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Contrary to what some people believe, Christians can still struggle with things like addiction. If you are a Christian who struggles with this, keep reading. Because I believe revelation of Jesus in this area can change your life.

Some things to remember:

You are righteous because of what Jesus did, not because of anything that you did.

Because you are righteous due to Jesus' perfect sacrifice, and not your own righteousness, you cannot be made unrighteous because of your own unrighteousness. You didn't earn it by your own actions. You cannot lose it by your own actions.

"he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy" Titus 3:5

God is not mad at you.

Addiction is slavery, and Jesus wants you free.

Again, YOU ARE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST! "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ" (Romans 8:1). This is the Gospel. It is understanding this that will help you overcome. Through Christ, you are made eternally clean. You can still sin. Because your mind and body is not perfect yet. But you are dead to sin (Romans 6:11). Even when you fall, you fall, in Christ. You are still in Christ. And in Christ you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). And your spirit is completely perfect, sealed and cannot be corrupted. This is how God sees you.

Think of this; Jesus makes you clean right? Think of someone who sticks their hand in the mud. Then its dirty right? But they can run to a sink and wash it off again. Then its clean. You could say that this is kind of like what Christ does for us when we sin right? When you sin, you are dirty again, but you can run to Jesus to make you clean right?

Not exactly.

Think of the mud and sink scenario again. You stick your hand in the mud, then you run to the sink to wash it off whenever it gets too dirty. But that's not how it is for those of us who are in Christ. For you, it's like this: your hand is constantly in the sink under the flow of water. It can't get dirty. Even if you pour mud on it, it is just automatically washed off from being under the constant waterfall. This is your spirit. You can still sin, because your mind/body can still operate in imperfection, but your spirit CANNOT be corrupted. Christ's blood is continuously forever making you clean. You don't need to run to God and beg for forgiveness whenever you sin. When you do this, you are just making yourself more sin conscious, which ultimately makes you sin more (look at Romans 7:7-8). Jesus paid for no condemnation for you, so you wouldn't have to feel condemned, in order for you to be free and ultimately overcome this.

Lets relate this to addiction. Think of someone who is addicted to looking at adult websites/films. You look at the website and then you know you have messed up. But you know that God is merciful and will forgive you, so you can just ask for forgiveness. But why ask now? You've already messed up, so you might as well just finish watching. If you ask now, you will probably just continue anyway, then have to ask again. So you might as well just finish the movie and ask later. Besides, you will probably sin more today, so you might as well just wait until the end of the day before you go to bed and then ask for forgiveness for all of your sins that day to make sure everything is covered.

You see how messed up that is?

That's why this doesn't work. Guilt/shame/condemnation empowers addiction. It doesn't free you. You stay stuck in what you are doing. This is not the kind of freedom Jesus had in mind. He didn't come to earth and die just so you could stay doing what you are doing every day, and then at the end of the day ask for forgiveness so you can feel good about yourself! Jesus wants it gone! Jesus loves you and wants you to be free!

Think of this; you have a friend who is wealthier than you are. One day this friend buys you a really awesome new jacket. He bought it for you because he loves you. Not because of anything you did. But it's a gift. However, it is a lot nicer than what you are used to wearing. Its something you could never afford on your own. But then one day, another acquaintance of yours sees you wearing that jacket, and he says "What are you doing wearing that? That's way too good for you! You don't deserve that! You can't afford that! Take it off, and give it here!" So then, you timidly lower your head, take off the jacket and hand it over to your accuser saying "Yeah, your right, I can't afford this. I'm not good enough to wear it. Here you go." What you didn't realize is that your friend, the one who originally bought you this jacket, was standing there and he just saw the whole thing. He runs over to you with hurt in his eyes and says "What did you do that for?!" You reply, "I can't afford that Jacket." Then your friend says, "I know you can't afford it! That's why I bought it for you! Do you know what I spent to get that for you?! It WASN'T CHEAP! I can't believe you just did that!"

Jesus bought righteousness for you! Because you could not accomplish it on your own apart from Him. And it WASN'T CHEAP! He suffered to a level that you will never comprehend! He doesn't want you to comprehend it! Not only the physical suffering of the crucifixion, but the emotional suffering and the spiritual suffering of a God who never knew sin to actually become sin! He put His robe of righteousness on you. This came at a price.

Beloved, you ARE the righteousness of God in Christ! Through Christ, all your sins are forgiven! Not just when you ask for forgiveness. The word "repent" used in the bible in the original Greek is a word that means "to change your mind". What you need to repent and change your mind about is settling for less than what Jesus bought for you! Tell Him, "Jesus I am sorry for not putting on your robe of righteousness because I felt that I was not good enough to wear it, as if I was allowed to wear it because of something I did/avoided doing. I realize now that it was because of your perfect obedience at the cross, not my own, that I can say that I am eternally clean. Thank you for this gift of no condemnation! I believe I am the righteousness of God through you Christ Jesus because of what you accomplished for me!"

