Freedom Church
November 12, 2023 4 Giants - The Spirit of Addiction
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Sunday, November 12th
Message: The Spirit of Addiction
Series: The Four Giants
Speaker: Pastor Jason John Cowart
Message: The Spirit of Addiction
Series: The Four Giants
Speaker: Pastor Jason John Cowart
Four Giants
Last week the poverty spirit. Praying God showed you some things and that you were willing to step out. I know several who made decisions to get in finical covenant with God this week. This is how you keep the giant of poverty dead - be generous.
Just because we prayed a prayer and confessed some things, does that mean the giant no longer exists in Liberty County? You may still see poverty, but God almost always uses a remnant of people who refuse to bow to see change happen. Israel itself was chosen for the purpose of showing the world how to have relationship with God.
This is why it is important to break the power of that spirit in your own life, so you can be an example of what it means to live a generous, biblical life.
You may still see signs of poverty around here, but the spirit itself has been toppled. It is up to us to see that the people around here know how to live a generous life out of poverty. But it starts with us.
Go watch last week again if you need to on our website or youtube channel. Get free of this mentality!
Last week the poverty spirit. Praying God showed you some things and that you were willing to step out. I know several who made decisions to get in finical covenant with God this week. This is how you keep the giant of poverty dead - be generous.
Just because we prayed a prayer and confessed some things, does that mean the giant no longer exists in Liberty County? You may still see poverty, but God almost always uses a remnant of people who refuse to bow to see change happen. Israel itself was chosen for the purpose of showing the world how to have relationship with God.
This is why it is important to break the power of that spirit in your own life, so you can be an example of what it means to live a generous, biblical life.
You may still see signs of poverty around here, but the spirit itself has been toppled. It is up to us to see that the people around here know how to live a generous life out of poverty. But it starts with us.
Go watch last week again if you need to on our website or youtube channel. Get free of this mentality!
TODAY: Addiction
From the Latin addicere “to declare”
By the time it got to the 1500s, it was translated as “devotion to a habit.”
We see this spirit rampant in our area, our culture as well.
While we automatically assume that this is a drug related thing, like cigarettes, vaping, alcohol, marijuana, hard drugs, etc, we need to see the truth that addiction is so much more than a substance issue.
Sexual immorality, which includes things like impurity, sensuality, pornography, fornication, even orientation and gender identities, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, which are some of the fruits of the flesh from Galatians 5, qualify.
Unfortunately, we aren’t finished. Addictions to what people think, how we are perceived, to making money and having more and more and more, things like our appearance, social status, level of importance, even things like power, control, and influence. These are addictions.
I want to cut to the chase today with you concerning addictions. This is not complicated, so let’s get to the truth.
When we engage in addictive behavior, we are devoting ourselves to a habit.
What is devoting?
Again from the Latin de vovere to vow
“To sacrifice oneself by a vow.”
Vow: "to sacrificially offer and promise”
When we engage in an addiction, we are worshipping it.
We are “offering our sacrificed selves as a vow of our devotion.”
We are idol worshippers.
From the Latin addicere “to declare”
By the time it got to the 1500s, it was translated as “devotion to a habit.”
We see this spirit rampant in our area, our culture as well.
While we automatically assume that this is a drug related thing, like cigarettes, vaping, alcohol, marijuana, hard drugs, etc, we need to see the truth that addiction is so much more than a substance issue.
Sexual immorality, which includes things like impurity, sensuality, pornography, fornication, even orientation and gender identities, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, which are some of the fruits of the flesh from Galatians 5, qualify.
Unfortunately, we aren’t finished. Addictions to what people think, how we are perceived, to making money and having more and more and more, things like our appearance, social status, level of importance, even things like power, control, and influence. These are addictions.
I want to cut to the chase today with you concerning addictions. This is not complicated, so let’s get to the truth.
When we engage in addictive behavior, we are devoting ourselves to a habit.
What is devoting?
Again from the Latin de vovere to vow
“To sacrifice oneself by a vow.”
Vow: "to sacrificially offer and promise”
When we engage in an addiction, we are worshipping it.
We are “offering our sacrificed selves as a vow of our devotion.”
We are idol worshippers.
