THE HEART OF ADDICTION
CHAPTER 5
Frequently Asked Questions
If you could ask God anything about your struggles with substance abuse, what would your question be?46 Maybe yours would be one of the following questions: “Lord, •“Why would you create something as destructive as alcohol and drugs for a people whom you love?” •“Why do I like alcohol and/or my drug of choice so much?” •“Are my addictive thoughts and behaviors genetic or learned?” •“Is it a sin to drink alcohol?” •“Is it a sin for me to drink alcohol?” •“Is it a sin for me to take prescription medications? •“Lord God, why did you create me this way?” •“Why did you create this substance to feel as good as this?” •“I pray everyday to you, Lord, but what else do I need to do to overcome this addiction?” •“Lord, will you just take away my desire for this addictive behavior so that I will have victory?” Have you ever thought that moving to a remote part of the world, living in a monastery, or even going to jail would be helpful to keep you physically removed from the substance that you love to abuse? If so, you were probably looking for an easy way to escape the grip of the addictive substance hoping you would no longer be able to freely engage in the addictive behavior. Unfortunately, many times the Christian person hoping to get away from the enticing drug is looking for a quick fix, magic dust, or an easy answer to the problem of addiction. There is no quick fix that will solve the problem of substance abuse because it is a heart problem that only God can heal. The problem is not the substance itself; that is external. Your problem lies within yourself – in your heart. You cannot run from your own heart! We will soon discuss how God has a good purpose for alcohol and drugs. However, it is your selfish heart attitudes that lead you to problems with alcohol and drugs. No treatment program on earth has the ability to change your heart. There are many secular modalities available but they are designed for the unwilling, unrepentant, and unbelieving person. Most are not designed for Christians! Have you ever been forced to enter a treatment program against your will, cleaned up from drugs and alcohol for awhile, only to return to your lifestyle of active addiction? If so, then there never was a change of heart, or genuine repentance, because your attempts at “recovery” were in your own strength rather than in the mighty power of God. The God of the Bible, who is your Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, knows all and has all of the power you need to change – to “transform” you into the image of Christ. Do you believe this? These frequently asked questions (and any others you may have on your list) do not catch God off-guard. He is not surprised by them; He has all of the answers. It may surprise you to know that God has already given you the answers to these questions in the Bible. You are going to find many of His solutions to your problem of substance abuse as you read further and as you begin to search your Bible. God uses different names to identify these problems. Mankind often invents new words to explain, minimize, and sometimes cover up his sin. God’s people err because they do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God contained in the Scriptures!47 While it is true you will not find the words “substance abuse” and “addiction” in the Bible, the Word of God has the answers for overcoming these common problems. Man’s word “addiction” emphasizes the physical component of addiction–cravings, appetites, withdrawal, and physical dependence – and all of these physical elements are truly involved in addiction. However, the permanent solution to a physical addiction is a spiritual answer. Again, even the secular, humanistic counseling approaches for substance abuse attack the problem of physical addiction with a so-called “spiritual,” non-religious program with steps, self-help group meetings, fellowship, and therapy devoid of the Christian God. God has answers and God has power. He has given you both if you are a Christian. So you can put your trust and hope in the God of the Bible who has already revealed Himself and His loving character to you and has provided you with all of the answers you need to lead a victorious life. II Timothy 3:16-17 states: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” God’s Word is sufficient and complete in addressing the enslaving yet increasingly common problem of substance abuse. Hope for You The problem of substance abuse and physical addiction is not new to modern day society. The Lord addressed the subject of substance abuse in the days of Noah approximately 6,000 years ago in Genesis 9. The Lord has clearly spoken on substance abuse many times in Scripture. Addicts and substance abusers, however, face two problems when trying to understand what God has said about their abuse. Problem #1: Inability to See Clearly Without Help from Above The first problem is that you cannot rightly understand God’s Word without God’s help. People are created to be dependent upon God and others to survive and thrive. A newborn baby depends upon someone else to do everything for it. A newborn cannot navigate, go to the bathroom, or eat without someone’s help. Someone else must nourish the newborn or death will be certain. Likewise, Christians need other Christians to disciple and nourish them with God’s wisdom; that is God’s design. You need other people to help you overcome this substance abuse or alcohol problem, so don’t try to do it yourself. Remember, there is no such thing as “self-help” when trying to have victory over a substance abuse problem. You cannot “recover” by your own power because you must be “transformed” by God’s power. Ask yourself the following questions and see if you can identify the lies believed by addicts when they are enslaved to an addiction of any type: 1.Do you believe you only need yourself? 