Now back to my example of addiction. Instead of feeling like you need to run to Jesus to get clean again after you slip up, if you mess up and look at an inappropriate website/film, don't let the accuser accuse you of not being a very good Christian. Instead, say to yourself "I am the righteousness of God in Christ because Jesus took all of my sin. Jesus still loves me! This does not affect God's opinion of me. Thank you Jesus for this grace that I am still your beloved and you will withhold nothing good from me!" Say and rehearse these things out loud whenever you are watching, smoking, or whatever it is that you do. Say these things no matter how many times you do it.

No condemnation is the key for being able to "go and sin no more". Look at John 8. When the prostitute was brought before Jesus, the last thing He said to her was "I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more." He said this because He knew He was going to pay the price for her sin on the cross. Beloved, it is easy to sin against hard cold stone tablets that say THOU SHALL NOT DO THIS! But it is difficult to sin against a beautiful savior who loves you.

"For God has revealed his grace for the salvation of all people. That grace instructs us to give up ungodly living and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this world," (Titus 2:11-12). God's grace gives you the power to not sin. But if you are still condemning yourself/accepting condemnation from others, and not believing in God's grace that you are clean, then you are not using that power, even though it is available.

One more thing.

Pray in the Holy Spirit.

As His precious beloved child, God wants you to have the supernatural power you need to overcome anything, including addiction. Remember, you are a child of God, not of the world. You are in the world, not of it. You don't have to operate in the way that the people of the world do. Why pray in the Holy Spirit? When you pray in the Holy Spirit, it is your spirit, not your mind that prays (1 Corinthians 14:14). It is the Holy Spirit who gives you the words. If you've never used this gift before, ask God to fill you with this power right now. This is a free gift, just like salvation. All you have to do is ask for it, and you don't have to do anything to earn it. If you've asked, and believed that you have received, then you've got it.

When you pray in the spirit, you are praying the perfect will of God. You are speaking supernatural power and "edifying" yourself or "building yourself up" (1 Corinthians 14:4). If there is anything that addiction has done to damage your mind/body, the Holy Spirit knows what to do to fix it. He knows exactly what you need. When you feel like you want to look at an adult website/other addiction, start praying in the supernatural prayer language that the Lord gives you. When your body is telling you that you need to do something that is harmful, the Holy Spirit knows what needs to be done to correct this. He is your personal Helper. Give your cares to Him and let Him take care of you.

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Contrary to what some people believe, Christians can still struggle with things like addiction. If you are a Christian who struggles with this, keep reading. Because I believe revelation of Jesus in this area can change your life.

Some things to remember:

You are righteous because of what Jesus did, not because of anything that you did.

Because you are righteous due to Jesus' perfect sacrifice, and not your own righteousness, you cannot be made unrighteous because of your own unrighteousness. You didn't earn it by your own actions. You cannot lose it by your own actions.

"he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy" Titus 3:5

God is not mad at you.

Addiction is slavery, and Jesus wants you free.

Again, YOU ARE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST! "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ" (Romans 8:1). This is the Gospel. It is understanding this that will help you overcome. Through Christ, you are made eternally clean. You can still sin. Because your mind and body is not perfect yet. But you are dead to sin (Romans 6:11). Even when you fall, you fall, in Christ. You are still in Christ. And in Christ you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). And your spirit is completely perfect, sealed and cannot be corrupted. This is how God sees you.

Think of this; Jesus makes you clean right? Think of someone who sticks their hand in the mud. Then its dirty right? But they can run to a sink and wash it off again. Then its clean. You could say that this is kind of like what Christ does for us when we sin right? When you sin, you are dirty again, but you can run to Jesus to make you clean right?

Not exactly.

Think of the mud and sink scenario again. You stick your hand in the mud, then you run to the sink to wash it off whenever it gets too dirty. But that's not how it is for those of us who are in Christ. For you, it's like this: your hand is constantly in the sink under the flow of water. It can't get dirty. Even if you pour mud on it, it is just automatically washed off from being under the constant waterfall. This is your spirit. You can still sin, because your mind/body can still operate in imperfection, but your spirit CANNOT be corrupted. Christ's blood is continuously forever making you clean. You don't need to run to God and beg for forgiveness whenever you sin. When you do this, you are just making yourself more sin conscious, which ultimately makes you sin more (look at Romans 7:7-8). Jesus paid for no condemnation for you, so you wouldn't have to feel condemned, in order for you to be free and ultimately overcome this.

Lets relate this to addiction. Think of someone who is addicted to looking at adult websites/films. You look at the website and then you know you have messed up. But you know that God is merciful and will forgive you, so you can just ask for forgiveness. But why ask now? You've already messed up, so you might as well just finish watching. If you ask now, you will probably just continue anyway, then have to ask again. So you might as well just finish the movie and ask later. Besides, you will probably sin more today, so you might as well just wait until the end of the day before you go to bed and then ask for forgiveness for all of your sins that day to make sure everything is covered.

