Addictions

This is a Bible study on Addictions.    Click here for a printable Bible Study Guide.

Remember:  God has ultimate power over all things, including addictions.

With God, by receiving His gift of salvation, we have the power of God inside us to overcome any addiction.

All the children of God have all the power over the devil and his addictions through Christ Jesus.  Because Christ Jesus conquered sin and death on His cross, we too can live a life of victory when we live with Jesus.

When you hold onto Jesus you cannot hold onto anything else.

• How is your life working out?

• Who is your god?

• What is an addiction?

• How can I overcome my addictions?

• What should I pray?

• What is the cure?

• But I've tried God and it didn't work?

You say, not too well? Are there areas in your life that you would like to change?  Have you been plagued with an addiction for a long time?

Have you given up on ever being able to change?

There is a cure to overcoming any addiction and His name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus can cure any addiction.  He has a 100% success track record, He has cured multitudes of people for thousands of years - He has cured me, and He can cure you too.

You say that you have tried in the past and nothing has worked.  You say that you even tried God in the past and it didn't work for you.  If you said that, the first item you must overcome is yourself.

You can't do anything, but God can do everything, and with God (God and you) all things are possible.

With God                  

          all things                                   

                   are possible

The scripture doesn't say with you all things are possible, it clearly states

WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

...you must believe.

...with men it is impossible, but not with God!

Do you think that your addiction is too hard for God to take on? 

Nothing is too hard or complicated for God.

Take the YOU out of your problem and give it to GOD.

You only have a problem as long as you claim it.  God says that we are to give all our problems and cares to Him.  He is waiting on us, waiting for us to come to Him, to give Him our cares so that He can deliver us from our problems.

The problem is not that God will not solve our problems, the problem a lot of times is us, we will not release it and give it to God. 

As long as we hold onto "our problem" it will have control over our lives, we must let go, give all our cares to God, He knows how to deal with every demon, every addiction, every problem, every worry, every fear.  We must place our trust in God, not in "our problem".

Are you giving your addiction too much power? 

Some have placed (misplaced) their faith so that their addiction has become their god.  Some have so much faith in their problem, faith in their addiction, that they have turned their addiction into their god.

How do you know if your addiction has become your god?  Here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

• What do I think about the first moments when I wake up?

• What do I think about the last moments I fall asleep?

• What do I plan my day around?

• Have I have stolen or think about stealing to support my habit?

• Do I get anxious when I do not have access to or cannot perform my addiction?

• Do I lie about my habit?  (To yourself or to others).

• What do I do every day no matter what?

• Do I have arguments with my friends and loved ones about my addiction?

• Have I said or thought that "I can't quit"?

• Does my addiction cost money?  Does my addiction harm my health?  Does my addiction hurt my family?

• Do I conform my life around my addiction?   Do I avoid some people and places because of my addiction?

• Would I rather be alone?  Do I hate being alone?

• Do I say - I don't care what people think about it.

• Do I say - I will do my addiction no matter what.

Addictions control you.  Addictions conquer you.  Addictions enslave you.  Addictions lie to you.  When you attach yourself to any addiction, you give into the lies of that addiction.   No one can play around with any addiction and not be harmed.  No one is exempt from the truth and promises of God. 

Addictions separate you from God.  Anything that separates you from God is not of God.  No addiction is harmless, because over time you will place more and more faith in your addiction than in anything else.  Any addiction is very dangerous.  Every sin has consequences.  The wages of sin is death.  If you play around with sin you will die in that sin.  Do not be deceived.

I think it is ironic that many people who are addicted claim that "no one can tell me what to do", that they can do whatever addiction they want because it is their life.  When in reality, they are being controlled by their addiction, their addiction tells them where to go and what to do, when to wake up, when to go to sleep, when to eat, who they can be around and who they can't, their addiction has taken over their life.  The fact is, if you are attached to any addiction, the addiction is telling you what to do.  You are not in control of nothing when you are caught up in any addiction.

Who do you serve?  You serve whoever is the master of your life.  If the master of your life is your addiction, then you are serving your addiction.  Unfortunately, the reality with far to many people is that they have allowed their addiction control over their life.  Too many people simply give up and give in, giving their addiction free range to ultimately kill them.

When you believe in something, you are placing your faith in that something.  A person becomes addicted when they believe that something can cure what is missing, make it all better, relieve the pain, fill the emptiness, mask the darkness that they feel that they have.