2.Do you only trust yourself? 3.Do you see other people as “controlling” and “hindrances” to your happiness and plans to use drugs? 4.Do you see other people as objects to serve, please, and help you rather than as people whom you can serve, please, and help? 5.Are you self-centered rather than God-centered? 6.Are you the master of God in your own mind rather than God’s servant? 7.Are you willing to do everything in your power to begin the transformation process? If you answered ‘yes’ to most of these questions, you are probably enslaved to your substance abuse and addiction. But if you answered ‘yes’ to Question 7, there is hope to be found in Jesus Christ’s forgiveness. Turn to Appendix B now to learn more about the good news of forgiveness found in the Gospel message of Christ Jesus. Christians are dependent upon the Holy Spirit. No one can rely completely upon his own abilities when confronting substance abuse. To properly interpret God’s Word, the Christian addict’s eyes have to be opened to the Truth of God by the Spirit of Truth.48 This may sound like a contradiction at first. All persons are born in sin and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”49 Because of this, your eyes first see things through your sin nature; thus, you are darkened and blinded to the truth even if you are already a Christian. Your nature must change which is a work of God’s redemptive power. Then you must “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”50 This transformation indicates that there is a growth process for a Christian who is trying to abide in Christ. You are “born again”51 as a baby in Christ who must grow, learn to crawl, and then learn to walk as an adult believer in the faith. You are dependent upon other people to teach and disciple you with sound doctrine from God’s Word which provides the nourishment to help you grow in your faith. God’s character, thoughts, and ways must be revealed to you through His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. The only true way to find the solution to your heart problem of substance abuse is to view the problem as God does. You need the help of the Holy Spirit to do so. Solution to Problem #1: Seeing Things God’s Way How can you view the problem from God’s perspective when you have a sin nature and a natural tendency to see things through your own selfish, man-centered view? If you are already a Christian, the answer is that you trust Him by faith realizing that His Word is infallible Truth. Then when you read the Bible, God Himself will speak the truth in love52 into your situation of being a Christian who struggles with addictive behavior. Once you rightly understand God’s Word about addiction, the solution to the problem does not come from within yourself, the solution must come from God. Jesus taught His disciples in John 14:25-26: “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” It is encouraging to know that one of the tasks of the Holy Spirit is to teach you all things. He does this in conjunction with your diligent reading of the Bible. In these same verses of John 14, another task of the Holy Spirit is to bring to your remembrance all that Jesus has taught. Of course, you must first have some of the Word of God in your memory in order for the Holy Spirit to bring it back to your remembrance and to be applied and used. If nothing exists in your memory banks, then how will the Holy Spirit bring God’s Word back to your remembrance? You must put God’s Word into your heart and memory bank by reading it and listening to preaching and teaching. You need to know the truth about abusing substances or getting drunk with wine, and the truth is the Word of God. Psalm 119:11-16 talks about God’s Word in the following manner: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” Will you commit this day to storing up God’s Word in your heart, declaring God’s Word with your mouth, and fixing your eyes upon His ways? If you will do so, then you will mature rapidly. Problem #2: Lack of Will Power to Change Yourself As a Christian addict or substance abuser, the second problem you face is that you, individually, lack the ability and “will power” to change your thoughts and behaviors. God alone possesses the power to change your heart and your addictive behaviors. God alone can impart this power to you by the Holy Spirit who lives inside a Christian. You need the “will of God power” to change your