Tony Evans - 30 Days to Overcoming Addictive Behavior

DAY ONE

A POW is a prisoner of wara person who has been captured by the enemy and is held hostage in the context of a conflict. The opposing forces control the prisoners living conditions, activities, and movements.

Many Christians live like POWs, but rather than prisoners of war, theyre prisoners of addictive behavior. They have been captured by the enemy, and there appears to be no way of escape. They feel trapped in situations and circumstances that the world labels as addiction. Drugs, sex, pornography, alcohol, relationships, negative self-talk, work, food, gambling, spendingthese things can become the go-to coping mechanisms for lifes pain, disappointments, and boredom. When an action or activity begins to influence you more than you influence it, it can leave you feeling trappedas if there were no way out.

I sometimes compare addictive behavior to quicksand. The harder you try to get out of a situation, the deeper you sink. Human methods and mechanisms can never set you free from a spiritual dependency. Rather, these attempts will make you sink faster, just as if you were struggling to escape from quicksand.

Thats why Ive chosen to focus on eight critical areas in which you must change your mindset in order to change your behavior. We often focus on behaviors instead of the root problems that cause the behaviors. But that does little good. As a man or woman thinks, so he or she is. In order to be set free from addictive behavior, you will need a change of mind. Youll need a new way of looking at yourself, God, others, and the things you do. Lets begin our month together with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, I lift up my friend in Christ to You today, and I pray that Your powerful Holy Spirit will use the words in this book to reveal and change any harmful thoughts coming from the enemy. As You have said, Your Word is powerful, like a two-edged sword. Please go deep into the beliefs and thoughts in order to dig up and remove any lies of the enemy. I ask that the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection will be constant protectors during this time. May Your Spirit give the grace of discernment to separate Your truth from the lies that contribute to this addictive behavior. Thank You, Lord. In Jesuss name, amen.

DAY TWO

S atans number one strategy to keep you in addictive behavior is to mess with your mind. He likes to plant thoughts in your mind, repeating them over and over until you start to think they are your own thoughts. When Satan told Eve she would be like God if she ate of the fruit, whose thought was that? Was that Eves thought? No. That thought came straight from Satan himself. In fact, hed had the same thought before, as we read in Isaiah 14:14: I will make myself like the Most High. It was Satans thought, but he planted it in Eves mind.

If youve seen the movie Inception , youve seen this depicted dramatically. The movie is about planting a thought in someones mind that will change the course of events for generations to come. Its a brilliant movie, and it helps us understand Satans strategy for derailing each of us from our God-given destinies.

When you tell yourself, I cant overcome this addiction , whose thought is that? Or when you think, I have to have this drink , whose thought is that? Or when you entertain such thoughts as, I am nothing. I have no value. I dont have power over my emotions. No one will ever love me who is doing the talking? We know these thoughts come from Satan because they are all lies, and he is the father of lies (John 8:44).

Satan has been working his deception for a very long time. He knows how to cleverly plant his thoughts in your mind and cause you to believe they are true. He did this to King David, as we read in 1 Chronicles 21:1: Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. Satan gave David the thought to start counting to see exactly how strong the nation really was. David decided to take a census, thinking this was his own idea. But taking this census was a sin because it demonstrated that David was relying on human strength rather than depending on God, and God judged Israel for Davids sin.

We see another example of Satan planting thoughts in someones mind in John 13:2. He put into the heart of Judas the idea to betray Jesus. In Acts 5:3, we see that Satan used the same approach with Ananias. Peter asks Ananias, Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? In this case, Satan had given Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, the idea of selling a piece of property and giving some of the money to the church, pretending that they had given the full amount. This thought cost both of them much more than money. It cost them their lives.

How should we respond to Satans thoughts? The same way Jesus did when Peter tried to keep Him from going to the cross. Peter told Jesus, God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You. To which Jesus replied, Get behind Me, Satan! (Matthew 16:22-23). The words came from Peter, but the thoughts came from Satan. When Satan gets your mind, he gets your actions. The key to overcoming addictive behavior is to take your mind captive.

DAY THREE

P eople who know me well know that I like to stay busy. Ive always got something going on. But one thing you will rarely find me doing is being a handyman around the home. If something needs to be fixed, I usually call an expert to do it. Ive learned the hard way that someone who knows what hes doing can do the job faster and even less expensively than if I went to the home-improvement store and tried to figure out how to do it myself.

Some home repairs can be complicated. Earlier this year, the electricity shorted out at our house and blew some fuses. Not only that, but when I called the electrician, he told me that the wiring in our home was so old that it was no longer safe. Our house is going on four decades old now, so things like this tend to break more frequently than they used to.

But can you imagine what would happen if I tried to restore our electricity myself? Id probably electrocute myself in a matter of minutes. Not only that, I still wouldnt have solved the problem. Some issues are too complex and require too much expertise for me to fix them myself.

In Christianity, we have a lot of do-it-yourself believers. Too many people think that regardless of what may have led to the addiction, they can just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and fix the problem. In reality, addictions are almost always rooted deep within us at a level we may not even be able to identify on our own. That is why professional counseling is so important in helping us to identify and address the root causes of addictions.

Likewise, addictions are often so ingrained in our subconscious, mere willpower isnt enough to keep us from acting out when we become emotionally vulnerable. Thats why accountability partners who are there to walk with those in recovery are such a critical part of overcoming addictions.

Not only that, but when you are seeking to overcome an addiction, you must keep in mind that apart from Jesus Christ, you can do nothing (John 15:5). You may have the correct spiritual lingo, but lingo only goes so far. Satans primary tactic in the Garden of Eden was to sever Adam and Eves dependence on God. He told Eve if she ate of the fruit, she could be like God (Genesis 3:5). Satan wanted humanity to operate independently of God, and thats what he also wants for you.

Your victory in overcoming addictive behavior must include a total surrender to Godto His way, His Word, and His sovereignty. It must include a total trust that He knows what is best for you and that He is in controleven of the things that have hurt you in the past. He has a purpose for your pain. And only He can lead you to it.

DAY FOUR

S atan wants to get ahold of your mind, but he doesnt plan on stopping there. His desire is to plant thoughts in your mind so they will take root and bear fruit in your actions. Scripture tells us that as a person thinks , so that person is (Proverbs 23:7). This passage is the foundation for overcoming all addictive behavior. Your addiction doesnt stem from the item or vice itself. It stems from your thoughts. Your addiction is rooted in your mind.