Have you placed your faith in your addiction?  Far too many people have faith in their addiction, instead of having faith in God.  Who do you believe?  Do you believe your addiction has hold of you, or do you believe God has hold of you? 

When you lift up your addiction and place it above God then you have given life to your addiction and placed faith in your addiction, instead of faith in God.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3

*** Your addiction only has the life that you give to it.***  Did you know that in the Kingdom of God your addiction does not even exist, your addiction only exists inside of your mind.  Through the salvation of God we are granted power over what is in our mind.  By the salvation of God we are all given the mind of Christ and the power of God to put to death all strongholds, to control our minds and life through Jesus, to put to death anything that would come between us and our Lord God.

All addictions lie

Do NOT be deceived.  All addictions have the same thing in common, addictions are all founded on a lie.  The foundation of all addictions is a lie.  Who is "the father of lies", that's right, the enemy, satan (John 8:44).  The beginning, the foundation of all addictions are a lie.  Addictions claim to give you peace, to comfort you, to satisfy you, which no addiction is able to do. 

All addictions claim to give you at least one of the following: "to feel better", "give you energy", "calm you down", "comfort you", "satisfy you", but all addictions lie.   The truth is any addiction you have harms you.

Only God gives peace, only God gives comfort, and only God can satisfy you.

God has ultimate power and with God you can overcome any addiction.

To overcome any addiction you must realize the fact that God holds all power and that all addictions are powerless with God.

God holds all power over any and all addictions.

Many people think of addictions as being addicted to alcohol or drugs, but an addiction is anything that we allow to control us. 

An addiction is not necessarily drugs or alcohol.  An addiction can be anything. 

There are over seven billion people in the world today, when this was written.  With diverse cultures and nationalities around the world there are diverse addictions. 

For some addiction is alcohol and drugs, but for many it may be food, whether overeating or under eating; money with obsession or over spending, over indulgence, when your main goal in life is obtaining things; working too much, not working at all; cares of this world take over the true meaning and purpose of life; children, if they control your life and become the center of your world instead of God (your home should be Christ centered, not child centered);  self pride, when obsessed with your own beauty or body size or image, or self importance; reasoning, as in over analyzing everything; religion, when traditions becomes the center of your life instead of God; temporary pleasures of this life; self gratification, no matter what the cost; pursuing and participating in sin, even when you know it is wrong; and the list goes on and on, reviling, extortioners, abominations, disobedience, laziness, fornication, effeminate, unrighteousness, blasphemy, cursing, selfishness, self pride, gossip, material possessions, children, spouse, person, exercise, adultery, abusers of self, television, cutting self, abuse, gambling, video games, smoking, hatred, bitterness, music, pornography, lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, idolatry, sex, immorality, lust, or the internet.  The list of what can become an addiction is inexhaustible. 

Anything or anyone can become an addiction, if you allow it to become one.

Anything that you allow to take control over your life will become an addiction. 

Anything or anyone that separates you from God is not a good thing.

We are to submit ourselves to God, no one or nothing else.

We are to give complete control of our lives to God alone, and to no one else, or to no other thing. 

God is greater than anything, including our addictions.

In order to overcome any addiction:

1.  Receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour of your life.      You need Jesus.      The first and greatest is Jesus, you need to be saved, so you can have the power of GOD, in order to overcome anything.

2.  Realize that you can't do anything without God in your life.      God can do anything.       The power to overcome addiction comes from God alone, we must be with God, joined with God to overcome.      With God all things are possible.  Man is limited, but God is limitless.

3.  Ask God to remove the addiction from your life completely.      We must come to God with our needs.  We must ask Him for His help in our lives, sincerely and whole-heartedly.

4.  Claim victory over your addiction by the grace of God.      We must place our trust in God, not in our addiction.  God is greater than anyone or anything, including our addiction.      We must not doubt the power of God.  God is able to cleanse us and make us whole.       God created all things, He is more than able to help us.

5.  Thank God for your deliverance.      We must thank God for His deliverance and His enduring mercy every day. 

1.  Salvation

If you are going to overcome any addiction, you must be saved in order to have the power of God to overcome.  

To overcome and defeat addiction we must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, we must put on the full armour of God.  Only through the salvation of God can we put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17).

You must put on God, you must have God's strength in you, in order to overcome any addiction.