You see how messed up that is?

That's why this doesn't work. Guilt/shame/condemnation empowers addiction. It doesn't free you. You stay stuck in what you are doing. This is not the kind of freedom Jesus had in mind. He didn't come to earth and die just so you could stay doing what you are doing every day, and then at the end of the day ask for forgiveness so you can feel good about yourself! Jesus wants it gone! Jesus loves you and wants you to be free!

Think of this; you have a friend who is wealthier than you are. One day this friend buys you a really awesome new jacket. He bought it for you because he loves you. Not because of anything you did. But it's a gift. However, it is a lot nicer than what you are used to wearing. Its something you could never afford on your own. But then one day, another acquaintance of yours sees you wearing that jacket, and he says "What are you doing wearing that? That's way too good for you! You don't deserve that! You can't afford that! Take it off, and give it here!" So then, you timidly lower your head, take off the jacket and hand it over to your accuser saying "Yeah, your right, I can't afford this. I'm not good enough to wear it. Here you go." What you didn't realize is that your friend, the one who originally bought you this jacket, was standing there and he just saw the whole thing. He runs over to you with hurt in his eyes and says "What did you do that for?!" You reply, "I can't afford that Jacket." Then your friend says, "I know you can't afford it! That's why I bought it for you! Do you know what I spent to get that for you?! It WASN'T CHEAP! I can't believe you just did that!"

Jesus bought righteousness for you! Because you could not accomplish it on your own apart from Him. And it WASN'T CHEAP! He suffered to a level that you will never comprehend! He doesn't want you to comprehend it! Not only the physical suffering of the crucifixion, but the emotional suffering and the spiritual suffering of a God who never knew sin to actually become sin! He put His robe of righteousness on you. This came at a price.

Beloved, you ARE the righteousness of God in Christ! Through Christ, all your sins are forgiven! Not just when you ask for forgiveness. The word "repent" used in the bible in the original Greek is a word that means "to change your mind". What you need to repent and change your mind about is settling for less than what Jesus bought for you! Tell Him, "Jesus I am sorry for not putting on your robe of righteousness because I felt that I was not good enough to wear it, as if I was allowed to wear it because of something I did/avoided doing. I realize now that it was because of your perfect obedience at the cross, not my own, that I can say that I am eternally clean. Thank you for this gift of no condemnation! I believe I am the righteousness of God through you Christ Jesus because of what you accomplished for me!"

Now back to my example of addiction. Instead of feeling like you need to run to Jesus to get clean again after you slip up, if you mess up and look at an inappropriate website/film, don't let the accuser accuse you of not being a very good Christian. Instead, say to yourself "I am the righteousness of God in Christ because Jesus took all of my sin. Jesus still loves me! This does not affect God's opinion of me. Thank you Jesus for this grace that I am still your beloved and you will withhold nothing good from me!" Say and rehearse these things out loud whenever you are watching, smoking, or whatever it is that you do. Say these things no matter how many times you do it.

No condemnation is the key for being able to "go and sin no more". Look at John 8. When the prostitute was brought before Jesus, the last thing He said to her was "I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more." He said this because He knew He was going to pay the price for her sin on the cross. Beloved, it is easy to sin against hard cold stone tablets that say THOU SHALL NOT DO THIS! But it is difficult to sin against a beautiful savior who loves you.

"For God has revealed his grace for the salvation of all people. That grace instructs us to give up ungodly living and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this world," (Titus 2:11-12). God's grace gives you the power to not sin. But if you are still condemning yourself/accepting condemnation from others, and not believing in God's grace that you are clean, then you are not using that power, even though it is available.

One more thing.

Pray in the Holy Spirit.

As His precious beloved child, God wants you to have the supernatural power you need to overcome anything, including addiction. Remember, you are a child of God, not of the world. You are in the world, not of it. You don't have to operate in the way that the people of the world do. Why pray in the Holy Spirit? When you pray in the Holy Spirit, it is your spirit, not your mind that prays (1 Corinthians 14:14). It is the Holy Spirit who gives you the words. If you've never used this gift before, ask God to fill you with this power right now. This is a free gift, just like salvation. All you have to do is ask for it, and you don't have to do anything to earn it. If you've asked, and believed that you have received, then you've got it.

When you pray in the spirit, you are praying the perfect will of God. You are speaking supernatural power and "edifying" yourself or "building yourself up" (1 Corinthians 14:4). If there is anything that addiction has done to damage your mind/body, the Holy Spirit knows what to do to fix it. He knows exactly what you need. When you feel like you want to look at an adult website/other addiction, start praying in the supernatural prayer language that the Lord gives you. When your body is telling you that you need to do something that is harmful, the Holy Spirit knows what needs to be done to correct this. He is your personal Helper. Give your cares to Him and let Him take care of you.