SPIRITUAL SIDE OF ADDICTION
We are all born searching for a way to change the way we feel.
Our only options are GOD or SOMETHING OTHER THAN GOD.
I. Addiction consists of two primary factors: A MENTAL OBSESSION and A PHYSICAL COMPULSION.
For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. Psalms 51:5
1. Mental OBSESSION of addiction.
Anything that dominates my thoughts and masters my life.
"I have the right to do anything," you say--but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"--but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Cor 6:12
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16
27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time, this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. Luke 8:27
2. The Physical COMPULSION of addiction.
When my addiction begins to reprogram my brain.
14So 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. 15I 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.
16But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18And 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. 19I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20But 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. Romans 7:14-20