God’s Cure for Addictions
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
1 Corinthians 6:12-13 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. (13) Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
This section on addictions also falls under the heading of that which God requires of us, because it deals with sin in the body. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul talks about not allowing himself to be brought under the power of certain things, and in context Paul is speaking about sin in the body, of which he names two i.e. gluttony and sexual immorality. And so we see that the bible clearly teaches us that the body has the ability to wield power over the saint if they allow it to. In modern terminology such power would be referred to as an addiction. Addictions take on many forms, of which some examples are drunkenness, substance abuse (e.g. drugs), gluttony, anorexia, sexual immorality (e.g. pornography), smoking, etc. Obviously all forms of addictions are sinful in nature and are thus ultimately destructive to the believer. Not only that however, for saints that are controlled by various addictions cannot present their bodies to God as living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable to Him. And so clearly all believers should do as Paul did, and not allow their bodies to wield any power over them, for we have seen in an earlier passage that Paul disciplined his body and brought it into subjection. When we come into the kingdom of God we don’t get new bodies, and so it is possible that addictions that were present before salvation may still be present after the believer is born-again. Quite often the believer is set free from any addictions they may have had the moment they are born-again, but this is not always the case however, and so some saints are only set free from addictions gradually over time as the believer becomes stronger in their spiritual walk.
James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. (15) Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
So what is an addiction? Ultimately an individual becomes addicted to something when they consistently give in to whichever temptation their body craves. In other words, in these areas the body controls the individual instead of the other way around. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit refers to temptation as being drawn away and enticed by our own desires, and He speaks of sin being birthed when the desire is conceived. When the Holy Spirit speaks of our own desires in this passage He is referring to our fleshly desires. And so we see that addictions always start out with one initial transgression of God’s laws, but as the individual continues to submit to the body’s craving, their body gains more and more power over them until finally the person becomes completely enslaved by the addiction. I also want you to notice from this passage what the ultimate outcome of any addiction is, for the Holy Spirit teaches us that it produces death. And so we see from this passage that all addictions start out when the individual gives in to the temptations of the flesh, which also means that the key to breaking addictions lies in resisting temptation.
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
So how do believers resist temptation? For believers that want to be set free from various addictions the Lord has given us certain instructions, and the first instruction that He gives is that He counsels us to pray. The Lord reveals this truth to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. But I want you to notice what prayer our Lord is referring to, for He is not referring to praying to overcome temptations but rather to avoid them, for He says “pray lest you enter into temptations”. The Lord teaches us that the reason believers should avoid temptation is because although their spirits want to obey God’s laws, their flesh will always gravitate towards the temptation. And so we see that one of the keys to overcoming temptation is to avoid the temptation in the first place, and prayer will help the believer to accomplish that.
John 8:31-32 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. (32) And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
There is no doubt that an addiction brings the believer into bondage. And so the second instruction that our Lord gives us to be set free from addictions is that He counsels us to spend time in His word. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus teaches us that if we abide in His word then we will know the truth, and it is the truth of His word that will set us free. So why is that? The scripture teaches us that faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). And so when the believer spends time in God’s word the Lord opens their understanding to His word, thus allowing them to exercise their faith in God’s enabling power to overcome their addictions, thus setting them free.
Luke 6:17-18 “And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, (18) as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed.”
In the above passage of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches us that many who came to the Lord Jesus for deliverance were tormented with unclean spirits. That doesn’t mean that these people were like the mad man of Gadara who was fully demon-possessed and no longer had any control of his faculties (Mark 5:1-19), but rather these were individuals that were tormented by evil spirits that were attached to their bodies in some way, which is why the scripture says that they were healed when Jesus dealt with the demons. And so we see that very often (not always) addictions can be driven by demonic spirits. I am not saying that the believer who is addicted has a demon in their spirit, for that is not possible. But in this teaching we are dealing with the body of man, and it is very possible that a believer that is addicted in some way may have a demon in their bodies, which is driving that addiction. When our Lord ministered deliverance to those who were tormented by unclean spirits He would cast the demons out with His word (Matthew 8:16). That same word resides on the inside of each believer, and every believer also has access to the name of Jesus to cast out demons, for our Lord said that those who believe in Him would cast out demons in His name (Mark 16:17). And so we see that every believer has the ability to drive out any demon that may be trying to influence them through various addictions, for the scripture declares that if we resist the devil he will flee from us (James 4:7).
Michael E.B. Maher
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