drink, it leads to others. But you were not trying to set loose boundaries, you just honestly screwed up. You are now strong enough to stop and avoid destruction. Tell yourself and God “I am not trying to set loose boundaries, I am going to stop this relapse right now and fulfill my purpose and find joy”. You are stronger now!
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 quitting addiction 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.
Index
Day 18; Ways to Quit Smoking
Day 1 Overcoming cravings
Day 2 Why can’t you quit
Day 3 Start a Journal
Day 4 Overcoming negative emotions
Day 5 You can’t increase your pleasure for the month by smoking
Day 6 Control your emotions and plan your day
Day 7 Learning how to worship God is a key to overcoming addiction
Day 8 Develop positive addictions
Day 9 How to get help from the Holy Spirit
Day 10 Have a list of coping statements
Day 11 Living water and how to live in God’s blessing
Day 12 Genesis can teach us about addiction
Day 13 Results of Adam and Eve’s actions
Day 14 How to pray to fight addiction and developing toughness
Day 15 and 16 self control
Day 17 Which prayers get answered
This is a reprint of an earlier article
How to stop smoking tip #1: Set a quit date.
Choose a date within the next week, so you have enough time to prepare without losing your motivation to quit.
How to stop smoking tip #2: For some one of the main reasons you smoke 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. smoking is a force and it is a driving force. How to stop smoking tip #3: There are some addictions that we think we are controlling but those addictions are actually controlling us. Over time smoking causes a loss of control of many things.
So why do people somke after they have decided to quit? In most people there is a dueling of personalities. Your mind tells you that you have to stop smoking 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 is selfish, immature, demanding and short sited. How to stop smoking tip #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.
John Howard Prin in his book Secret Keeping notes that “Because temptations can come in so many forms (smoking, overeating, or surfing internet porn) these dueling tensions can be triggered continually. The average persons dual-mindedness results from listening to both opposing forces and acting according to one, then the other, then the first one again, then the second again… on and on in an endless tug-of-war.”
How to stop smoking 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 (smoking) in exchange for another activity. How to stop smoking 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 stop smoking tip #7: Always choose the Wisdom of staying clean today so that you can have a good life all week, instead of giving in to the short term pleasure and destruction of smoking for one day. R Over time staying clean is a lifestyle which is always better.
Smoking is an escape for many people. One can escape from tension, anger, lack of success, pain and many other things. How to stop smoking 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 stop smoking 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 alrealdy 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 stop smoking 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 stop smoking 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 posible). Good planning and flexible planning can help you avoid circumstances which will trigger you.
How to stop smoking 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 stop smoking 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 smoking. How to stop smoking tip #14: Make a note to remind yourself to do this untill it becomes a daily habit.
How to stop smoking tip #15: You need to think more about the destruction smoking cause you than you think about the pleasure/pain relief it gives.
The remainder of this video will contain information which is only spiritual in nature. How to stop smoking tip #16: Addiction tells us that something we can do (indulging in smoking) can compensate for what is missing inside of us. It is a lie. Religion will tell you to quit smoking. 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 stop smoking tip #17: Solutions” Dedicate your life to Christianity. Study the Bible and pray, pray, pray. Pray about everything but especially pray that God will take away your anger and any other negative emotions that may be a trigger for you. Obey the Bible down to every last word. Don’t look at sin and don’t even consider commiting any sin. Pray always about finding your purpose and be determined to live in the glory of Jesus Christ. He will fill what is missing in your life but you have to be intense about doing what He wants you to do. God wants you to find your purpose and He wants you to spread the Gospel. If you spend all of your free time in a dedicated way serving God, then you will have more passion and joy than you ever had.
Video’s 1 and 2 have a lot of information on finding your purpose and #2 has a lot of information on Christianity. And virtually all of the video’s have a lot of help on overcoming addiction. Try to watch one each day and keep watching them over and over untill you form new habits.