WITH ADDICTIONS, BE CAREFUL NOT TO SEEK THE COMFORTS SATAN OFFERS, BUT TURN TO JESUS TO BE SET FREE

  1. Choosing between God’s Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and the Enemy’s False Comforters:


  2. A WARNING FROM JESUS:

    Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” John 10:10 (NKJV)

    • Through addictions, the enemy tries to steal the believer’s health, family, possessions, job, and future.
    • Through addictions, the enemy tries to destroy the believer’s witness, ministry, and the work for the Lord in the Body of Christ, the church.
    • And finally, if he can, he will ultimately kill the believer.

    But Jesus also said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

    • Through His Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus has already provided a way for those who are caught in the enemy’s spirit of addiction to be set free.
    • It is only through the POWER of the Holy Spirit that a person can truly be set free.
    • The person who has been set free will then walk in the abundant life that Jesus promised. He would give them deliverance, joy, peace, hope, strength, and the true comfort the believer is seeking.

  3. Can a born again believer be controlled by an addiction?
    • The answer is, “Yes”.
    • How can it happen if we, born again believers, are “in Christ”?
    • We are in the Body of Christ and Christ is in us, but we are still humans living in a material world that is controlled by the enemy.
    • We are Satan’s main enemy because we have been commissioned by the Lord Jesus and empowered by His Spirit to bring the Gospel to those who are in darkness in the enemy’s kingdom.
    • Therefore, the enemy has many spirits working with him and they are prepared to come against believers with many different attacks in order to stop our witness and our work for the Lord Jesus.
    • ADDICTION is one of the enemy’s most powerful weapons in trying to stop believers from doing their work in the Commission that the Lord Jesus gave the church, His Body, to do.

  4. The Problem of Needing a Comforter:
    • There are situations in a believer’s life that causes him, consciously or unconsciously, to seek comfort from problems in his personal life, in his job situation, in painful childhood memories, or in any other painful condition that he/she might be experiencing.
    • When the emotional pain, the pressure, or the anxiety becomes too strong to endure, then the believer will seek something to comfort him.
    • ALERT! It is then that Satan will come with a menu of false comforters for the believer to choose from. Once the believer gives in to any of the false comforters mentioned above, he will continue to come to them every time his personal condition becomes unbearable. And the spirit of addiction takes control of the believer.

  5. The Reality of the Addiction Problem:
    • There is a problem with addiction because the believer has failed to do 2 things:
      1. Bring the problem to the Lord and put it under the blood.
      2. The believer does not trust that the Lord can solve the condition he/she finds himself in—there is unbelief and Satan takes advantage of that situation to bring false help.

  6. Christ’s Solution To the Addiction Problem:
    1. Confess and repent of your unbelief to the Lord and ask Him to forgive you.
    2. Confess and repent of having turned to the devil for the solution to your problem.
    3. Confess and repent that you sought a false comforter for your problem instead of seeking the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
    4. Ask the Lord Jesus to purify and cleanse you from all your sins, rebellion, and addiction with His precious blood.
    5. Acknowledge that He through His Spirit is the only One that has the POWER to set you free and to deliver you from Satan’s spirit of addiction.
    6. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross has gained the victory to set the captives free.
    7. HE WILL SET YOU FREE FROM THAT DEMON OF ADDICTION AND RESTORE YOU TO YOUR POSITION AS A WORKER IN THE BODY OF CHRIST, THE CHURCH.