timcia

Everyone who is trying to quit a habit needs a huge increase in contentment. Consider praying:

“Father, take away this spirit of drinking/drugs and help me to be content.”

If you are single it is wise to learn contentment with being single. I see divorced people who think and talk about finding someone all the time. Instead, it is wiser to think, pray, and talk often about being content. Then to think all the time about doing God’s will. Paul was in the top 1% of people who had great joy. He was single. 
Second, whether you are single or married, put in the prayer and the work so that God becomes the answer to loneliness and other problems. He is the answer.
Third, I recommend dozens of prayers. Consider spending time each week to study exactly what you should be praying more about. No one should be trying to find the greatest variety of prayers and prayer topics. If you have zero contentment with your life, consider praying the above prayer 5-10 times per day, or more.

Fourth, if you have never married, now is the time to learn contentment so that you can do God’s will. If you learn contentment, form habits of going to war with sin, and learn to do God’s will… if you do get married later, it might be one of those rare, great marriages.

Finally, do you need to pray daily about contentment? I do. Today I am committing to working more on it. I am always happier when I am content.

We either fight addiction with power or without it. When we study key verses, power enters our lives. When we declare war on sin, power enters our lives. When we strain to pray all the time, power enters our lives. Daily Bible reading adds power, and praising the Lord adds power. Praying to be filled with the Spirit adds power. Praying to find our purpose adds power.

Second, believe the Bible as written. You can deeply trust the literal versions: NKJV, NIV, NASV, ESV. If a verse does not make sense to you, read it every day until it does. God loves to see a person wrestling to understand and obey scripture. Doing so adds power.

Third, can we quit sinning? The answer is both yes and no. We can go to war with specific sins and start to cut them out. At some point, we will cut certain sins out if we fight enough. We all know people who drank too much but then quit drinking. They quit their most problematic sin, and you can quit your most problematic sin as well.

Fourth, we can cut out specific sins, but some sin will be missed. My brother knew some guy who said, “I don’t sin anymore.” Obviously, his pride is ruining his message. If he said, “I always go to war with sin, and I am starting to see its grip on me fading.” That is saying it in a way more people would believe, and even try to copy.

Fifth, almost all of the techniques I recommended make our bad desires decrease, and that allows the Holy Spirit to increase “in us.” “He” does not sin. If we actually die to ourselves as the Bible tells us to… “He” would steer us on a sinless course for as long as we allow Him to do so. I am always, no, often, trying to do that. I should always try to do that. But no man will ever be perfect in doing that. But trying to improve, is the smartest thing we can do.

Finally, dying to self is the key to joy. The more we work on it, the more we will get that very destructive sin out of our lives.

As we read the verses for quitting we realize, God hates drinking/drugs. If I say to boycott a movie because it glorifies partying, people will have a cow.
God’s verses about drinking/drugs were less important than my pleasure. Consider praying:
“Father, take away my love of sinful pleasure, and help me to hate drinking/drugs.”
If you turn instantly from a movie that glorifies partying, you may learn something. #1 You may learn a good technique for avoiding falling. #2 You may learn that God condemns sin because it keeps us from love, joy, peace, and other fruits of the Spirit. #3 You may learn that wrongful behavior from the past did not satisfy.
Second, pray to fear drinking/drugs and to fear the destruction the addiction causes. Consider praying:
“Father, show me why I should fear this habit.”
Finally, this is a war. Those who win the war will work more on quitting. Those who win the war will trust God more. He says, “Life is better without intoxication.” Believe Him.

Luke 6:47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was [j]founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it [k]fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

This passage tells us what “To do.” If we hear the Word and do nothing we get ruin.

Second, many read articles, but only a few think constantly about how to form new habits that will squeeze out the old habits. Make it a hobby to research online about “How to form new habits.” Your library probably has a book on forming habits.

Third, your house is your life. Consider memorizing:

“Being a doer of God’s ways makes my life rock solid.” “Hearing the Word and doing nothing = ruin.”

Fourth, repent, be a doer of the Word, form new habits, success.

Use notes to remind you of what you should be thinking about. Have a list of 8 healthy things you should be thinking about. Maybe 4 things that are productive and 4 that are spiritual.

Think about:
1. Praying and going to war with negative emotions
2. A challenge you overcame
3. A goal you have achieved
4. How obedience will lead to God’s blessing
5. How you can find your God-given purpose
6. How running from drinking/drugs is smart. Then pray for help again
7. An accomplishment you can be proud of
8. Someone you have helped
9. Problems will pass. With Jesus life will go on
10. Someone who you would like to emulate (be more like)
11. What you believe to be most important in life
12. A character trait you would like to develop
13. How your life is different because of Jesus
14. A time you felt God was close to you
15. A piece of music that lifts your spirits
16. A Scripture you find meaningful
17. What it feels like to worship God
18. The fact the others went through similar circumstances, and are free now
19. The Bible says to praise the Lord
20. Consider repeating often: I will think in a positive way
Be aggressive with casting down sinful thoughts and replacing them with healthy thoughts.
Consider praying: “Father, show me how wrong thoughts poison my life.”
Print out your own cheat sheet of new thoughts and look at your paper so often that it wears completely out. If you like this list, wear it out instead.