life. If you desire true answers to the questions posed earlier, if you truly want to change your heart, and if you truly want to change your behaviors, then seek after God’s Truth alone and forsake the best wisdom of man. When the best wisdom of man contradicts God’s wisdom, you especially need the truth of God. God states in Proverbs 8:17: “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” By seeking His Truth and allowing it to “dwell richly in your heart,”53 then and only then, will you begin to experience victory over your addictive behaviors as God releases His power by the Holy Spirit who dwells within you. Do not be discouraged because, at times, you will fall short in your pursuit of truth. It is very easy to get sidetracked by temporary pleasures, deceitful lies, or your own prideful heart. Do not let the enemy prevent you from believing God’s Word. Just as Satan deceived Eve and that led to Adam and Eve’s sinful fall in the Garden of Eden,54 you can be deceived, too. Both of these problems for the Christian addict have already been overcome by the power of Jesus Christ with His death on the cross and resurrection. You no longer have to be a slave to sin,55 but the power living inside you can either be hindered by or activated by you. The choice is yours to make. Think of yourself as the light switch on the wall in your kitchen. Think of the Holy Spirit as the generating plant that produces the power that runs from the outside power lines into the wiring of your house and into the kitchen light switch. There are millions of volts of electrical energy available to you, the light switch. Whether the light is illuminating the room or not depends upon whether the switch is turned “on” or “off.” God’s power is abundantly available to you. Just as the light switch is a circuit breaker, you are a circuit breaker for God’s Power. The switch is turned off by your own sinful choices and actions of disobedience to God. When you do what you learn is right, according to God’s Word, you will be “turning the light switch on” for God. The result will be an energizing empowerment from God allowing you to overcome the addictive behavior.56 Active addiction is like a spiral staircase. When you give in to your addiction just one time, you begin to spiral downward and separate from God and His power. After that euphoric feeling provided by the high, you feel guilty about what you have done, knowing that it was a wrong decision. In addition, you do not feel close to God because your sin has separated you from the close fellowship you experienced with Him. Next time, it becomes easier to continue to give in to your addiction as God seems farther away, and you feel worse as more guilt piles upon you every time you use your drug of choice. Thereafter, the cycle continues as you walk farther and farther down that spiral staircase.57 To give you hope, the same spiral staircase that goes down also goes up with acts of obedience! In other words, by acting obediently to God and choosing to act righteously, you can begin to be led by the Holy Spirit back up the spiral staircase and into intimate fellowship with your Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as your disobedient and rebellious addictive choices led you down the spiral staircase, your obedient and God-centered choices will lead you up that same spiral staircase, but you must “turn on the light switch of your heart” for God. Choose to live your life for Him both in this life and in the eternal life to come. Solution to Problem #2: The Power of God’s Word “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”58 Real hope for the Christian who is an “alcoholic, substance abuser, addict, drunkard, idolater, and sinner” is found only in the pages of the Bible, the inerrant and sufficient Word of God. Who wrote the Bible? The Bible is a book written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. These men wrote only what God wanted to be written. To whom did these men write? The Bible is written primarily to Christians who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and is not written only to evangelize non-Christians! Again, II Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” The man of God in verse 17 above is the Christian. The Christian who struggles with drinking to excess or any type of addiction needs the Word of God. The Word of God is not only the means God uses to get people saved. The Word of God is the means God uses to sanctify saved people. As one who already possesses the gift of salvation, the Christian addict must now depend upon God’s Word for his sanctification, or growth in Christ. A saved Christian must continue to read, memorize, study, and meditate upon God’s Word.
Prayer of Heart Change and Application:
Dear Heavenly Father, Open my eyes so that I may see hozo wonderful your ways are. Reveal your character to me and mold me into someone who looks more like Jesus. Transform me with your truth in the Bible and help me to live according to biblical principles rather than according to my feelings. Give me hope in you to change me and to empower me to overcome this addiction and to glorify your Name. Amen.
