Addiction 101

Introduction:

You may have been going round and round the same mountain – many times you have probably tried to quit whatever it is you are addicted to, or tried to lose weight by going on the latest diet, but it only lasted for a short period of time and then you slipped right back into the bondage. The reason is that you tried to change the external without dealing with what initially caused the problem internally. If you want change to be permanent in your life, you have got to deal with the root issues involving the negative strongholds in your mind first. Then external change will naturally follow. I believe that the information in this book will help set in motion those things that will bring the conviction necessary to get you out of that bondage and into a place of freedom. It will also help you understand addictions in other people’s lives. I hope that not only will this insight provide a foundation for you to be able to walk away from your addiction, whatever it is; but that in the future you will also be able to help others break free of their addiction.

Addictions are a growing problem worldwide and sadly it is as rampant in the church as it is in the world. Life can be filled with trouble, disappointment, curve balls and pain. If we don’t know how to deal with these seasons, we can fall into the trap of addictions by attempting to comfort ourselves rather than resolve the source of pain and despair. There are spiritual and emotional battles in our thought life that can lead us into the trap of addictions.

Latest medical research is tracing 87 – 95% of diseases to “toxic mind-sets” upstream in our thought life. Addictions do not develop because you took a drug or because you drank alcohol or because you had a cigarette. You took the drug or drank the alcohol because you developed a toxic mind-set of the need to be loved unfulfilled, a low self-esteem and the insecurities that come from that. This toxic thinking pattern is behind every type of addiction without exception. The enemy knows how to control you with your needs if you allow him to. He knows that if he can get you into a place where you doubt that God loves you, you don’t love yourself and you are not sure if you are loved and accepted by others, you’re going to start looking for love in all the wrong places and that could be a chemical.

The need to be loved was built into each one of us by God – that is not a toxic mind-set. Each person was created to know and to receive God’s perfect love. The need to give and receive love is a part of who we are as humans. But there is often a breakdown in this area because our families and our marriages can be so dysfunctional that sometimes even animals care for each other better than some of us care for our husband, wife or children. So now we have the rage of rejection, the hurt, the pain and the bitterness of not being loved and nurtured. When people have not received true, unconditional love as a foundation, they are always in search of getting a need fulfilled. The need to know the love of the Father can open us up to look for love in all the wrong places and that leaves us vulnerable to the deception of satan who seduces us into believing that the world has a better substitute.

The first two chapters of this book will help you to understand what an addiction is and why and how it developed. This is the first step to freedom because when you gain insight into the spiritual, psychological, emotional and physical dynamics that lead you into the trap of addictions; it will become obvious to you what you need to deal with in order to be set free! It is the prayer of my heart that this knowledge will encourage and inspire you that it is possible to break the bondage of addictions and be the victorious over comer that God created you to be!

Join me on a journey of healing, as each chapter in this book deals with each of the underlying issues behind addictions, and one step at a time will take you into greater and greater levels of freedom until you have complete victory!

What is Addiction?