Addiction, and the captive thought

The real battle of addiction

Many of us in the body of Christ struggle with addictions of various kinds.

At this time, here at Lighthouse Bible Church, we are concentrating on what Colossians 3 has to say to us.

In this section of the New Testament, the Lord is telling us to set our minds on the things above, not on the things of this earth.

And we have seen why.  We have learned that our minds were depraved before we became Christians.

And there is an ongoing conflict, a battle really, and the battle is over what it is that we are going to think.  What will be in our hearts and minds.

Now the Bible also tells us that what we think will drive our behavior. 

Yet here’s something else:

Who we are ultimately drives what we will think.

You see, before we became born again, we were totally dominated by this thing the Bible calls the flesh.

We were children of wrath.

And so we had nothing but fleshly thoughts.

 

We can take our thoughts, as captives, to Christ!

But now we have been made new creatures in Christ.

Now we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and we have the mind of the Spirit. (Romans 8)

Knowing who we are  introduces the hope that our thoughts will change for the better.  And when our thoughts change for the better, guess what? Our behaviors will follow suit.

Now because of this,we find that Paul, in one of his letters to the church, actually has the audacity to say THIS:

2CO 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

When Paul wrote this passage, he was dealing with speculations and lofty things that his enemies were raising against his teaching ministry.

But the same principle applies to the lies that come from strongholds trying to keep us prisoners of our addictions.

Now I want you to notice very precisely what verse 5 says.

We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

We can only do this now because we have the Holy Spirit inside us.

It is the Holy Spirit who wars against the flesh, not us. That’s Galatians 5.

Whenever we try to fight our fleshly thoughts, desires,  ourselves, we end up a wretched person.

So please understand that verse 5 tells us we are to  be taking every one of these thoughts captive to the obedience of  Someone else besides us . That Someone is Christ!

 

No longer defenseless

You see, we used to be captives of our flesh.

But then something happened.

We died with Christ, and when we did, we died to sin as our master.  That’s Romans 6.

In other words, we no longer have to submit ourselves to the captivity of sin.

We no longer HAVE to submit to the thoughts of the flesh. The urges of the flesh.

We no longer HAVE to submit to the speculations of this wicked world.

We are no longer defenseless against the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Instead, we can take all these thoughts captive by the power God supplies.

We have divinely powerful weapons now that do that. A sword. A breastplate. A shield.

 

We cannot make our thoughts obey us - only Christ

But make no mistake about it, we have the power to take them captive to the obedience of Christ - NOT our obedience.

We cannot make these thoughts obey us - only Christ.

ROM 6:14
14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Law meant that we were supposed to handle our own thoughts. Our own greed. Our own anger. Our own desires.

And we were too weak to pull that off.  The mind of the flesh is hostile toward God.

Grace means we no longer have to whip our thoughts . We just use God’s new powerful weapons to take them to Christ.

 

The power is of God, and not from ourselves

As soon as you are tangled up with that thought, that temptation, the pull of that lust - at that moment you need power greater than your own. You need power that is greater than any human power.

You need divinely powerful weapons. And not a nameless “higher power” either.

The real power only comes from the God of the Bible. 

The power is the power of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The power is the power of the Holy Spirit.

The power is the power of the God of the Bible.

We don’t have the power to defeat our crippling thoughts and desires by ourselves.

Even as Christians we don’t.

The surpassing greatness of the power is of God, and not from ourselves. (2CO 4:7).

 

Our divinely powerful weapons

But what we do have now are divinely powerful weapons. They enable us to stop the thoughts in their tracks. Freeze them.   Take them captive and put them under the obedience of Christ.  We just have to trust these weapons -  and use them!

Here are the weapons:

EPH 6:10-17
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The weapons are truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the word of God.

 

As practical as it gets

Now I know this sounds lofty and poetic, but - and I am so serious about this - this is as practical as it gets.

And that brings me to alcohol addiction and drug addiction and work addiction and sex addiction and _________ fill-in-the-blank-with-yours-if-I-didn’t-mention-it addiction.

You watch and see if this isn’t true.  The temptation to give in to -

The next drink…
The next pill…
The next late night away from the family…
The next porn binge...