So you must be in God and with God, and to be with God, God must know you and God knows us only through salvation, through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

When we receive the gift of salvation from God, we dwell in God, and God dwells in us.

For more information see - SALVATION

You need Jesus. The first and greatest person in your life that you need is Jesus, you need to be saved, so that you can have the power of GOD, to overcome anything.

Jesus can and will release you from the bondage of any addiction.

Only through Jesus Christ can you be set free forever.

Jesus is the truth.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be free from all addiction?  And free forever, completely cured from addiction's bondage. 

Anyone can be free forever, through Jesus.

Once we have Jesus living in our hearts, we know the truth, and satan doesn't have any hold over our lives any more.

When we are saved, we are changed, we are no longer bound to this world and its chains of the devil. 

Jesus cuts the ties of bondage and sets us free forever.

When we are saved we put on Christ, and Jesus becomes the ruler over our life and there is no authority greater than His.

We are of God when we received salvation, we are God's children, God is in us, His children.

Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.

Our Lord God is greater than satan, that is in the world!

Satan does not have any authority over the children of God.  The enemy can only tempt you to sin, satan can never force anyone to sin.

Jesus cuts us free from satan's bondage of addictions.

Satan does not have any power over the children of God. 

When we accept Jesus into our hearts and ask Jesus to be the Lord and Saviour over our lives, we become adopted into the family of God.  We become a child of God.

The Son of God, Jesus, can make you free indeed!  Free forever!!

Jesus freely gave His life for redemption of our sins and our deliverance from evil.

Jesus delivers us from the bondage of addictions.

2.  Realize YOU can't do anything without God.  GOD can do everything.

You need to take the "you", "me" and the "I" out of the problem and replace it with God.

The greatest addiction in the world today is the "I can’t" addiction.  You are defeated before you begin.

It slips into our lives one day and grabs hold of us, hooks down deep inside and doesn’t leave.

You cannot believe in God and also hold onto the "I can’ts" in your life.  No one can believe both.  You either believe God can or you believe God can't.

Everyone who says "I can’t" does not know who God really is.

To really know God, to understand who God is, we must get rid of our self-will. 

The self-will we use when we use the words "I can’t".

We must replace ‘self-will’, our ‘I will’ with "God’s will".

When you say to yourself "I can’t" you are saying that "I don’t believe that God can".

Did you say, you don't believe God can?  The same God that created everything in the world, the earth, the moon, all the stars, the heavens, the trees, all the animals, and created man and woman, you and me?

Do you really think that God can't solve your problems? You need to think again, because God can do anything! 

God is NOT the problem.

God is not the problem with your problem, you are!!  When you say "I can’t" you are doubting God.  When you say "I can't" you are surrendering to defeat.

When you say "I can’t", you are saying "I don't believe God can", you are saying that you don’t believe the Word of God --- because the Word of God clearly states:

Not some things, not a few things, but with God ALL THINGS are possible.

Quit holding onto satan’s lie of "I can’t".

Remove "I can't" permanently from your vocabulary.

If it is not from God, it is from the devil. 

So where does "I can’t" come from? that's right – the devil.

No you can’t heal yourself, but God can.  I can with God !!

When we become children of God, when we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are no longer to hold onto our old life of 'self'. 

We are to deny ourselves and follow Christ. 

We belong to God, we are God's and are in the hands of God. 

We serve God and no longer serve 'self', we no longer serve ourselves.

Negativity comes from satan, not from God.  Worthlessness, hopelessness and self-pity come from the devil, not from God.

Hope, joy, peace, freedom is from God.  Every good thing comes from God above.

Defeat comes from satan.  Victory comes from God.

The word of God states:  “All things are possible with Him” - Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, 14:36, Luke 18:27.

The Word of God doesn’t say “All things are possible, except:

• Joe’s addiction to smoking, or

• Sue’s addiction to overeating, or

• Lee’s addiction to alcohol

• My addiction to _____________.

The word of God, clearly states "WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE."

Every harmful addiction was created by the devil and can be overcome by the overcomer, through the power of Jesus Christ.

Jesus overcame this world, and He wants to guide us and teach us how we too can overcome anything in this world - John 16:33.

There are no exceptions, no limitations –

“All things are possible with God”

Praise God!!  Hallelujah !!

There is nothing that God cannot do.  God can do anything!  That means everything you are struggling with - can be overcome with the power of God.

Every addiction known to man can be stopped and completely removed from your life.

