As a follow-up to my blog on “A Biblical Basis for Addictions“, it will be good to examine four steps that are required to find total deliverance from addiction. These are

1. Define triggers,
2. Have an accountability relationship based on agape love,
3. Rebuild broken walls, and
4. Feed wholeness through a spiritual community.

The process begins with an acknowledgement of the problem, that one has a particular weakness that is destroying his life and something has to be done. It is helpful when the addict recognizes that God has the ultimate answer.

So much of the process is directly related to willingness, a willingness to allow things that have been kept private to be brought out into the light. Most of us have a tendency to maintain a secret life with no one allowed in, not even God. A successful road to recovery from any addiction requires the assistance of others who will provide leadership, direction, accountability, and support. Bringing light into dark places defines the real dark areas and allows the light to cleanse its environment. In John 3:20-21, “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” Bringing the Light of God into any environment is its ultimate salvation.

1. Define Triggers

A trigger is any form of stimuli that initiates the desire to engage in addictive behavior. During the course of a recovery program, triggers may prompt an individual to slip-up and use a substance or engage in a behavior that they otherwise are trying to avoid. Triggers are associated with a memory or situation that relates in some way to prior substance abuse behaviors. As someone struggles with addiction, the people they interact with, the places they spend their time and in some situations their place of work can become strongly associated with their addictive behavior. A lack of understanding of the particular triggers that can cause a relapse are essential in overcoming the warfare surrounding the addiction.

In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” To face the trigger(s) is to acknowledge its exists and do something.

2. Have an Agapic Accountability Relationship

When the biggest challenges invade our lives and disrupt our sense of well-being, it becomes all the more likely we turn to escape mechanisms that never really deal with the difficulty. As the addictive behavior gets more rooted in one’s physiology over time, deliverance from the addiction is no longer possible alone. Finding an accountability partner, one motivated by an agape (unconditional) love becomes essential in addressing the problem. This person, many times a trained professional becomes the one in whom we must place our trust to tell us the truth and who is willing to accept the challenge and commitment necessary for its completion.

Accountability partners are healthy for any Christian. Proverbs 11:14 says that there is safety in a multitude of counsel. In Proverbs 15:22, “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed”. Then there is Proverbs 24:6, “For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory”. Since dealing with addictions is warfare, becoming accountable to another provides a visible path to victory since it opens the door for clear thinking by reliable sources who care. Trusting another to this degree is not easy, but trust is never easy when so much of life is hidden. Yet trust is the elixir that opens wide the door to hope that the circumstances are not the end of the story.

3. Rebuild Broken Walls

Once light is being shed on the addiction and there is acceptance of accountability partner(s), the process requires honesty, a willingness to come clean and accept the consequences, a risky proposition. Most of us have heard the old proverb, “honesty is the best policy”. Honesty deals not only with the negative effects of the addiction on the addict, but also on the ones also impacted. When Jesus was teaching the parable of the sower and the seed, He spoke about the good soil in this way, “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8:15). The good heart is an honest heart, one that is done with hiding from the failures and negative effects of addictive behaviors. This heart is ready to bear fruit.

Rebuilding broken walls includes restoring relationships as well as offering restitution where appropriate. In Leviticus 6:1-5, the Law of Moses commands that the one who “sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and deceives his companion” is required to “restore what he took” in full and even one-fifth more. This principle is addressing the need that restoring relationships requires restitution in some way. That restitution may be in many different forms, not just in material ways. It means going the extra mile to make sure the wronged parties are aware that the abuser is sincere about making things right. The principle of restitution creates a good heart.

4. Feed Wholeness Through a Spiritual Community

God has ordained a community of believers, known as the Body of Christ (church) to provide a safe environment of support and reconciliation. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul defines many of the dynamics of this spiritual organism, including the fact that it is one, made up of many members. This oneness is possible through the working of the Holy Spirit as each member recognizes one Head, Jesus Christ. In verses 14-15, “For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body”. In the same way, each member has a different function based on the spiritual gifts given. In verse 21-22, “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.” This organism values each member, especially the weaker ones.

Within the Body of Christ, there is a united effort to honor those less honorable, but how? In verses 23-25, “and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another”. Inherent is the working of each member for the benefit of the whole with those weakest receiving the greatest honor. It is this provision that makes the Body of Christ the greatest place of support for the one struggling with addiction. Finding one’s place within the church allows each member to realize his particular call and giftedness and to exercise those gifts. It also is the place where God’s love is manifested (Ephesians 1:6).