If you could ask God anything about your struggles with substance abuse, what would your question be?46 Maybe yours would be one of the following questions: “Lord, •“Why would you create something as destructive as alcohol and drugs for a people whom you love?” •“Why do I like alcohol and/or my drug of choice so much?” •“Are my addictive thoughts and behaviors genetic or learned?” •“Is it a sin to drink alcohol?” •“Is it a sin for me to drink alcohol?” •“Is it a sin for me to take prescription medications? •“Lord God, why did you create me this way?” •“Why did you create this substance to feel as good as this?” •“I pray everyday to you, Lord, but what else do I need to do to overcome this addiction?” •“Lord, will you just take away my desire for this addictive behavior so that I will have victory?” Have you ever thought that moving to a remote part of the world, living in a monastery, or even going to jail would be helpful to keep you physically removed from the substance that you love to abuse? If so, you were probably looking for an easy way to escape the grip of the addictive substance hoping you would no longer be able to freely engage in the addictive behavior. Unfortunately, many times the Christian person hoping to get away from the enticing drug is looking for a quick fix, magic dust, or an easy answer to the problem of addiction. There is no quick fix that will solve the problem of substance abuse because it is a heart problem that only God can heal. The problem is not the substance itself; that is external. Your problem lies within yourself – in your heart. You cannot run from your own heart! We will soon discuss how God has a good purpose for alcohol and drugs. However, it is your selfish heart attitudes that lead you to problems with alcohol and drugs. No treatment program on earth has the ability to change your heart. There are many secular modalities available but they are designed for the unwilling, unrepentant, and unbelieving person. Most are not designed for Christians! Have you ever been forced to enter a treatment program against your will, cleaned up from drugs and alcohol for awhile, only to return to your lifestyle of active addiction? If so, then there never was a change of heart, or genuine repentance, because your attempts at “recovery” were in your own strength rather than in the mighty power of God. The God of the Bible, who is your Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, knows all and has all of the power you need to change – to “transform” you into the image of Christ. Do you believe this? These frequently asked questions (and any others you may have on your list) do not catch God off-guard. He is not surprised by them; He has all of the answers. It may surprise you to know that God has already given you the answers to these questions in the Bible. You are going to find many of His solutions to your problem of substance abuse as you read further and as you begin to search your Bible. God uses different names to identify these problems. Mankind often invents new words to explain, minimize, and sometimes cover up his sin. God’s people err because they do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God contained in the Scriptures!47 While it is true you will not find the words “substance abuse” and “addiction” in the Bible, the Word of God has the answers for overcoming these common problems. Man’s word “addiction” emphasizes the physical component of addiction–cravings, appetites, withdrawal, and physical dependence – and all of these physical elements are truly involved in addiction. However, the permanent solution to a physical addiction is a spiritual answer. Again, even the secular, humanistic counseling approaches for substance abuse attack the problem of physical addiction with a so-called “spiritual,” non-religious program with steps, self-help group meetings, fellowship, and therapy devoid of the Christian God. God has answers and God has power. He has given you both if you are a Christian. So you can put your trust and hope in the God of the Bible who has already revealed Himself and His loving character to you and has provided you with all of the answers you need to lead a victorious life. II Timothy 3:16-17 states: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” God’s Word is sufficient and complete in addressing the enslaving yet increasingly common problem of substance abuse. Hope for You The problem of substance abuse and physical addiction is not new to modern day society. The Lord addressed the subject of substance abuse in the days of Noah approximately 6,000 years ago in Genesis 9. The Lord has clearly spoken on substance abuse many times in Scripture. Addicts and substance abusers, however, face two problems when trying to understand what God has said about their abuse. Problem #1: Inability to See Clearly Without Help from Above The first problem is that you cannot rightly understand God’s Word without God’s help. People are created to be dependent upon God and others to survive and thrive. A newborn baby depends upon someone else to do everything for it. A newborn cannot navigate, go to the bathroom, or eat without someone’s help. Someone else must nourish the newborn or death will be certain. Likewise, Christians need other Christians to disciple and nourish them with God’s wisdom; that is God’s design. You need other people to help you overcome this substance abuse or alcohol problem, so don’t try to do it yourself. Remember, there is no such thing as “self-help” when trying to have victory over a substance abuse problem. You cannot “recover” by your own power because you must be “transformed” by God’s power. Ask yourself the following questions and see if you can identify the lies believed by addicts when they are enslaved to an addiction of any type: 1.Do you believe you only need yourself? 