Wednesday 21 November 2018

JESUS FREES YOU FROM DIFFERENT KINDS OF ADDICTION

Dear Friends,

Today I am going to write to you about the problem of addiction. It is destroying so many lives and families the world over that it becomes necessary to deal with it.

But before we talk about how addicts can get rid of their addiction, it needs to be noted why, in the first instance, they take to addiction at all.

People try to get joy and satisfaction from different kinds of addiction – joy and satisfaction which they are not able to get from anything else. In many cases, people try to find escape from their personal reality through addiction. Also, there are many and many whose life lacks substance – or content – that might lend purpose to their life. They try to remove the feeling of emptiness by filling it with liquor or cigarettes or drugs.

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It is good that an addict receives help from a rehabilitation center. But as long as he is not having strong desire to get rid of it, he is not going to respond positively to any medical and psychological treatment he is subject to. Desire to be free from addiction is indispensable.

Addiction not only harms mind, body and soul of addicts, it also drains their financial resources. They need to think conscientiously that millions of people in this world do not get sufficient food two times a day. Reason? It is simply that they do not have money enough to buy food. Millions of people go naked because they do not have money. Millions of people spend their life on roadside because they do not have money. You do have money but how you spend it? On buying liquor? Drugs? Cigarettes?

Dear Friends, God is a JUST God. He sees everything. If you are an addict, this God, who loves the poor and destitute of the world, also takes into account the bluntness of your sensitivity. Bible says,

“Why spend money on what is not bread,
And your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
And you will delight in the richest of fare.”

How true it is! Spend your money on the best of food and drink; why spend money on addiction? The amount you spend on your addiction would you spend for feeding the hungry and dressing the poor? Would you spend that amount to help people who are really needy? You need to think about it. And if you will not give your thoughts to it, God surely will. He WILL punish you for your insensitivity.

However, I am not here to threaten you with retribution that God brings on you for your addiction. I want to tell you that He values your life and wants that you too value it. He is very much willing to help you if you really want to be free from addiction. The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 55, Verse 1 says:

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.”

If you read this verse from the Bible, you may think that Bible is self-contradictory. We are talking about getting rid of addiction on one hand, on the other this biblical verse is asking the readers to buy wine and milk! How to reconcile the opposites?

Dear friends, if you read this verse carefully, you will not fail to notice that it makes an appeal to the people who do not have money to buy wine and milk! How can people who don’t have money buy these things? The same verse also contains the answer to this question. It says, “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Does it not sound strange?

How can a person ever buy anything without money – anything that comes without a price tag attached to it? What comes free of charge does not need to be bought! It’s that simple! And you know that wine and milk do cost you something. Nobody will give you wine and milk free of charge!

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Dear friends, please note that the wine in the biblical verse quoted above is the blood of Jesus. Wine is the symbol that is used for the blood of Jesus. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross for you and me is priceless! The only way we can buy it is with our faith! Faith is what we pay for receiving this wine. And drinking this wine means accepting the fact that Jesus sacrificed Himself and poured out His blood on the cross in order to redeem us from our sins.

The blood of Jesus is the wine that is completely different from the wine that can be bought with money and used for addiction. The blood of Jesus brings real peace and joy to those who thankfully accept His supreme sacrifice. What our breweries produce, and what drugs induce in people addicted to them, can never bring true peace and joy.

The reason behind this is that the liquor and drugs that we purchase with our money destroy our mind, body and spirit. The use of these is called addiction, and addiction is sin. Addiction is sin because it defiles our body which is the temple of God.

Remember this: Sin can always bring temporary joy but that joy does not last long. The moment the joy of committing sin is over, the consequence of committing sin follows. Consequence of sin brings sorrow which is not temporary but permanent. In other words, people who commit sin buy permanent sorrow for temporary joy.

On the other hand, if we drink the blood of Jesus, it means we accept the sacrifice that Jesus made of Himself for our sins. Accepting the sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins means we do not have to pay the price for the sins that we have committed. Jesus suffered the consequences of our sins on our behalf. This is what frees us from our sins, the sin of addiction included.

Freedom from sin makes us holy. Our achieving holiness through Jesus is called ‘new birth’ in Bible. All who accept Jesus are ‘born again’ in spiritual terms. From the time that we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, our spiritual life starts. In other words, we are spiritual babies in the spiritual world.

It simply means that we need to grow spiritually in order to attain to spiritual maturity. For this purpose, Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and instructs us from the Bible so that we gradually increase in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of God’s purpose for our life. This is the kind of knowledge that helps us grow spiritually towards maturity. This knowledge of God and His purpose for our life and for the world at large is called ‘spiritual’ milk that spiritual babies require.

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The spiritual wine (the blood of Jesus) and spiritual milk (the Bible) supply all the needs of our spirit. Therefore, we experience perfect peace and joy. God’s Holy Spirit fills our life to the extent that we find nothing wanting in our life.

Dear friends, as you can see, liquor and drugs destroy us; whereas spiritual wine and spiritual milk give us abundant life. Spiritual wine and spiritual milk also make our physical life reflect the changes that take place in our spiritual life. That’s how all aspects of our life are equally blessed.

Through Jesus you will be able to live a fruitful and meaningful life. And, through Jesus you will receive such blessings that you will be literally surprised by ever-increasing grace of God towards you. You took to addiction because you wanted to find joy and peace through it. But once you were confirmed in your addiction, you came to find that addiction deceived you. It no longer sustains what you expect from it. But, rest assured, Jesus will never disappoint you once you accept Him. Give Him chance in your life. And, of course, do the following prayer:

O God Almighty and Gracious, Creator and Sustainer of the creation, I come before Your throne of grace, in Your presence to request You to save my life from getting destroyed by my addiction. Please help me achieve freedom from my addiction to (liquor, drugs or whatever it is). It is not only destroying my life but also hurting the life of my family. I try to be free from addiction but I have become a slave to it.

O God, please strengthen me. Give me strong will power. Help me overcome the withdrawal symptoms which force me to revert to addiction. Please remove the withdrawal symptoms. Please free me from my addiction. I commit my life to You this day. I shall live it in Your service if You free me from my addiction.

I believe You alone can help me. Therefore, please help me. Please bring me under the protection of Your blood which You shed for such as me on the cross. Please receive me in Your presence and give me Your peace and joy that I am striving for. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, Amen.


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