Wholeness is the final work of the cross in the believer’s life. The Apostle Paul tells us that to comprehend the breadth, length, height and depth of the love of Christ is to “be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19), the place of God’s wholeness. Mature believers provide the clearest manifestation of His agape love and the strongest community to care for those that need its support, for the glory of God.

Psalm 71:1-6

“In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be ashamed. In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline Your ear to me and save me. Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come; You have given commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man, For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth. By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother’s womb; my praise is continually of You.”

Ultimately, one’s devotion to the person and work of Christ is his greatest protection, his place of deliverance from any enemy. As the believer learns to press in to His life through His Body and the believer’s unique call, the enemy is progressively being made ineffective in destroying quality of life. The addictive behavior become less and less an issue to wrestle.

Psychology Today defines addiction as “a condition in which a person engages in the use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.” Spiritually speaking, the unbeliever is vulnerable to all kinds of maladies and infections because he is subject to his environment. He has no defense against the wiles of the devil who enslaves by corruption the hearts and minds of the unsuspecting. It is an invisible war that controls many to their own destruction.

The devil will employ ones “who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties” (2 Peter 2:10). In verses 18-19, “For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.” There is an organized effort by demonic forces to entrap and enslave those who live in the lusts of the flesh and indulge the desires commissioned by the flesh.  When the individual realizes his plight, medication in the form of drugs and alcohol or other excesses become his escape.

Only by the Power of God

Secular society administers many organized programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) with goals to deliver addicted ones from substances such as alcohol, inhalants, opioids, cocaine, nicotine, and others, or behaviors such as gambling or pornography. These efforts have realized varying results, but none have provided true deliverance from the powers at work in the natural man. They typically provide structure around the person to create learned behavior, “muscle memory” to compensate for the lack of will power or an unwillingness to separate oneself from worldly influences. But the power of God alone is capable of total deliverance of man from the control that these infirmities wish to exercise over his life.

Philippians 3:17-21

17 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

The Apostle Paul helps us understand the elements within man that create the environment for addictions. When referring to enemies of the cross, Paul is identifying those who do not employ the power of God available through the cross of Christ (1Corinthians 1:18). These may be non-believers or even true Christian believers not living under the authority of God and His word. They have a problem with their appetites, allowing those cravings to take control to the point where the appetites become a god, creating a pathway to destruction. The Apostle says their value system has been perverted, so they actually derive satisfaction rather than shame from their behavior.

An Earthly Mindset

Then Paul identifies the problem of setting the mind on earthly things (instead of things above – Colossians 3:2). This may be the real heart of the matter. The Greek word is phroneo and it means to have a mindset, involving the will, affections and conscience (Zodhiates Complete Word Study). It is used with the idea of a single-minded commitment to something or someone. When man’s total preoccupation is with earthly matters, he cannot discern spiritual realities. A perfect example is found in Jesus’s response to Peter’s rebuke in Matthew 16:23.

Jesus tells the disciples that He is going to die and be raised on the third day, the message of the gospel. Peter’s response is to forbid it! Who does Peter think he is? Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind (phroneo) on God’s interests, but man’s.” Since Peter was single-mindedly preoccupied with man’s interests and not those of God, he became a stumbling block. If it can happen to Peter, how about you and me?

Romans 8:3-6

“3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,”

The transformation of the man of the flesh, the one governed by earthly desires, to become a spiritual man is found in the right mindset. The right mindset involves right priorities and sets the Holy Spirit free to do what man cannot do: replace the earthly mind with truth, God’s truth, His eternal viewpoint. This work is not based on keeping the law, trying to live under its standards, but allowing the law of God written on human hearts, the essence of the new covenant (Hebrews 8:10) to manifest its influence in the mind. This process represents a guaranteed pathway to life and peace. Do I accept God’s evaluation of me as complete, perfect within my relationship with Christ (Colossians 2:10) or do I believe the lie that I am not worthy of His grace? The victory of Christ’s sacrifice is realized in the details of life for everyone who believes the truth.

We Belong to Christ

The truth is, we have all been the subject of addictions to one degree or another. The cross of Christ provides the ultimate deliverance from the powers of darkness that have aligned themselves with human weaknesses for the purposes of man’s destruction. In Galatians 5:24, Paul says, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Paul was trying to tell us that we have been purchased by the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:20) and spiritually belong to Him. To embrace this spiritual position empowers us to “put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). He wants us to experience all the blessings associated with that reality.

This conversation continues in part two…

Four Steps to Deliverance from Addictions