As I was driving the other day, I happened to see this sign on the corner of a busy intersection. I thought to myself, this is crazy, it’s quitting one addiction and starting another one. Both quite frankly open doors to a very dark realm to dabble in, or one principality to the next. We live in a hurting world, and myself included, have had “addictions” to numb the pain in our lives. My weaknesses: coffee, social media, or sweets. For others, it might be pornography, drugs, cell phones, etc. I find that sometimes when I am triggered by pain, or feel stress, I will go to these things before I go directly to the real solution: Jesus Christ.
When I saw this sign, I am not trying to shame anyone who smokes, I am merely pointing out that substituting it with something else will not lead to life, but death. If I am trying to quit coffee, I can’t just replace it with chocolate. I need to find the root to my pain or hurt, bring it to Christ, and ask Him to heal me. He wants us to be free from addiction, or sin. I’ve read before that the enemy knows our weaknesses, and will throw them at us constantly until we overcome. I am more than glad that Christ has won the victory, we just need to understand that we have too, if we are submitted to Him. If someone tries to get me to drink or smoke, I don’t struggle, because alcohol or cigarettes are not my weakness. But if someone were to come to my house with my favorite drink from Starbucks every day, It would be extremely hard for me to decline.
Galatians 5:1 reads: For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. We were bought with a price, the ultimate price of Jesus dying on a cross for our sin. It’s time we fight (with Christ) and overcome, so that we can be beacons of light to a dark and hurting world.
If you want to be delivered from sin, desire freedom, free from any kind of addiction, please reach out, Timothy & I would love to pray over and for you, today, as there is hope to open that cage door and fly free!
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. Ephesians 4:14
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8