Idolatry in Israel - Ezekiel 20
Idols from Forefathers
Ezekiel 20:4-6, 18
4 “Son of man, bring charges against them and condemn them. Make them realize how detestable the sins of their ancestors really were. 5 Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: When I chose Israel—when I revealed myself to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt—I took a solemn oath that I, the Lord, would be their God. 6 I took a solemn oath that day that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them—a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands anywhere.
18 “Then I warned their children not to follow in their parents’ footsteps, defiling themselves with their idols.
Parents, what you leave at the cross your children won’t have to deal with it.
Idols from Forefathers
Ezekiel 20:4-6, 18
4 “Son of man, bring charges against them and condemn them. Make them realize how detestable the sins of their ancestors really were. 5 Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: When I chose Israel—when I revealed myself to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt—I took a solemn oath that I, the Lord, would be their God. 6 I took a solemn oath that day that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them—a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands anywhere.
18 “Then I warned their children not to follow in their parents’ footsteps, defiling themselves with their idols.
Parents, what you leave at the cross your children won’t have to deal with it.
Idols from Places You’ve Been
Ezekiel 20:7-8
7 Then I said to them, ‘Each of you, get rid of the vile images you are so obsessed with. Do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt, for I am the Lord your God.’ 8 “But they rebelled against me and would not listen. They did not get rid of the vile images they were obsessed with, or forsake the idols of Egypt.
We often pick up habits along the way from the places and environments we’ve been in, and what may have been a survival mechanism in your past is a crutch in your present and sabotage for your future.
Don’t let the addiction that helped you cope yesterday destroy tomorrow.
Ezekiel 20:7-8
7 Then I said to them, ‘Each of you, get rid of the vile images you are so obsessed with. Do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt, for I am the Lord your God.’ 8 “But they rebelled against me and would not listen. They did not get rid of the vile images they were obsessed with, or forsake the idols of Egypt.
We often pick up habits along the way from the places and environments we’ve been in, and what may have been a survival mechanism in your past is a crutch in your present and sabotage for your future.
Don’t let the addiction that helped you cope yesterday destroy tomorrow.
Idols from a Lack of Direction
Ezekiel 20:26
26 I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them…
This references the golden calf made from the gold they got from the Egyptians as they left. They didn’t know what happened to Moses so they reverted to habits from their old lives.
By the way, be careful you don’t idolize your gift, refusing to honor the one who gave it.
“An idle mind is the devil’s playground.” This is an old wives tale.
But humans do tend to revert to negative habitual behavior when bored, idle, or unchallenged.
Idols surface in idle moments.
Ezekiel 20:26
26 I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them…
This references the golden calf made from the gold they got from the Egyptians as they left. They didn’t know what happened to Moses so they reverted to habits from their old lives.
By the way, be careful you don’t idolize your gift, refusing to honor the one who gave it.
“An idle mind is the devil’s playground.” This is an old wives tale.
But humans do tend to revert to negative habitual behavior when bored, idle, or unchallenged.
Idols surface in idle moments.
Idols from Unholy Yokes
Ezekiel 20:21, 266
21 …They refused to keep my decrees and follow my regulations…26 I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them, and I allowed them to give their firstborn children as offerings to their gods
Israel "yoked herself" to Baal-Peor on the way into Canaan as we see in Numbers 25, engaging in ritual child sacrifice to Molech.
As detestable and hard to palate as this is, we have to be careful we are not judging too harshly. While I have never even considered for a second offering my kids as a burnt offering to Molech, I have exposed my kids to addictive behaviors in my life. Like anger and frustration, like the need for approval, even control
What addicted habits have you exposed your kids to?
Let me say it like this:
What sacrificial devotion to habits have you taught your kids?
You don’t have to sacrifice your kid to Molech to have an unholy yoke.
You just have to expose them to your addiction from your unholy yoke.
Ezekiel 20:21, 266
21 …They refused to keep my decrees and follow my regulations…26 I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them, and I allowed them to give their firstborn children as offerings to their gods
Israel "yoked herself" to Baal-Peor on the way into Canaan as we see in Numbers 25, engaging in ritual child sacrifice to Molech.
As detestable and hard to palate as this is, we have to be careful we are not judging too harshly. While I have never even considered for a second offering my kids as a burnt offering to Molech, I have exposed my kids to addictive behaviors in my life. Like anger and frustration, like the need for approval, even control
What addicted habits have you exposed your kids to?
