Overcoming Bad Habits and Addictions — Part 16
If you have been born again to new life in Jesus and your heart and mind are filled with truth, there is no way for bad habits and addictions to have any power to enslave you.
“So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”—John 8:31-32 (AMPC)
Before the devil can bring you into slavery to bad habits and addictions, he must lie to you, and you must believe those lies.
“Those who are trying to kill me set their traps. Those who want to harm me talk about destroying me. All day long they make their plans and tell their lies.”—Psalm 38:12 (NIRV)
“There are lies in the hearts of those who plan evil.”—Proverbs 12:20 (NIRV)
“Sin seized the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and killed me.”—Romans 7:11 (CEB)
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”—Proverbs 20:1 (KJV)
“People are wise and understanding when they think about the way they live. But people are foolish when their foolish ways trick them.”—Proverbs 14:8 (NIRV)
“He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save himself, nor say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’”—Isaiah 44:20 (NASB)
“The thoughts and purposes of the [consistently] righteous are just (honest, reliable), But the counsels and schemes of the wicked are deceitful.”—Proverbs 12:5 (AMP)
“Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them”—Deuteronomy 11:16 (ESV)
After freeing yourself from the devil and his power, you must then turn your attention to the lies that support your bad habits and addictions.
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”—John 8:44 (KJV)
You’ll never be able to conquer bad habits and addictions unless you first stop lying to yourself.
Bad Habits and addictions are built and supported on a foundation of lies. How many of these have you said to yourself?
“I’m not hurting anyone.”
“Just one (more) time won’t matter.”
“If it feels this good, it can’t be doing any real harm.”
“No one will ever find out.”
“So many other people are doing it, and it doesn’t seem to be a problem for them.”
Before Eve gave in to the very first temptation to sin, she had to rationalize away all of the reasons why she should not do it and lie to herself about what she was about to do.
“The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.”—Genesis 3:6 (ERV)
Lies always come before conscious sin. In order to keep ourselves free of sin, bad habits, and addictions, we must reject all lies and replace them with truth.
Allowing lies into our thoughts leads us deeper into sin.
“They use their tongues like a bow; lies fly from their mouths like arrows. Lies, not truth, have grown strong in this land. They go from one sin to another. They don’t know me.” This is what the Lord said.—Jeremiah 9:3 (ERV)
“One friend cheats another. No one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues how to lie. They wear themselves out sinning.”—Jeremiah 9:5 (NIRV)
But after we have already given ourselves over to sin, and become slaves to bad habits and addictions, if we are ever going to free ourselves from those bad habits and addictions, we must identify the underlying lie upon which the habit or addiction is based, expose it for the lie that it is, and replace it with God’s truth.
“We were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, and slaves to our desires and various pleasures too. We were spending our lives in evil behavior and jealousy. We were disgusting, and we hated other people.”—Titus 3:3 (CEB)
Every bad habit is rooted in a lie. Discover and expose the lie for what it is.
“But you have planted the seeds of doing what is wrong. So you have harvested the fruit of your evil conduct. You have had to eat the fruit of your lies.”—Hosea 10:13 (NIRV)
“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the **deceitfulness **of sin.”—Hebrews 3:13 (KJV)
“Also the schemes of the schemer are evil; He devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words,”—Isaiah 32:7 (NKJV)
Freedom from sin, bad habits, and addictions must be accompanied by freedom from lies.
“They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.”—Zephaniah 3:13 (NIV)
“Do not lie to each other. You have left your old sinful life and the things you did before.”—Colossians 3:9 (ICB)
For Example, Karen Carpenter, the famous American singer of the 1970s believed she was fat. She was actually thin, but because she continued to believe this lie that she was fat, she did not allow herself to take in enough nourishment to sustain her life. That lie led to her premature death at age 32 from heart failure due to complications from anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder. (IMDB.com)
Cutters (people who cut themselves) believe the lie that these acts which bring destruction to their bodies actually help them in some way.