All you have to do is ask God and claim your victory.  But that is really the problem isn’t it, our asking for it.  Our asking God with all our heart to stop the addiction that is controlling our life.  Our asking God to stop our sinful addiction, no matter what it takes.

So say now, out loud, "All things are possible with GOD", and "God is bigger than my addiction", and "God can beat this addiction, and any addiction, I have".

The next time you are tempted by the devil to say "I can't" -- don't.

Don't quote the devil, quote God's Scripture:

3.  Ask God to remove the addiction from your life completely.  

Every addiction known to man can be stopped and completely removed from your life.

All you have to do is ask God and claim your victory.

But that is really the problem isn’t it, our asking for it. 

Our asking God with all our heart to stop the addiction that is controlling our life.  Our asking God to stop our sinful addiction, no matter what it takes.

You can't wish away your addiction.  "Oh, I wish I could stop doing this or that".  That's not asking God for help.

So many people do not receive deliverance, simply because they have never asked God to remove their addiction.

God says, you receive not because you ask not - we don't receive His deliverance because we don't ask Him for it.

Your addiction is from the devil, not God. 

God wants to give you eternal life, not death.

God tells us in his holy word, that we are to depart from evil.  Addiction is not departing from evil. 

Holding on to any addiction, is not departing from evil.

Do you really want to overcome your addiction?

Do you have that little voice in the back of your head, whisper to you, over and over like a broken record, "oh, you really don’t want to quit…."

•          it makes me feel so good

•          it really doesn’t hurt anyone

•          it’s not that big of a deal

•          everyone does it

•          it really doesn’t matter that much

•          it relaxes me

•          it doesn’t hurt anyone

•          who cares

•          it’s my life

Excuses, excuses, excuses......

       Lies, lies, lies.......

And who is the creator of lies?    That’s right…

All those thoughts come straight from the devil himself,

The devil is the inventor of deceit, the devil is the father of lies.

Satan knows if he keeps you addicted, he keeps you away from God.

That's right, your addiction separates you from God.

It may start out small, separating you from God by a thread, but over time the separation grows as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Remember, separating you from God is the devil’s main agenda. 

The devil will use everything in his power to get what he wants, especially if it means destroying you and your life.   That is Satan’s goal after all.

Don't give into the devil:

• Do not be deceived any longer. 
• Stand up and be the victor. 
• Don’t let the devil steal you away from God. 
• Don’t let Satan win.

With GOD, you have the power to say NO to the devil.

You as a believer, have the power through Jesus and the strength from God to do anything.

Memorize this scripture, keep it in your heart always, you need to say it daily to be able to depart from the devil.

All you need to do is ask and GOD promises it will be given to you.

Wow!  How simple God made it for us, all we need to do is ask God! 

But that is a problem sometimes, for us isn't it, we never really ask for our problem to be solved.

We get comfortable with our problem, it becomes our friend, our comforter, we claim ownership to it, it is "our problem", it supports us, it is "our thing", it is our crutch.

These are all lies from the devil.  Satan wants you to replace God with another god.  The god of addiction, that way you are separating yourself from God. 

You worship your addiction, you think about it all the time, you love it, it becomes part of you.

God is very serious about not worshiping other gods, this includes your addiction.   Anything that is used to replace God is 'another god'.

Don't let satan win.

God doesn't say if you ask him, that it may be given to you, or if you do this or that takes place. 

God said if you ask, it will be given to you, no ifs, ands or buts.

Wishing for something to be so, will not make it so.  Saying "I wish I could quit this bad habit", God says will not work.

God said we must ask him.

There is only one requirement to receive victory over your addiction:

You must believe, you must have faith that God can and will do it.

And just how can we have solid, unwavering faith in God? 

    1.  We must be saved, so we can have the power of God in us,       

    2.  We must pray, study and hear the word of God, because faith comes          only by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Again, God has made our learning simple.

If we keep ourselves in God's word, he will give us all the faith we need to conquer anything.

For more information see - FAITH

4.   Claim victory over your addiction by the grace of God.

You asked God to remove the addiction from your life, now claim it!

If you ask you will receive.  No maybes.  God will give you what you ask him for, you must believe in God.

Claim your victory!  it is yours... take it!  Rejoice !!

5.  Thank God for your deliverance.

Thank God the Father for your deliverance and thank our Lord Jesus Christ for giving us victory over all our addictions!