Let me say it like this:
What sacrificial devotion to habits have you taught your kids?
You don’t have to sacrifice your kid to Molech to have an unholy yoke.
You just have to expose them to your addiction from your unholy yoke.
Idols from a Desire to Fit In
Ezekiel 20:32, 35
32 “You say, ‘We want to be like the nations all around us, who serve idols of wood and stone.’ But what you have in mind will never happen. 35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face.
Sometimes addictions in our lives stem from a sincere desire to fit in with those around you. I am not trying to pull the peer pressure card here, but you have to understand that a spirit of addiction will do whatever it takes to get you bound. It will even use people in your life you love. They’ll invite you into their addiction and before you know it, you are trapped.
Interestingly enough, God called Israel to stand out, NOT to fit in. We have to be careful we are not finding ourselves in addictive behaviors because we are so adamant about fitting in to something when God’s called us to stand out.
Ezekiel 20:32, 35
32 “You say, ‘We want to be like the nations all around us, who serve idols of wood and stone.’ But what you have in mind will never happen. 35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face.
Sometimes addictions in our lives stem from a sincere desire to fit in with those around you. I am not trying to pull the peer pressure card here, but you have to understand that a spirit of addiction will do whatever it takes to get you bound. It will even use people in your life you love. They’ll invite you into their addiction and before you know it, you are trapped.
Interestingly enough, God called Israel to stand out, NOT to fit in. We have to be careful we are not finding ourselves in addictive behaviors because we are so adamant about fitting in to something when God’s called us to stand out.
Idols from Rejecting What God Says
Ezekiel 20:8
8 “But they rebelled against me and would not listen.
Again, it is so easy to hate on Israel in this moment, but we are in the same predicament! Imagine you are addicted to affirmation because you can’t stand the thought of being rejected by people. Meanwhile, God in both his word and to you personally has reassured you that no matter what other people say or think, you are his child, you are enough because he is enough, and that the thoughts he thinks towards you are innumerable. But you won’t listen. And as a result addiction whispers in your ear to ignore what God says and cling to what people say.
You think addiction only lives in crack pipes. Wrong. It lives in rebellion, too.
Ezekiel 20:8
8 “But they rebelled against me and would not listen.
Again, it is so easy to hate on Israel in this moment, but we are in the same predicament! Imagine you are addicted to affirmation because you can’t stand the thought of being rejected by people. Meanwhile, God in both his word and to you personally has reassured you that no matter what other people say or think, you are his child, you are enough because he is enough, and that the thoughts he thinks towards you are innumerable. But you won’t listen. And as a result addiction whispers in your ear to ignore what God says and cling to what people say.
You think addiction only lives in crack pipes. Wrong. It lives in rebellion, too.
Idols from Feeling Abandoned
Ezekiel was writing this while in exile under the Babylonians. Israel had already been exiled under the Assyrians. It may have seemed to them that God had abandoned them, but even towards the end of Ezekiel 20, the elders, sitting before Ezekiel in exile, were thinking that they should worship the idols like other nations.
When you feel abandoned, it is so easy to justify addictive behavior.
Perhaps you and your spouse are at odds and intimacy has suffered.
Because of that, you justify addictive behaviors that destroy that intimacy.
Look at Judas.
He felt Jesus had failed him in that Jesus was not going to overthrow the Romans. So he decided to betray Jesus.
How does this apply?
His addiction was money and betrayal. He’d been doing both the whole time. He would steal money from the till the whole time. His addiction to money made him steal, but the perceived abandonment justified his betrayal in his mind.
Ezekiel was writing this while in exile under the Babylonians. Israel had already been exiled under the Assyrians. It may have seemed to them that God had abandoned them, but even towards the end of Ezekiel 20, the elders, sitting before Ezekiel in exile, were thinking that they should worship the idols like other nations.
When you feel abandoned, it is so easy to justify addictive behavior.
Perhaps you and your spouse are at odds and intimacy has suffered.
Because of that, you justify addictive behaviors that destroy that intimacy.
Look at Judas.
He felt Jesus had failed him in that Jesus was not going to overthrow the Romans. So he decided to betray Jesus.
How does this apply?
His addiction was money and betrayal. He’d been doing both the whole time. He would steal money from the till the whole time. His addiction to money made him steal, but the perceived abandonment justified his betrayal in his mind.
