John 8:32 (NIV) (Jesus says) “Then you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”
May the Truth set you and I free from the fearful thought patterns, bad habits and physical addictions we have picked up along the way to help us cope with our pains and the emptiness of a lost identity. May our knowing the Truth of who God created us to be give us FREEDOM (Galatians 5:1).
FREEDOM – Overcoming all 3 areas of a Bad Habit or Addiction.
1Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV) May God Himself, the God of Peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a quick review, you and I were created in the Image of God. As the Word states in Genesis 2:7 KJV, we were created 3 parts yet 1 (Body, Spirit and Soul which is our mind, will and emotions). Because sin entered the world and brought destruction to our body, spirit and soul; Jesus willingly offered Himself up for our healing in all three areas of life (Isaiah 53:5). Healing begins in the Spirit and cures the worst addictions and habits in soul and body.
John 16:13 (NIV) (Jesus says) “But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all Truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.”
Sometimes we try to combat a habit that is deeply rooted in our spirit with our mind and our body…our own willpower as opposed to God’s willpower in us. What happens with a person that combats addiction or a bad habit with their own strength is they go through the motions of getting free but using their own willpower may only give them temporary freedom. For example, I have seen this for decades in the area of fitness. At the gym every year in January people come in with their New Year’s resolutions and they attempt to combat habit deeply rooted in their spirit such a using food or alcohol to comfort themselves against wounds of the heart. People will go through some outward motions to cure an inward problem. People say I am going to fulfill my New Year’s resolution and workout. Two weeks later you know what happens; it is done…it is over with because our human discipline without the power of God will get us two weeks and maybe 30 days if a person is super strong willed. I have experienced this in my own life as I was trying to break free from bad habits and addictions. I had bad habits that I challenged with outward motions but did not address the inward problem. However, God gives us His supernatural willpower so that we can overcome anything from the inside out.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NIV) “I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.”
WOW!!! This is great!!! God has given you and I a new heart and filled us with His Holy Spirit to empower us. The new heart is a new willpower.
The willpower that is in God, not in our own power and strength that fails us. The Word also says that He removes our “heart of stone.” This is our wounded heart scared by our sins and the sins of others. He heals our hearts by His Holy Spirit in us.
THE LAW OF REPLACEMENT
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
God wants to replace our bad with His good. When we remove the bad, we have replace it with God‘s good.
Matthew 12:43-45 (Luke 11:24-26 NIV) “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
Jesus can see everything in the spiritual, mental and physical realms. Jesus knows what happens if we try to clean up our “house” (lives) on our own without the Presence and Power of God. God has set you and I free from bad habits and addictions and anything else that “haunts“ us in life. We have got to combat a bad habit or addiction in our lives in mind, spirit and body beginning with the Spirit.
1) In Spirit…worship and enter into the Presence of God where you find comfort for your pain and His joy to replace our sorrows.
John 14:16-17 (AMP) “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever – The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you (constantly) and will be in you.”
Psalm 16:11 (NIV) You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your Presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
True comfort comes from the Holy Spirit not from our bad habits or addictions. True joy triumphs over our life pains in the Presence of the Lord.
2) Mentally…apply the Word of God daily to your mind. Replace the lies with the Truth. The Word is your true Identity, not the lies spoken over you and to you by the world, your flesh and the devil.
Roman 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– His good, pleasing and perfect will.
3) Physically…Discipline (Proverbs 6:23) and Exercise (1 Corinthians 9:24-26).
Leviticus 17:11 (NLT) …for the life of the body is in its blood…
There is “power in the blood” both Spiritually and Physically. Exercise the flow of blood in both areas. Physical exercise can be a great replacement for a bad habit or addiction.Jesus has provided you and I everything we need to be victorious in this life and to set us free from fearful thought patterns, bad habits and addictions we have picked up along the way to help us cope with our pains and the emptiness of a lost identity. Be Free in Him!!!
All of God’s Love to you,
Gary and Debbie Landon
