If You Have An Addiction? Please Watch This (Pastor's Advice)

I have a family member who deals with addiction. I think you being vulnerable with them is most important. Do you still battle your past struggles? There's thoughts that come to me, Johnny, you should do a line of umpies. What would you tell someone that's healing from addiction? If you just go to someone and go, you don't have Jesus, that's why it doesn't help them. What's the best way to turn my life around? My question is, what would you tell someone that's healing from addiction? They're barely freeing themselves for months now, but now they see the light. What would be like your best advice for someone? Addiction is, people think it's a craving, it's a coping. People are addicted to the, not the craving, but they're coping with something. If you just go to someone and go, you don't have Jesus, that's why it doesn't help them. Your job is to be there for them and to truly pray over them and continuously go to battle for them in your secret place. My mom, for example, I was addicted to Coke. I was addicted to Hennessy, everything. My mom was praying so much for me, and I'm here now. My mom told me that you're gonna be the world's best gospel preacher. I was like, mom, you got schizophrenia. Straight up, right? I was still clutching and stepping on brakes.

I was doing all that. And she's like, God is going to raise you. Great is gonna be your peace, Isaiah 54, 13. Your faith, sister, trust me, can also heal other people. There's a story in the Bible where a person has a palsy and they break down the roof and they lower him down. And Jesus literally says, by the faith of your friends, you are healed. Don't look at that person, whoever your friend is, who's dealing with addiction as an addict. Look at them with 2 Corinthians 5, 17. It says, you're a new creature. Those who are in Christ Jesus have been made new. Old ways have passed. So what you have to bleed into them is give them hope, which is the word. Don't keep saying, hey, it's okay. Rather, God already made you a new creature. Whether you believe it or not, God is working already in your life. And this way, people start to grow. My mom would say that all the time. She went from, you're a monster, you're a troublemaker. What's wrong with you? You're dumb, all kinds of stuff, no, you're going to be a gospel creature. Great will be your peace. That's all I remember hearing from my mom and it bled into me. And now my peace is humongous.

Bound us, Dave. All right? Thank you so much. You're welcome, sister. My question is, as a newly surrendered Christian who's trying to maintain a sober lifestyle, who also struggled with addiction back then, what's the best way to turn my life around? Not the easiest or the fastest, but the most efficient. Yeah, focusing on the gospel. So the issue right now is not that you're struggling with addiction. You're addicted to your thoughts. So the word of God tells you you're a new creature. Second Corinthians 5.17 literally says, those who are in Christ Jesus are a new creature, right? Everything has become new, all the old ways have passed. You're trusting what you see, think, and feel. That's why you keep falling into it. Satan is trying to tell you that you're a sinner who still struggles with addiction and sanctification is a process. We're not sinners, bro. We're citizens in heaven and we're down here to represent God. So that's our real identity. We're new creatures, but Satan goes, no, you're not. So he'll whisper your old identity. And what we do is we amen Satan by trusting our thoughts. Isaiah 55 literally says, right?

My thoughts are not your thoughts. My way is not your way. We keep thinking, no, it is my way though. I'm with God, me and him are one. So you follow your thoughts. You keep living this backsliding lifestyle. It probably looks like you're doing good for a week, two weeks, a month, whatever, you fall back into it. You gotta cut it at the root, bro, because the way you think affects the way you feel and the way you feel behavior. So if I have a lustful thought, I'm gonna have a lustful heart and a lustful action. You're trying to cut it at the action, let's cut it at the root. You should be like, wait, where is this thought coming from? Should I go and smoke? Is this from God? Probably not. And if I follow it, think about it until the very end. Okay, if I follow this, what's gonna happen? Okay, I'll feel good temporarily, but then weigh it all the way to the end. What are you gonna feel in there? And you're gonna feel lonely, miserable. It can even lead you to thoughts of suicide and depression and things like that. It's not worth it, you get me? Yeah, for sure.

Do you still battle with dealing with your past feelings, your past struggles with things? Yeah, so there's a temptation that comes and everybody gets tempted. The issue is not the temptation, it's when you agree with the temptation. So we're all gonna get tempted, right? There's thoughts that come to me, Johnny, you should do a line of bumpies. That was my thing back then. But I think about it, wait a minute, where is this thought coming from? Second Corinthians 5.17 says I'm a new creature. My old ways have passed, past tense, but Satan, through my thoughts, is telling me, no, you want this, you want that. Am I trusting in my thoughts? Am I trusting the word of God? Depending on how you trust, who you trust, you will fall or you will be edified. So if you trust your thoughts, your thoughts affect the way you feel. The way you feel, behavior. A lot of us try to cut it at the action. You're supposed to cut it at the root. That's why Second Corinthians 10.5 says take every thought, not just bad thoughts, all thoughts captive and bring it to the obedience of Christ. How you do that is Jesus Christ in John 1.14 So you take your thought and you go,

is this thought the word of God? Or is it my own thoughts? If it's my own thoughts, forsake them. If it's the word of God, edify them. Amen. Amen. So I have a family member who deals with addiction, what scriptures can I talk to them about to kind of get them with it? Addiction is a stronghold. It's not sheer willpower that's going to get them through it. I think you being vulnerable with them is most important. See everybody, when they look at people in addiction, they think that these people want to be like that. So for them, I would say you can speak about Romans 7, 15. I know you don't want to be like this and it's not you. It's the enemy inside of us doing these things, but be cautious with that because people who are in addiction are also very repulsed by the word of God. So you have to meet people where they're at. One scripture for you will be 1st Corinthians 9, 22, Apostle Paul says, I am all things to all men so I can save some of them. Your job is not to thump them because they're already being oppressed and they're confused about whether it's from God, whether it's from Satan. You have to sit there and say, I'm here for you and God, you know, is going to work on you. I'm praying for you. And then go to war for them in prayer. I'll share with us a little story in the Bible. Have you heard of the man with the palsy where they broke off the roof and lowered him down? That man did not believe in Jesus, but the faith of his friends, it says you are healed

in the same way. Sister, my mother praying mom prayed and changed me completely. I didn't care about Jesus. I didn't care about God, but she was continuously having faith for all of us. And that really, that really works, right? So continue to have faith, Lord, please pluck them away from Satan and keep them in under your wings. Okay. All right, sister. Amen. Amen.