2.Do you only trust yourself? 3.Do you see other people as “controlling” and “hindrances” to your happiness and plans to use drugs? 4.Do you see other people as objects to serve, please, and help you rather than as people whom you can serve, please, and help? 5.Are you self-centered rather than God-centered? 6.Are you the master of God in your own mind rather than God’s servant? 7.Are you willing to do everything in your power to begin the transformation process? If you answered ‘yes’ to most of these questions, you are probably enslaved to your substance abuse and addiction. But if you answered ‘yes’ to Question 7, there is hope to be found in Jesus Christ’s forgiveness. Turn to Appendix B now to learn more about the good news of forgiveness found in the Gospel message of Christ Jesus. Christians are dependent upon the Holy Spirit. No one can rely completely upon his own abilities when confronting substance abuse. To properly interpret God’s Word, the Christian addict’s eyes have to be opened to the Truth of God by the Spirit of Truth.48 This may sound like a contradiction at first. All persons are born in sin and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”49 Because of this, your eyes first see things through your sin nature; thus, you are darkened and blinded to the truth even if you are already a Christian. Your nature must change which is a work of God’s redemptive power. Then you must “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”50 This transformation indicates that there is a growth process for a Christian who is trying to abide in Christ. You are “born again”51 as a baby in Christ who must grow, learn to crawl, and then learn to walk as an adult believer in the faith. You are dependent upon other people to teach and disciple you with sound doctrine from God’s Word which provides the nourishment to help you grow in your faith. God’s character, thoughts, and ways must be revealed to you through His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. The only true way to find the solution to your heart problem of substance abuse is to view the problem as God does. You need the help of the Holy Spirit to do so. Solution to Problem #1: Seeing Things God’s Way How can you view the problem from God’s perspective when you have a sin nature and a natural tendency to see things through your own selfish, man-centered view? If you are already a Christian, the answer is that you trust Him by faith realizing that His Word is infallible Truth. Then when you read the Bible, God Himself will speak the truth in love52 into your situation of being a Christian who struggles with addictive behavior. Once you rightly understand God’s Word about addiction, the solution to the problem does not come from within yourself, the solution must come from God. Jesus taught His disciples in John 14:25-26: “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” It is encouraging to know that one of the tasks of the Holy Spirit is to teach you all things. He does this in conjunction with your diligent reading of the Bible. In these same verses of John 14, another task of the Holy Spirit is to bring to your remembrance all that Jesus has taught. Of course, you must first have some of the Word of God in your memory in order for the Holy Spirit to bring it back to your remembrance and to be applied and used. If nothing exists in your memory banks, then how will the Holy Spirit bring God’s Word back to your remembrance? You must put God’s Word into your heart and memory bank by reading it and listening to preaching and teaching. You need to know the truth about abusing substances or getting drunk with wine, and the truth is the Word of God. Psalm 119:11-16 talks about God’s Word in the following manner: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” Will you commit this day to storing up God’s Word in your heart, declaring God’s Word with your mouth, and fixing your eyes upon His ways? If you will do so, then you will mature rapidly. Problem #2: Lack of Will Power to Change Yourself As a Christian addict or substance abuser, the second problem you face is that you, individually, lack the ability and “will power” to change your thoughts and behaviors. God alone possesses the power to change your heart and your addictive behaviors. God alone can impart this power to you by the Holy Spirit who lives inside a Christian. You need the “will of God power” to change your life. If you desire