...will surface with a  thought. A thought driven by fleshly desire and packed with destructive emotion.

"Why, just go ahead and look at that bottle.  Sit down at that computer and head to that web site.  Blow off that game your kid is playing.  Here's why you should....."

And what you do with that thought ( or the one after it) will make all the difference in the world as to whether you end up in victory or in defeat next time. 

Bring it to Christ!

Lord, I just had this thought. It was a powerful thought.

I have been feeling sorry for myself, and this latest thought said to me that it’s OK for me to go be with my “friends” at the bar because I need to be good to myself.

Lord I know if I try to outsmart these thoughts on my own - I will lose.

So I am bringing this thought to You!  Do with it what You will Lord. Expose the lie in it for me, Lord.

I come as a redeemed child of God, cleansed by the blood of Jesus. That’s the gospel.

You have declared me righteous in Your eyes forever.

The old me was crucified with Christ, and no longer lives. The new me lives by faith in You! - the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

That’s the truth. There you have it. That’s straight from Your word, Lord.

Now I leave this addictive thought with You, Jesus.

And I am going to get on with my life as if that thought never even happened. That’s how much I trust You Lord.

 

Do something else.

Now after handing that thought over to Jesus, it is time to present yourself to the Father as alive from the dead.  See what He has for your legs, arms, eyes, brain, and heart to do instead.

ROM 6:17-19
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19  I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

This is daily exercise. 

 

Grace always helps

The good news is that we have a choice!

And we have help!  All-powerful help!

Help that WILL WORK. And it will work EVERY  TIME.

Because once you have taken that thought captive and brought it to Jesus, you KNOW what His ruling is going to be about that thought!  Every time!

“Stop it. Lay it aside.  Have your mind renewed with My thinking instead.”

We come to a throne of grace! 

HEB 4:14-16
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet  without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The Lord will always give us mercy and grace. God will ALWAYS help us!  We are His children now!  He gave us the greatest thing He had when we were His enemies, so how will He not now give us every good thing? He will.

 

The real problem

The real problem is this:   we too often stop short of actually going to Him with our problems. 

Let’s be real.  That’s the truth; you know it, and I know it.

The issue is faith!  Faith, and, if I could put it this way, the audacity to take God completely at His word that He wants to handle every problem for us. Every one!  No matter how shameful or dirty or wicked you or I  may think it is. Cast ALL your cares on Him...

We’re embarrassed or ashamed that we’re having that thought, maybe even indulging that lust a little bit, so we hide and turn away from God.  We figure we’ll get back to Him later when we’re not so dirty. The trouble is that this thing is about to mushroom and it will be 20 times worse if we don’t let Him in on it NOW!

Besides, just keep in mind that

HEB 4:13
 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

 

The ultimate solution

 And nothing will ever come between you and His love for you.  You know that; I pray that by now you know that down deep in your being.  If not, just keep reading Romans 8:38-39 until it sinks in and you’re sure He’s speaking to YOU!

ROM 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The ultimate solution is the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus.

So you bring that destructive thought to the throne of grace and He will deliver you from it.

He will expose the lie in it for you. And He will destroy that evil speculation - for you!

And then He will empower you to walk in the opposite direction.  Help you to present  the members of your body as instruments of righteousness to God. 

The same fingers that can click that mouse to check out the next salacious teaser can also dial your cell phone to cheer up a discouraged brother in Christ. Or pick up that book that actually you'd rather be reading anyway, come to think of it.

The same legs that could bring you to the bar or liquor store can take you to a person who needs your presence and help. Or maybe simply get you taking a walk under the stars where you can spend some quality time with your Father in heaven.

Just remember:  His power, not yours.

Walk by means of the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

And the next time you are in the throes of that destructive thought, that overpowering temptation, keep this blog handy. Read it over again a couple of times.  If nothing else, by the time you’re done, the opportunity to act on that impulse will probably have passed you by!  (Just teasing!)

Here is my prayer for you today and tonight and tomorrow,  as we all continue to do battle with these temptations:

EPH 3:14-21
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

20  Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21  to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Until the next time, we’re all ….

In His grip,

Pastor John

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