These are some main areas and not a comprehensive list, but they all have one thing in common: IDOLATRY.
And that idolatry had some pretty harsh results:
4 “Son of man, bring charges against them and condemn them. Make them realize how detestable the sins of their ancestors really were.
8…Then I threatened to pour out my fury on them to satisfy my anger while they were still in Egypt.
13…I threatened to pour out my fury on them, and I made plans to utterly consume them in the wilderness. 17 Nevertheless, I took pity on them and held back from destroying them in the wilderness.
23 But I took a solemn oath against them in the wilderness. I swore I would scatter them among all the nations 24 because they did not obey my regulations. They scorned my decrees by violating my Sabbath days and longing for the idols of their ancestors. 25 I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life. 26 I let them pollute themselves so I might devastate them and remind them that I alone am the Lord.
30 “Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: Do you plan to pollute yourselves just as your ancestors did? Do you intend to keep prostituting yourselves by worshiping vile images?
33 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will rule over you with an iron fist in great anger and with awesome power. 35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face. 36 I will judge you there just as I did your ancestors in the wilderness after bringing them out of Egypt, says the Sovereign Lord.
39 “As for you, O people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go right ahead and worship your idols, but sooner or later you will obey me and will stop bringing shame on my holy name by worshiping idols. 43 You will look back on all the ways you defiled yourselves and will hate yourselves because of the evil you have done. 44 You will know that I am the Lord, O people of Israel, when I have honored my name by treating you mercifully in spite of your wickedness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
Ok yall be blessed and have a great week! That is harsh, y’all. And before you say, “That is Old Testament God. He is nicer now.” let me just remind you that Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law, and Jesus didn’t remove the HOLINESS of God from his descriptors.
Holiness is still essential. Be HOLY for I am HOLY.
It is interesting that addictions are habits we dedicate ourselves to, and the definition of holy is “set apart, consecrated, something DEDICATED.”
I know I read a lot of scary things that come from idolatry, but there is one phrase repeated a few times that is encouraging:
Ezekiel 20:13
13 “But the people of Israel rebelled against me, and they refused to obey my decrees there in the wilderness. They wouldn’t obey my regulations even though obedience would have given them life.
Do you see now how big of a deal your addiction is, and how negative of an impact it is having on you?
Today’s message is not about beating you down and condemning you for having an addiction.
More than anything, I want you to see three things today:
And that idolatry had some pretty harsh results:
4 “Son of man, bring charges against them and condemn them. Make them realize how detestable the sins of their ancestors really were.
8…Then I threatened to pour out my fury on them to satisfy my anger while they were still in Egypt.
13…I threatened to pour out my fury on them, and I made plans to utterly consume them in the wilderness. 17 Nevertheless, I took pity on them and held back from destroying them in the wilderness.
23 But I took a solemn oath against them in the wilderness. I swore I would scatter them among all the nations 24 because they did not obey my regulations. They scorned my decrees by violating my Sabbath days and longing for the idols of their ancestors. 25 I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations that would not lead to life. 26 I let them pollute themselves so I might devastate them and remind them that I alone am the Lord.
30 “Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: Do you plan to pollute yourselves just as your ancestors did? Do you intend to keep prostituting yourselves by worshiping vile images?
33 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will rule over you with an iron fist in great anger and with awesome power. 35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face. 36 I will judge you there just as I did your ancestors in the wilderness after bringing them out of Egypt, says the Sovereign Lord.
39 “As for you, O people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go right ahead and worship your idols, but sooner or later you will obey me and will stop bringing shame on my holy name by worshiping idols. 43 You will look back on all the ways you defiled yourselves and will hate yourselves because of the evil you have done. 44 You will know that I am the Lord, O people of Israel, when I have honored my name by treating you mercifully in spite of your wickedness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
Ok yall be blessed and have a great week! That is harsh, y’all. And before you say, “That is Old Testament God. He is nicer now.” let me just remind you that Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law, and Jesus didn’t remove the HOLINESS of God from his descriptors.
Holiness is still essential. Be HOLY for I am HOLY.
It is interesting that addictions are habits we dedicate ourselves to, and the definition of holy is “set apart, consecrated, something DEDICATED.”
