How to Break an Addiction or a Bad Habit

Breaking Free From Besetting Sins

How to Break an Addiction or a Bad Habit

I. Introduction

II. How to Break an Addiction or a Bad Habit

A. Begin

1. Proverbs 27:1 (NAS) Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

2. always makes a problem worse!

3. Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NAS) He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.

B. Don’t

1. You’ll never get until you take personal !

2. Proverbs 19:3 (NLT) People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord.

3. In order to break an addiction, you have to quit yourself and quit others!

C. Take a personal of your

1. “How have I had this problem?”

2. Psalm 139:23-24 (NAS) ²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; ²⁴and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

3. prevents healing!

D. Ask Jesus Christ to completely take your

1. Romans 6:12-13, 16 (NLT) ¹²Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. ¹³Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. ¹⁶Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

a. The solution to your addiction or bad habit, is to choose the !

2. We can’t just give God our . We have to give Him of us!

3. Romans 12:1 (NAS) Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

4. When you turn the of your life over to Jesus, it produces incredible power to !

E. Stay away from

1. The key to avoiding temptation is to in !

2. I Corinthians 15:33 (NAS) Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

3. You may need to choose some new .

F. Focus your on something else

1. Whatever you on is the thing that begins to you.

2. Proverbs 4:20-22 (NAS) ²⁰My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. ²¹Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. ²²For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body.

3. II Corinthians 10:3-5 (NAS) ³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, ⁴for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

4. The spiritual battle against sin is fought in your ! If you want to change your life, you must get control of your .

5. Whatever captures your , captures you!

6. Replace the with the .

7. Philippians 4:8 (NAS) Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

G. Restore

1. Anything out of in your life is somebody else.

2. Romans 12:18 (NAS) If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

3. How do you do that?

a. Take the initiative, make a list of people who you feel you may have .

b. Go to them and ask for forgiveness. Then, offer , if needed.

4. For permanent, lasting change, you must maintain a !

H. Get involved in a

1. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NAS) ⁹Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. ¹⁰For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

2. James 5:16a (NAS) Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

3. “I want to be free from this addiction, but I don’t want to know about it.”

4. God puts us in His Body (Church) so we can live transparent lives and each other overcome our problems and addictions!

I. myself to

1. II Corinthians 1:3-4 (NLT) ³All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

2. God often wants to take our greatest and make it part of our !

III. Conclusion