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Can someone give me a Christian outlook on drug addiction?

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Cheerfully Rotten

Timid Streaker

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PostPosted: Sun Oct 06, 2013 4:08 pm
I'm trying to go back to having God as my focus, yet I feel horrible that I am always getting high. I don't steal money anymore so I've got that part down, just not the sobriety part.

So can someone give me a Christian or any religious outlook on drugs and addiction to help motivate me to be clean? Currently I have my financial and relationship issues but that isn't stressing the willpower enough. Biblical verses are wanted too if you don't want to give me a long answer.
Also, please don't give me the standard drug abuse lecture, I know how it all goes down; been there, done that.

Please give me just a little something I can work with?

Thank you so much for your time ^.^  
PostPosted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 6:03 am
Hello,
Personally ive never had a drug addiction, but i do have an addiction of a sorts. I hope and pray you over come your addictions, and here are a few verses that may help. God bless.

1 Corinthians 10:13
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
New King James Version (NKJV)
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Philippians 4:13
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

1 Corinthians 6:12
New King James Version (NKJV)
Glorify God in Body and Spirit

12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Hebrews 10:26
New King James Version (NKJV)
The Just Live by Faith

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

Matthew 6:13
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
New King James Version (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.  

911child

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Spirit Reborn

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 7:23 am
Such A Graceful Lie
I'm trying to go back to having God as my focus, yet I feel horrible that I am always getting high. I don't steal money anymore so I've got that part down, just not the sobriety part.

So can someone give me a Christian or any religious outlook on drugs and addiction to help motivate me to be clean? Currently I have my financial and relationship issues but that isn't stressing the willpower enough. Biblical verses are wanted too if you don't want to give me a long answer.
Also, please don't give me the standard drug abuse lecture, I know how it all goes down; been there, done that.

Please give me just a little something I can work with?

Thank you so much for your time ^.^


You are in my prayers, luv ♥ emotion_hug
May God give you the strength and willpower to overcome your addiction and may He bless you financially. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Not 10 minutes ago..I've watched this short but engaging [and highly relevant] video that was shared on my Facebook wall.
It's a video that really..opens my heart and eyes to get back with God again.

YouTube

I highly encourage checking it out whenever you get the chance : )
I also agree with 911child's response in verses. They are truly helpful along with prayer, to help remind you and to help overcome your struggles.  
PostPosted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 1:35 pm
Unless sugar counts as a drug, I never had a problem with drug addiction specifically, but I think we can all relate to being enslaved to something. Whether it's our eyes, ears, tongue, or any other part of our flesh, what it all boils down to is addiction to pleasure.

To use myself as an example, like I said, for me it was sugar: to the point that everything that passed my lips was sugary or else I wouldn't eat. I was not thinking of the function of a thing, just how it would best please my tastebuds. Supplying the body with vital minerals was the farthest thing from my mind. I never exceeded my caloric intake so you couldn't see any outward evidence of my sugar addiction (unless you kept track of the things I reached for when I went into the kitchen, lol). Everyone assumed I was healthy (and eating healthy) because I still stood within my ideal weight. So no evidence of gluttony either, but it was there.

Once I came across 1 Corinthians 6:13, that God intended the food for the stomach, so not the tastebuds, I stopped eating for taste. I even started googling about the function of the tastebuds: turns out they are there to help you determine whether a food is ripe enough, or even edible, a poison or safe to eat; it's not there for the sake of pleasure. Now with a totally different motive behind what I invited into my body, and why, I did a couple of things:

  • 1) fasted from all things sweet aka fasted from my drug. Initially, it was going to be temporary, but I just saw no point to invite it back into my life anymore once I was over the addiction. I cut out all the sweets (cookies, candy, marshmallow cream, etc) from my sight. I wouldn't buy it. I wouldn't accept it if someone offered (no matter how many times they insisted that I should). I was not going to invite the thing into my life, in any way, shape or form, let alone feed on it. And since my tastebuds were so "spoiled", I had no alternative but to look at nutrition labels to decide what I was going to eat. And eventually I could taste the natural sweetness of the foods our Heavenly Father actually intended for us to eat. Now all I have to watch out for is: making sure I'm reaching for food when I'm hungry, feeding it something nutritious, instead of being overtaken by cravings and feeding it crap when there's a better alternative available, lol.

  • 2) changed my routine, because habits are easier to kill when you're not on autopilot doing familiar activities. For instance, I would always crave lemonade powder when playing a certain game (odd thing to eat right? I wouldn't even mix it with water, just take the scoop, tap and lick until it was all gone). So I stopped playing the game for a while too because I had conditioned myself to crave my "drug" of choice by simply doing that activity. I don't remember who right now, but I know someone who would always light a cigarette when they drank coffee, so when they tried to quit smoking, they found it quite the impossible task because when it came time for coffee they kept craving the cigarette too, lol.


So, I would suggest you apply the same to your drug addiction problem: totally rid your environment of the drug (as much as you possibly can; obviously if the drug belongs to another person you can't confiscate it, lol). It was a waste of money the moment you bought it, don't feel guilty if you're throwing out something you just restocked on. If someone offers, say no. Don't invite it into your life/home anymore, so by definition it won't be near enough to feed on. Sooner or later, your body won't crave it. And if you can, try to also fast from the activities you did right before/during the time you ingested/smoked/ate(?) the drug.

