Facing the Giant of AddictionSample

Replace bad habits with good ones 

‘O God...guide me on the road to eternal life.’ Psalm 139:23-24 MSG 

Any habit you keep feeding will only strengthen its grip on your life. Ask a recovering alcoholic – they only change when they ‘hit bottom’. Prodigals don’t come home until they’ve lost everything (see Luke 15:32). But that doesn’t have to be your story, for your Father is waiting to welcome you back now! Come on, you’re a child of the Most High; captivity is unnatural for you! You’ll never be free until you despise your chains. Whether you’re bound by a substance, a relationship, or a life that’s out of order, your circumstances won’t change until your mind is released from old thought patterns and renewed by God’s Word (see Romans 12:2). Start by instituting some new habits, for what you do habitually, you do permanently. Begin the Bible-reading habit. Put it first on your ‘to do’ list or you’ll never do it consistently. Read aloud and you won’t get distracted so easily. ‘Those who discover these words live, really live; body and soul, they’re bursting with health’ (Proverbs 4:22 MSG). Next, learn to pray. Set a special time, otherwise, everything else will crowd it out. In prayer, God will tell you how He feels about things. Can you imagine having His input? Attend church regularly (see Hebrews 10:25). Support it with your finances and develop healthy relationships. There are things God will say to you in His house that He won’t say anywhere else. Your daily habits are carving out an irreversible future for you. If you want to know where you’re going, take another look at your habits! 

Prayer Point:

Help me, Lord, to develop a really honest list of my bad habits and then guide me to find replacements for each one that will build me up in You. I know that the journey to break these habits might be hard, but You are there to help me through. In my weakness, I am made strong in You. I just turn to You today and turn away from the things that bring me down. Amen.