I know I read a lot of scary things that come from idolatry, but there is one phrase repeated a few times that is encouraging:
Ezekiel 20:13
13 “But the people of Israel rebelled against me, and they refused to obey my decrees there in the wilderness. They wouldn’t obey my regulations even though obedience would have given them life.
Do you see now how big of a deal your addiction is, and how negative of an impact it is having on you?
Today’s message is not about beating you down and condemning you for having an addiction.
More than anything, I want you to see three things today:
1. You have to stop the idolatry.
Idolatry can seem just a worship of the wrong thing, but it is more than that.
Idolatry in the context of addiction is the worship of an apparent lack in your life.
Take a look at some basic addictions:
Substances
- Some do them to cope
- Some do them to cover pain
- Some do them out of rebellion
There are a million reasons, but each reason speaks to brokenness inside a person.
Emotional addictions
- Rejection, anger, control, identity, etc.
- Do I really have to explain these?
When we are faced with a perceived lack or pain, obedience turns our attention to God who is our provider, but the spirit of addiction is bent on not only exploiting our lack, but using our lack or pain as an excuse to indulge in the worship of that addiction.
This spirit wants you to idolize the lack and pain to justify the addiction.
While I realize that physical addictions create physical dependencies, the physical dependency was the result of the initial idolatry. Had you not sacrificed yourself in devotion to your habit, there would be no physical dependence.
AGAIN - this is not to condemn.
It is to open your eyes to the fact that your addiction is rooted in idolatry.
Exodus 20:2-3
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
If you have an addiction, you need to ask a simple question right now:
What god am I worshipping?
Follow up:
If I am worshipping something else, why am I so convinced that God Almighty cannot tend to my needs, heal my pain, and/or mend my brokenness, but this other god can?
Clarifying, what need is the spirit of addiction meeting that God Almighty isn’t? This will give you the root of your addiction.
Psalm 135:15-18
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 16 They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; 17 they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.
This last verse is an interesting clue into what makes your addiction so hard to shake. There is something that happens when you engage in your addiction that is enough to make you keep coming back, even when the addiction is destructive.
So what is it about your addiction that speaks identity to you? You will worship anything that gives you identity.
So how do you stop idolatry?
Idolatry can seem just a worship of the wrong thing, but it is more than that.
Idolatry in the context of addiction is the worship of an apparent lack in your life.
Take a look at some basic addictions:
Substances
- Some do them to cope
- Some do them to cover pain
- Some do them out of rebellion
There are a million reasons, but each reason speaks to brokenness inside a person.
Emotional addictions
- Rejection, anger, control, identity, etc.
- Do I really have to explain these?
When we are faced with a perceived lack or pain, obedience turns our attention to God who is our provider, but the spirit of addiction is bent on not only exploiting our lack, but using our lack or pain as an excuse to indulge in the worship of that addiction.
This spirit wants you to idolize the lack and pain to justify the addiction.
While I realize that physical addictions create physical dependencies, the physical dependency was the result of the initial idolatry. Had you not sacrificed yourself in devotion to your habit, there would be no physical dependence.
AGAIN - this is not to condemn.
It is to open your eyes to the fact that your addiction is rooted in idolatry.
Exodus 20:2-3
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
If you have an addiction, you need to ask a simple question right now:
What god am I worshipping?
Follow up:
If I am worshipping something else, why am I so convinced that God Almighty cannot tend to my needs, heal my pain, and/or mend my brokenness, but this other god can?
Clarifying, what need is the spirit of addiction meeting that God Almighty isn’t? This will give you the root of your addiction.
Psalm 135:15-18
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 16 They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; 17 they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.
This last verse is an interesting clue into what makes your addiction so hard to shake. There is something that happens when you engage in your addiction that is enough to make you keep coming back, even when the addiction is destructive.
So what is it about your addiction that speaks identity to you? You will worship anything that gives you identity.
So how do you stop idolatry?
2. You have to be holy.
Ok how do I do that?
You have to love God more than you love your addiction. You have to want to be set apart, consecrated to God. You have to be more serious about your relationship with Jesus than your relationship with your lack, pain, and brokenness. You have to care more about growing closer to Jesus than your need for a fix. You have to crave time with him more than you crave the your addiction. Jesus has to be your focus, not your lack, pain, and brokenness.
I know you may want this, but wanting it and knowing how to get are two different stories.
Andrew Womack: “Holiness is the fruit, not the root.”
