Overcoming Bad Habits and Addictions — Part 15
Speaking to people who were *not *born again, Jesus said,
“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)
This passage speaks of lusts (cravings) and lies that come from the devil. Both lusts and lies keep people bound to addictions and habits. The lusts that used to drive you were put to death with your old self when you were born again, and they were buried once and for all when you were baptized. Any tendencies to be drawn into those old lusts are now lies. We’ll deal with the lies later. First, it is important that we deal conclusively with the source of many lies and lusts that have plagued us: the devil. It may seem impossible to overcome the lies and lusts that keep us bound to our habits until we deal with their source.
If you cannot seem to control your habits and conquer them, and if your habits seem to be controlling you instead, there may be demonic influence that is fighting to keep the addiction in place. You may need to be delivered from the dark spirits that keep you bound to your addictions.
This is very common with addictions. When you are dealing with a force that is too powerful for you to overcome in your natural strength, you are most likely dealing with dark spiritual forces.
“An addiction is the outward manifestation of the internal control of an unclean spirit.” (Gothard, p.31)
The way that this happens is described for us in James 1:12-15 (AMPC):
“Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.
“But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).
“Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.”
First, there is a temptation. For the temptation to be successful in drawing us away from God’s will, it has to connect with a lust that is already inside us. If that temptation does not find lust in us to hook us and draw us away, then the temptation passes harmlessly, having no effect on us.
This is what Jesus referred to in John 14:30 (NKJV):
”… the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”
For some people, seeing a man drop his wallet would be a temptation that would immediately connect with covetousness that is already inside them, and they would feel a strong temptation to take the wallet and keep the money that is inside.
For others who do not have that particular lust of covetousness, they would feel no temptation at all. They might rather chase the man down and give him back his wallet. For them, the temptation would pass harmlessly because there is no lust in those people for the temptation to connect with.
For those people who have a lust within them, that lust invariably pulls at them, not just to respond to a single temptation, but to seek out ways to fulfill that lust. In that way, the lust actually draws a person away, leading them away from their healthy path in life and down the lust’s own destructive path. In that way, lust itself can change a person’s entire path in life. Instead of focusing on how to fulfill your purpose in life, the lust draws you away on a path to fulfill that lust. That becomes the new path of your life.
“They have eyes full of adultery, constantly looking for sin, enticing and luring away unstable souls. Having hearts trained in greed, [they are] children of a curse.** Abandoning the straight road [that is, the right way to live], they have gone astray; they have followed the way of [the false teacher] Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness; **but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
“These [false teachers] are springs without water and mists driven by a tempest, for whom is reserved the gloom of black darkness. For uttering arrogant words of vanity [pompous words disguised to sound scholarly or profound, but meaning nothing and containing no spiritual truth], they beguile and lure using lustful desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. They promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity—for by whatever anyone is defeated and overcome, to that [person, thing, philosophy, or concept] he is continually enslaved.”—2 Peter 2:14-19 (AMP)
When you follow the path of lust, and give yourself over to satisfying that lust, at some point, that lust conceives. In that moment, a demon enters you and from that point on, the actions become habits and addictions, and you are no longer in control. Something stronger than you is now in control.
“Jesus answered them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Whoever commits and practices sin is the slave of sin.”—John 8:34 (AMPC)
“When a person engages in unclean practices such as sensual thoughts or actions, he or she opens himself or herself up to an unclean spirit. This spirit makes its home in our soul and takes over the functions of our mind, will, and emotions. We become mere puppets and slaves of the impulses of the unclean spirit.” (Gothard, p.31)
“Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”— Romans 6:16 (NLT)
We end up experiencing a struggle that is described in Romans chapter 7:
“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.** I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. **So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
“And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.** I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. **But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
“I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.** I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? **Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”—Romans 7:14-25 (NLT)
“The devil has trapped them and now makes them do what he wants. But maybe they can wake up to see what is happening and free themselves from the devil’s trap.”—2 Timothy 2:26 (ERV)
Seek Deliverance
In order to be completely free from the influence of any dark spirits that you may have allowed into your life through your actions to satisfy lusts, you need to seek to be delivered from these dark spirits by a reputable Christian deliverance ministry.
Start with your church. Ask your church leaders to refer you to a reputable deliverance ministry. If your church leaders do not believe in deliverance, or if they have no one to recommend, you can contact Elijah House and ask them who they might recommend in your area.
Email: info@elijahhouse.org
Phone: +1-208-900-9160
Resist the Devil
“Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.]”—1 Peter 5:8-9 (AMP)
James lays out a plan with specific steps for overcoming bad habits, addictions, and the cravings (lusts) that drive them:
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”—James 4:7-8 (NKJV)
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Submit yourself to God. Commit to obey God in everything.
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Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
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Cleanse your hands. Renounce your old habits. Put off the old self. Put on the new self. Stop doing bad things. Focus on doing good things.
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Purify your hearts. Guard your heart. Be careful what you expose yourself to. Do not allow bad thoughts to remain. Replace bad thoughts and lies with truth in your thoughts.
When you resist and do not give in to the temptations of devils, they flee from you. It may be a real battle at first, and you may even feel that you are losing the battle at times, but do not give up! Satan did not leave Jesus after the first temptation, or the second temptation, but eventually, because Jesus stood strong and determined in his resistance, the devil fled from Him, and Jesus won the battle over temptation (Matthew 4:11).
Devils often come in very subtle ways, speaking lies to try to pull you into sin, just like the serpent did with Eve in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3). These lies may come suddenly into your thoughts. Resist these lying thoughts the same way that Jesus resisted Satan’s temptations in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, by responding with truth from the Scriptures. Believe the truth and quote the truth to yourself and to the devils. For example, Romans chapter 6 is filled with truth that can help you stand strong in your freedom in times of the devils’ temptations:
“So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us more and more grace? Of course not! Our old sinful life ended. It’s dead. So how can we continue living in sin? Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ Jesus when we were baptized? In our baptism we shared in his death. So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and took part in his death. And just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so we can now live a new life.
“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.”—Romans 6:1-11 (ERV)
Believe this truth and quote this truth to yourself and to the devils.
There are many other scriptures that you can meditate on to reinforce the truth of your freedom from bad habits and their cravings. Here are a few:
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.”—Galatians 5:24 (AMP)
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”—Colossians 3:9-10 (NIV)
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”—2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
Reference:
Gothard, Bill (2011). How to Conquer Habits and Addictions. Institute in Basic Life Principles, Inc.
