Smoking Freedom: Day 22
We are at our greatest temptation point when we feel like we are justified to slip up. Our world fell apart again – we now have every right to slip up. But what we often forget is that when our world falls apart that is “precisely when” the Holy Spirit is waiting to come in. And “waiting” is also a key word. When we fight addiction and start to pray we often first feel nothing. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is “waiting” to see if you are a 10 second Christian, a 10 minute Christian, or a Christian who will fight to the end and then fight to help others in need.
Identify when you are justified to slip up. Now be aware that this is your opportunity to make a ton of progress in one day! It is amazing how strong we feel the Holy Spirit when we tough it out on a tough day!
If you were to ask yourself, “what am I obsessed with?” What would your answer be? Name 3 or 4 things you are obsessed with. 1____________, 2____________, 3____________, 4___________.
There are hundreds if not thousands of things you can become obsessed with. We as humans are designed this way and I would argue that God has made us this way on purpose. God has created us for Himself and we can choose to become obsessed with God.
Our culture has taught us to become obsessed with our own wants and desires. But this is not what God wanted. A Quote from Oswald Chambers (from Utmost for His Highest,)
“The psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.”
One of the biggest keys to quitting addiction is to know (and have organized) what exercises you need to do to overcome the addiction. On this web site and on many others there are mental exercises you can do. But to simply read about them and then to do them for a few days is not the answer. What is needed is to have a journal to write down every exercise you come across so that you can reference them at any time in the future. It does not need to be fancy; a Wal-mart one subject notebook for a dollar is just fine.
The way I would organize the journal would be to reserve the first 4 pages for exercises you know you would like to do every day. In the next section I would jot down idea’s that seem to be good, but ones that you are not sure you want to review every day. Over time if you change your mind about one of the exercises, you could promote it to the front everyday section.
You can fill your journal with quitting addiction idea’s every day (that you find a new exercise). You can write down key points from my articles or any articles on the internet. You can put in idea’s you get from overcoming addiction books. You can write down idea’s you get at addiction help groups you attend. The point is to write down all the great idea’s you hear or read that you think will work for you, so that you can have instant access to them in the future. Most of us don’t realize how quickly we forget things. We can’t afford to forget things that affect our future, family, finances, freedom and many other things.
The following are examples of some types of exercises you may want in your journal.
1: Form a habit to say to yourself 5 times a day that “my addiction causes me destruction. It has in the past and it will in the future.”
2: Have a list of the benefits of quitting your addiction. Write down all the benefits then memorize the top 5 and top ten benefits. This will allow you to say the benefits multiple times each day until you get on more solid footing in your recovery.
3: Pray often each day “Lord keep me from temptation”(This is part of the Lord’s prayer from the Bible).
Every day keep adding ideas that work for you. You can choose to work on your journal all day. But if your addiction is long term it is more important to make it a habit to review it or work on it every day.
Your use (or lack of use) of a journal will tell you exactly how much you really want to quit your addiction. If you can’t spend four minutes per day reviewing and doing mental exercises you probably have a good chance of staying addicted. On the other hand if you start the journal and are careless with reviewing it every day you have also learned something. You have learned that one of the reasons that you are still addicted is because you are not dedicated enough to having a new routine. For more severe addictions you may need to refer to your journal several times each day to that you will remember to do your exercises consistently.
You never know when fighting off that craving for as long as possible will lead to you never giving in again as long as you live.
Intoxication
Intoxication makes the body comes first instead of the Spirit. Putting the Holy Spirit first is how we find real joy and purpose. Run from sins that quench the Spirit. If you think that one of your addictions is also a sin that quenches the Spirit you need to get additional help from people who understand how sin affects addiction. Find a Pastor who is experienced in helping people who have addictions. If your current Pastor or Priest can’t help you, find one who can.
When we change and start doing things God’s way He will start to bless us and start to help us get the addiction out. When we are sincere He will help us every step of the way.
Read Proverbs 12
Continue to read the Purpose Driven Life
Fulfill your purpose – do something to help. Pray “Father, bring people to this website and give them a chance to overcome addiction, find your love, start to find their purpose and to start to find joy again.”
I need your help. My new book “What the Bible Says About Addiction” is available for sale on Amazon. If you want a copy please purchase one and leave a good review. This book along with this course will help you change twice as fast. Writing a good review is your way of helping the next person. I need a few people to help me by buying and reviewing this book. No one knows it exists and I am sure it will help a lot of people. Click here to access my new book at Amazon.
Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible (AMP) 10 For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].
Identify when you are justified to slip up. Now be aware that this is your opportunity to make a ton of progress in one day!
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Index
Day one: How to overcome cravings
Day two: Would believing in a higher power be good for you?
Day three: Quitting addiction exercises
Day four: Does God answer pray?
Day five: Starting to understand that we can’t increase our pleasure for the whole month by going back to our addiction
Day six: Planning our day to keep addiction temptation to a minimum
Day seven: We find liberty (or start to find liberty) from addiction when we find Jesus
Day eight: First fruit of the Spirit
Day nine: Benefits of worshipping God
Day ten: Getting rid of negative emotions and overcoming cravings
Day 11: How to be blessed by God and self control
Day 12: Have a list of coping statements
Day 13: How to have living water so that you will never thirst again. How to become a christian.
Day 14: Adam and Eve show us what we do that causes things to go wrong
Day 15: Consequenses of doing wrong
Day 16: Self control
Day 17: What leads back to using and self control
Day 18: How to pray to fight addiction
Day 19: Can we get our prayers answered?
Day 20: Overcoming relationship problems
Day 21: Finding a church that can help you