Holiness is the byproduct of lordship. Remember, lordship is all or nothing. If you are struggling with an addiction that has consumed your life, I am not challenging your salvation, but I am asking you to check it.
Salvation is not your heart on Sundays. It is ALL of you.
If you haven’t made Jesus Lord of your life, you have no hope of being free from the spirit of addiction. Do it now! "JESUS I CONFESS you as LORD of my life. I believe in you. I confess you as Lord. Save me.
ALL of me is yours."
Maybe you are a Christian, but that addiction is living in a room of your heart you’ve kept from God. Here’s your chance! Give him access right now!
Spiritual Life Hack:
The key to that room might be confessing a sin, acknowledging a hurt, forgiving someone, or more.
So how did God want Israel to be holy?
1. Obedience to the Word of God.
2. Rejecting unbiblical, idolatrous culture.
3. Embrace covenant completely.
4. Let everything you do focus you on God.
5. Seek and honor his presence constantly.
Same works for us today, too. If you aren’t doing these things, or at the minimum trying to, how can you possible stay holy? And if you can’t stay holy, how can you possibly reject idols? And if you can’t reject idols, how can you not be overcome by addictions?
When you chase anything harder than you chase Jesus, the result is always unholy, idolatrous, addiction.
Ok how do I do that?
You have to love God more than you love your addiction. You have to want to be set apart, consecrated to God. You have to be more serious about your relationship with Jesus than your relationship with your lack, pain, and brokenness. You have to care more about growing closer to Jesus than your need for a fix. You have to crave time with him more than you crave the your addiction. Jesus has to be your focus, not your lack, pain, and brokenness.
I know you may want this, but wanting it and knowing how to get are two different stories.
Andrew Womack: “Holiness is the fruit, not the root.”
Holiness is the byproduct of lordship. Remember, lordship is all or nothing. If you are struggling with an addiction that has consumed your life, I am not challenging your salvation, but I am asking you to check it.
Salvation is not your heart on Sundays. It is ALL of you.
If you haven’t made Jesus Lord of your life, you have no hope of being free from the spirit of addiction. Do it now! "JESUS I CONFESS you as LORD of my life. I believe in you. I confess you as Lord. Save me.
ALL of me is yours."
Maybe you are a Christian, but that addiction is living in a room of your heart you’ve kept from God. Here’s your chance! Give him access right now!
Spiritual Life Hack:
The key to that room might be confessing a sin, acknowledging a hurt, forgiving someone, or more.
So how did God want Israel to be holy?
1. Obedience to the Word of God.
2. Rejecting unbiblical, idolatrous culture.
3. Embrace covenant completely.
4. Let everything you do focus you on God.
5. Seek and honor his presence constantly.
Same works for us today, too. If you aren’t doing these things, or at the minimum trying to, how can you possible stay holy? And if you can’t stay holy, how can you possibly reject idols? And if you can’t reject idols, how can you not be overcome by addictions?
When you chase anything harder than you chase Jesus, the result is always unholy, idolatrous, addiction.
3. You have to lay it down.
What is it? It is different for everyone.
Little exercise here:
Ask the Holy Spirit, “What addictions am I dealing with right now?”
What do you need to lay down today? You heard it from him, not me. I am not asking you. God is. But let me encourage you first with this:
Micah 5:13
And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands;
God can play a part in the destruction of these addictions if you will let him.
Colossians 3:1-5
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.
Earthly. Man made. Made by hands.
If you will allow God to destroy the idols and addictions, and if you will put to death the earthly things you’ve been worshipping, the giant will fall.
What is it? It is different for everyone.
Little exercise here:
Ask the Holy Spirit, “What addictions am I dealing with right now?”
What do you need to lay down today? You heard it from him, not me. I am not asking you. God is. But let me encourage you first with this:
Micah 5:13
And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands;
God can play a part in the destruction of these addictions if you will let him.
Colossians 3:1-5
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.
Earthly. Man made. Made by hands.
If you will allow God to destroy the idols and addictions, and if you will put to death the earthly things you’ve been worshipping, the giant will fall.
So let’s wrap this up with a statement and a prayer of confession.
The statement is this:
For too long a spirit of addiction has been allowed to rule and reign in Liberty County, and with the same judgement God gave Belshazzar, King of Babylon in Daniel 5, we speak this to the spirit of addiction in this entire area:
Mene - God has numbered your kingdom and finished it.