true answers to the questions posed earlier, if you truly want to change your heart, and if you truly want to change your behaviors, then seek after God’s Truth alone and forsake the best wisdom of man. When the best wisdom of man contradicts God’s wisdom, you especially need the truth of God. God states in Proverbs 8:17: “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” By seeking His Truth and allowing it to “dwell richly in your heart,”53 then and only then, will you begin to experience victory over your addictive behaviors as God releases His power by the Holy Spirit who dwells within you. Do not be discouraged because, at times, you will fall short in your pursuit of truth. It is very easy to get sidetracked by temporary pleasures, deceitful lies, or your own prideful heart. Do not let the enemy prevent you from believing God’s Word. Just as Satan deceived Eve and that led to Adam and Eve’s sinful fall in the Garden of Eden,54 you can be deceived, too. Both of these problems for the Christian addict have already been overcome by the power of Jesus Christ with His death on the cross and resurrection. You no longer have to be a slave to sin,55 but the power living inside you can either be hindered by or activated by you. The choice is yours to make. Think of yourself as the light switch on the wall in your kitchen. Think of the Holy Spirit as the generating plant that produces the power that runs from the outside power lines into the wiring of your house and into the kitchen light switch. There are millions of volts of electrical energy available to you, the light switch. Whether the light is illuminating the room or not depends upon whether the switch is turned “on” or “off.” God’s power is abundantly available to you. Just as the light switch is a circuit breaker, you are a circuit breaker for God’s Power. The switch is turned off by your own sinful choices and actions of disobedience to God. When you do what you learn is right, according to God’s Word, you will be “turning the light switch on” for God. The result will be an energizing empowerment from God allowing you to overcome the addictive behavior.56 Active addiction is like a spiral staircase. When you give in to your addiction just one time, you begin to spiral downward and separate from God and His power. After that euphoric feeling provided by the high, you feel guilty about what you have done, knowing that it was a wrong decision. In addition, you do not feel close to God because your sin has separated you from the close fellowship you experienced with Him. Next time, it becomes easier to continue to give in to your addiction as God seems farther away, and you feel worse as more guilt piles upon you every time you use your drug of choice. Thereafter, the cycle continues as you walk farther and farther down that spiral staircase.57 To give you hope, the same spiral staircase that goes down also goes up with acts of obedience! In other words, by acting obediently to God and choosing to act righteously, you can begin to be led by the Holy Spirit back up the spiral staircase and into intimate fellowship with your Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as your disobedient and rebellious addictive choices led you down the spiral staircase, your obedient and God-centered choices will lead you up that same spiral staircase, but you must “turn on the light switch of your heart” for God. Choose to live your life for Him both in this life and in the eternal life to come. Solution to Problem #2: The Power of God’s Word “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”58 Real hope for the Christian who is an “alcoholic, substance abuser, addict, drunkard, idolater, and sinner” is found only in the pages of the Bible, the inerrant and sufficient Word of God. Who wrote the Bible? The Bible is a book written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. These men wrote only what God wanted to be written. To whom did these men write? The Bible is written primarily to Christians who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and is not written only to evangelize non-Christians! Again, II Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” The man of God in verse 17 above is the Christian. The Christian who struggles with drinking to excess or any type of addiction needs the Word of God. The Word of God is not only the means God uses to get people saved. The Word of God is the means God uses to sanctify saved people. As one who already possesses the gift of salvation, the Christian addict must now depend upon God’s Word for his sanctification, or growth in Christ. A saved Christian must continue to read, memorize, study, and meditate upon God’s Word.
Prayer of Heart Change and Application:
Dear Heavenly Father, Open my eyes so that I may see hozo wonderful your ways are. Reveal your character to me and mold me into someone who looks more like Jesus. Transform me with your truth in the Bible and help me to live according to biblical principles rather than according to my feelings. Give me hope in you to change me and to empower me to overcome this addiction and to glorify your Name. Amen.