Thank God for deliverance:

Temptations are around every corner in the world today.  We as believers must be on our guard and fight the good fight every day against evil, because the devil never stops.

"Fight the good fight of faith".  God says we are to fight for our faith and lay hold on eternal life, hold onto our salvation with all we have.

Here's the good news and the bad news, after we are saved.  The bad news is that the devil will not stop trying to get you back to serve him.  The good news is that when we are saved, as a child of God, we receive the power of God through Christ to defeat the devil and not yield to the devil's temptations.  Remember that the devil can only tempt you with sin, the devil is not allowed by God to force anyone to sin.  The devil has limited power over this world.  The power of God is limitless.

The good news is that God is greater than the devil, God has ultimate power, Greater is God that is in us, than the devil who is in this world.

The devil doesn't stop tempting you after you are delivered from your addiction, he will try and get you back, he will try to devour you, he will never stop trying to trip you up and get you addicted again. 

When we are saved, we have the power of God inside of us, to help us depart from the devil and stay clean from sin.  We must be on our guard against the devil and pray for the Lord to help us daily.

It is extremely important after you are delivered, that you continue daily to pray that God will lead you away from temptation and delivered you from evil, as it says in the Lord's prayer:

"Lord, keep me from temptation and deliver me from evil", should be in every single prayer you pray every day.

Pray to ask God to release you - deliver you from your addiction

The following addiction prayer is an example.

You need to pray to God in your own words - asking in Jesus' name to remove all your addictions. 

God knows what your addictions are, but God wants us to ask forgiveness for each addiction sin individually, and ask God to remove each addiction from our lives, so name them all.

Prayer for release from addiction:

For more information see - PRAYER

There is one cure for all addictions and His name is Jesus Christ.

The purpose of Jesus coming to earth was to set us free from the bondage of sin and death; and He did so when He was crucified on His cross for the sins of all the people of all the world, once for all.

Jesus made a way for all mankind to be with God for all eternity, to set all the captives free, heal the brokenhearted, give sight to the blind, give us liberty, free from sin and death, free from bondage, as we journey through this strange land on our way home to Glory.

Freedom can be found in only One God, the Christ, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the Saviour, Jesus (1 Timothy 6:14-16; Revelation 17:14, 19:16; John 4:42; 1 John 4:14).

God alone saves.  Jesus and none other led captivity captive and gives salvation to all (Ephesians 4:8). 

No other name can save you and set you free, set free in this world and the next, except the name of Jesus.  Jesus can make anyone whole, today and forevermore.

If you can say "I tried God and it didn't work", that's the problem.  No one can "try God".  You either believe God or you don't.  You either commit to God or you don't commit to God, this is the difference.  "Trying out God" does not result in receiving God.

To receive God in your life, you must sincerely from your whole heart totally surrender yourself to Him. 

You must believe in God with your whole heart to receive His salvation and deliverance from sin. 

Partial belief is unbelief.  A halfway commitment is unbelief.

God sees inside our hearts.  God knows if we are sincere.  God asks for nothing less than our total trust in Him to take over our lives, inside and out, 100 percent. 

When we come to God, with our whole heart, seeking Him, desiring His love, desiring His touch, because we know that He alone has the power to heal our broken lives, then we can receive His salvation, His healing, His eternal love and life.

When we finally realize that there is nothing in this world worth anything, that we are nothing without Christ Jesus, that God is sufficient to supply everything we could ever possible need or want, then we are ready to receive God into our lives and into our hearts.

God says, "I am with you alway".  We are not alone.  God is with us to help us release our faith in Him, to place all our hope and trust in Him.  If we earnestly seek Him, seek His help, seek His salvation, He promises to be right there with us.

God promises to be with His children always, right now in this world and in the world to come.  No one can deliver this promise but God - "I am with you alway"  Matthew 28:20.  People leave us, people disappoint us, friends and family move away, die, and leave us, but God promises never, ever to leave us. 

God works miracles today!  God holds all power to remove any addiction!

The answer to any addiction is Jesus, you need the 1-step program - Jesus.

God can dissolve any addiction you may have.  There is no addiction in God's Kingdom, nor with God.

I personally know this is true, because God delivered me of addictions and He will do the same for you!

Praise the LORD!!!

Special Note:  God holds all the power.  All addictions are powerless to the power of God.  With God nothing is impossible.  If we could hold onto the truth of God, instead of attaching ourselves to the lies of the enemy,  there would be no addictions. 

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