Cigarette smokers, alcoholics, and drug users all believe lies that keep them captive to their addictions. These addictions are also reinforced by chemical reactions in their bodies, but God’s truth is powerful enough to deliver us from chemical dependencies as well as lies.
“Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from death as he did.** We know that our old life was put to death on the cross with Christ. This happened so that our sinful selves would have no power over us. Then we would not be slaves to sin. **Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control.
**“If we died with Christ, we know that we will also live with him. Christ was raised from death. And we know that he cannot die again. Death has no power over him now. Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time—enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God. **In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive for God through Christ Jesus.
**“But don’t let sin control your life here on earth. You must not be ruled by the things your sinful self makes you want to do. Don’t offer the parts of your body to serve sin. Don’t use your bodies to do evil, but offer yourselves to God, as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used for doing good. **Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”—Romans 6:5-14 (ERV)
Even seemingly harmless habits like biting fingernails are reinforced and given life by lies. People who bite their fingernails may unconsciously be justifying these actions by believing a lie that “If my fingernails are long enough to bite, they need to be trimmed. Biting my fingernails is good hygiene.” They may not be saying these words, but a basic lie is driving the actions. Eventually, they receive pleasure by biting their fingernails, and they will bite their fingernails unconsciously to receive this pleasure. The lie that drives this habit may urge them to bite their fingernails beyond what is healthy, until their fingers bleed.
Every bad habit has its own lie that supports it and gives it life.
Really take time to discover what the lie has been saying to you to try to keep you bound to your habits. Write it down in words, and then begin to destroy its effectiveness with truth. Lies are only effective under cover of darkness. Once exposed to the light of truth, they begin to lose their power.
**Verbally renounce these lies. Say out loud that you renounce these lies, that you are not in agreement with them. Then state the truth that proves that these lies are false. Make this a regular practice. **
Sometimes, the lies have come down to you from your parents and grandparents. These lies must be exposed for the deceptions that they are. They must be renounced, rejected, and in some cases, the demons that gave them power to hold your family captive to these lies must be cast out.
“They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors.”—Amos 2:4 (NLT)
“But the king should rejoice in God; everyone who swears by God should give praise when the mouths of liars are shut for good.”—Psalm 63:11 (CEB)
You cannot enter into all that God has for you if you entertain lies and allow them into your thinking to influence your decisions. Anyone who knowingly perpetuates lies is excluded from the New Jerusalem and may disqualify themselves from being a part of the Bride of Christ, as we are told in Revelation.
“But as for the cowards and unbelieving and abominable [who are devoid of character and personal integrity and practice or tolerate immorality], and murderers, and sorcerers [with intoxicating drugs], and idolaters and occultists [who practice and teach false religions], and all the liars [who knowingly deceive and twist truth], their part will be in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”—Revelation 21:8 (AMP)
“Nothing unclean, or anyone who does anything detestable, and no one who tells lies will ever enter it. Only those whose names are written in the lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.”—Revelation 21:27 (ISV)
“[But] without are the dogs and those who practice sorceries (magic arts) and impurity [the lewd, adulterers] and the murderers and idolaters** and everyone who loves and deals in falsehood (untruth, error, deception, cheating).”**—Revelation 22:15 (AMPC)
“A [consistently] righteous man hates lying and deceit”—Proverbs 13:5 (AMPC)
**Ask God to destroy all lies in your life. **
“In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me. Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.”—Psalm 120:1-2 (AMPC)
“Let the lying lips be put to silence, Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.”—Psalm 31:18 (NKJV)
“Your tongue devises wickedness; it is like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
“You love evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness, justice, and right. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
“You love all destroying and devouring words, O deceitful tongue.
“God will likewise break you down and destroy you forever; He will lay hold of you and pluck you out of your tent and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!”—Psalm 52:2-5 (AMPC)
“Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;
“And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],
“And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.
“Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.”—Ephesians 4:22-25 (AMPC)
Reference:** **
IMDb.com. (2007). Only Yesterday: The Carpenters’ Story. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014805/.