Eventually, even if you come within proximity of someone who has a supply, you will not relapse just for passing by it (at least that was my experience with sugar, I don't know about ex-druggies) and you most definitely will not seek it. To take it back to my sugar example, I'm actually repulsed by sweets now; it can be there in the grocery store or in my house, but I won't be tempted to eat; more so now because I'm looking at ingredients and nutrition labels and if I don't agree with an ingredient, or what it's going to do to my body, I put it down.

For someone who has never been an addict to sugar, they might probably scoff and say "it's not a sin to eat sugar", but it's the "enslavement" to anything that isn't God which is the sin, even if it's something that brings you no immediate physical harm in moderate proportions.

What really helped was the moment I realized it was an idol problem: it—instead of God—is determining how I take care of the temple and what I do with the temple. A lust of the flesh, instead of God's instruction, is telling me what to do and how to do it.

For you and anyone else reading this who is struggling with an addiction, I pray that our Heavenly Father gives you the strength to flee with all your might from the object that's enslaving your carnal flesh, to get rid of any stash you may have in your house, and give you the strength to not invite more of it.

I think everyone who has overcome any type of addiction would say this: once you stop long enough, your body no longer craves it.

May God be with you emotion_bigheart  

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Meili Kyumee Youichi

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 6:33 am
It takes courage to step out and admit your sins. That's a great stepping stone. *salutation* =)

I agree with the others,
-try to maintain a cleaner environment
1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

- and ask Holy Spirit to resist the temptation.

John 8:36 ESV
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
 
PostPosted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 1:36 pm
In what kind of environment are you trying to become drug-free? Are your friends also using drugs? It is even harder to quit if you surround yourself with people who will make it hard because they see nothing wrong with it.
(1 Corinthians 15:33 - Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals, Proverbs 1:10 - My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.)
You really want to quit and like Meili gave you credit for you are brave for coming clean with yourself and confessing sin. You realize that it is preventing you from being close to God, this should be a great motivation for you to stop and it is something you should hold on to. Don't push that thought to the back of your mind, or attempt to find reasons why you should continue. Your instincts are right - anything that is damaging to your relationship with God is not worth it, it is distancing you from what you know you need the most, the only thing that can give you a lasting peace, everything else is fleeting. In the end it leave you feeling empty. It will let you down. It was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross, all our sins, small ones and big ones they all made it necessary for Jesus to die for us. It should be a motivation to turn away from our sins (if my sins are so bad they require someones life to be taken in my place, then my sins are pretty bad), and ask for forgiveness. You may have to make some tough decisions. It can be hard doing what God wants you to do, sometimes we have to suffer for doing the right thing. Sometimes it means standing up to everyone you know, since by choosing to do the right thing they feel you are judging their actions, and you may lose some friends in the process. The good news is there is hope for everyone. I don't believe anyone is hopeless or beyond help. Have your tried quitting before? What made you unable to go through with it?  

Garland-Green

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Aquatic_blue

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 5:04 pm
The verses posted were good =] our body is definitely a temple. We don't want to abuse our bodies in such a way that is unpleasing to God. God gave us a wonderful gift - life. When we hurt ourselves by something such as drug abuse, we're destroying God's creation. God knitted us together with his own hands, we should take care of our bodies and look to deepen our relationship with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 is a wonderful verse for this matter, which had already been posted. =]  
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:47 pm
Great advice from previous posters, so I won't delve into my personal experience with that but know I carry your burden through empathy. There's something about knowing you're not alone that quenches the spirit- there's the humbling realization that we all desperately need a savior. So know that. You're among many broken folks, I'd even venture to call you blessed for being self-aware. Let me add a small word of encouragement- Christianity is organic. Growth is such a slow process we don't realize it's even happening. The enemy will bombard you with discouragement as you stumble, but in your darkest hours your Father patiently and affectionately guards and guides you, even delights in your weakness. Behold! What love the father has lavished that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. By grace we have attained Christ's resume- see, you are redeemed, and that aspect of the gospel compels the spirit to commit good deeds. Keep preaching to yourself and when you fall, don't fret, for there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God, not even yourself once you have surrendered to Christ.  

Yosim


Jewelies

Friendly Survivor

PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 1:09 pm
So far you've taken a very big step in getting clean, and that's simply admitting you have a problem and you actually have a desire to get clean. Both of those are highly important and without them, recovery isn't possible.

I would say, if you have friends that are using, or if you hang around others who are using, stop hanging out with them. If you constantly immerse yourself in an environment that will tempt you to use, it will be a lot harder to stop.

I'd also suggest, if you're not already a part of one, find a good, Bible-believing church and get involved in it. Also if you can, try and find a Christian support group for people recovering from addictions, or if that doesn't work, try to find a strong Christian person who you can trust that would be willing to be a mentor of sorts, who will be willing to pray with you and who you can be accountable to.

Read your Bible a lot, maybe turn on some Christian music, too. I know when I was suffering from an addiction of a different sort, turning on worship music or even just Christian music in general when I would get an urge or craving would help me. Also praising God and praying for strength can help too, when those cravings and/or urges hit.  
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