Tekel - You have been weighed and found lacking.
Upharsin - Your kingdom has been divided and taken from you.
Addiction, fall in the mighty name of Jesus. Leave and never return.
Now let’s deal with these addictions in our lives.
Now that the spirit of addiction has been pulled down, let’s walk in freedom through our confession today. Confess with me:
The statement is this:
For too long a spirit of addiction has been allowed to rule and reign in Liberty County, and with the same judgement God gave Belshazzar, King of Babylon in Daniel 5, we speak this to the spirit of addiction in this entire area:
Mene - God has numbered your kingdom and finished it.
Tekel - You have been weighed and found lacking.
Upharsin - Your kingdom has been divided and taken from you.
Addiction, fall in the mighty name of Jesus. Leave and never return.
Now let’s deal with these addictions in our lives.
Now that the spirit of addiction has been pulled down, let’s walk in freedom through our confession today. Confess with me:
“Father, I confess now that a spirit of addiction has affected how I think, believe, and act.
I acknowledge that I have been under the influence of the spirit of addiction and that I have allowed it to impact my family.
I repent before you, Lord, for my involvement with the spirit of addiction and come out of agreement with the spirit of addiction in the name of Jesus.
By the power of Your blood and Your Holy Spirit in me, Lord, I dismantle it, bind it from attaching itself to me or my dependents, and command it to flee and never return.
I confess you God Almighty are my sources you are enough, you are my God, and because you are my provider, I lack nothing. Because you are my healer, I do not wallow in pain. And because you mend the broken-hearted, I am no longer broken.
In the name of Jesus, I confess I no longer need these addictions like I thought I did before.
I confess the following addictions: (confess these to the Father)
Please forgive me for what I have done. I confess these as sin and repent.
I receive your forgiveness right now.
I also command by the mighty name of Jesus that all accompanying spirits that have taken advantage of me in my addiction flee and never return.
I am a new creation, and all things are made new in you Jesus. Fill every space emptied by addiction with your Holy Spirit.
Thank you for deliverance! In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.”
I acknowledge that I have been under the influence of the spirit of addiction and that I have allowed it to impact my family.
I repent before you, Lord, for my involvement with the spirit of addiction and come out of agreement with the spirit of addiction in the name of Jesus.
By the power of Your blood and Your Holy Spirit in me, Lord, I dismantle it, bind it from attaching itself to me or my dependents, and command it to flee and never return.
I confess you God Almighty are my sources you are enough, you are my God, and because you are my provider, I lack nothing. Because you are my healer, I do not wallow in pain. And because you mend the broken-hearted, I am no longer broken.
In the name of Jesus, I confess I no longer need these addictions like I thought I did before.
I confess the following addictions: (confess these to the Father)
Please forgive me for what I have done. I confess these as sin and repent.
I receive your forgiveness right now.
I also command by the mighty name of Jesus that all accompanying spirits that have taken advantage of me in my addiction flee and never return.
I am a new creation, and all things are made new in you Jesus. Fill every space emptied by addiction with your Holy Spirit.
Thank you for deliverance! In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.”
3. You have to lay it down.
What is it? It is different for everyone.
Little exercise here:
Ask the Holy Spirit, “What addictions am I dealing with right now?”
What do you need to lay down today? You heard it from him, not me. I am not asking you. God is. But let me encourage you first with this:
Micah 5:13
And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands;
God can play a part in the destruction of these addictions if you will let him.
Colossians 3:1-5
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.
Earthly. Man made. Made by hands.
If you will allow God to destroy the idols and addictions, and if you will put to death the earthly things you’ve been worshipping, the giant will fall.
What is it? It is different for everyone.
Little exercise here:
Ask the Holy Spirit, “What addictions am I dealing with right now?”
What do you need to lay down today? You heard it from him, not me. I am not asking you. God is. But let me encourage you first with this:
Micah 5:13
And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands;
God can play a part in the destruction of these addictions if you will let him.
Colossians 3:1-5
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.
Earthly. Man made. Made by hands.
If you will allow God to destroy the idols and addictions, and if you will put to death the earthly things you’ve been worshipping, the giant will fall.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?
How does he want you to respond?
How does he want you to respond?