You would be surprised how many people have broken the stranglehold of crippling habits by tapping into a Higher Power. Amazing Examples

This Higher Power is superior to us in every way, including intelligence and morality. Since love is at the heart of morality, this power should be thought of, not as an ‘it,’ but as a person. That staggers many people. To investigate this further, see Is God a Person?

As easy as falling in love

Falling in love with the most wonderful Person in the universe is the key to being liberated from powerful habits. We rightly reject a religion that’s a list of dos and don’ts. To fill the unfillable hole within us, we need the exhilaration of a never-ending love affair. Without having our deepest (and often suppressed) needs satisfied, we will be forever lured by lesser things in an attempt to dull the gnawing ache. The things we unconsciously turn to could be overwork, overeating, compulsive behaviors, chemicals, inappropriate use of sex, . . . the list seems endless. Many of these things have a legitimate place, but they were never designed to meet our deepest needs. When forced into this unnatural role, they are as unsatisfactory as cardboard to a starving man, yet with nothing better to fill the emptiness, we often find ourselves enslaved to them. (Psychological Experiment)

Since you have cravings that can only be satisfied supernaturally, I urge you to note this web address so that you can return to it, and find out about the ultimate love affair from the following webpage:

What your fantasies reveal.

Step into the unknown

If the concepts raised in this webpage are foreign to you, I suggest using the following as the basis for a first-time prayer, modifying it as you feel appropriate.

God, I’m not even sure if you exist, but I know I want to be free from . . . [name whatever is troubling you]. My motives may not be totally pure, and I might be blind to other things in my life that also need changing, but I’m asking you to open my eyes to your existence and to my need of you. Come close to me. Open my mind as I continue to read, and give me the courage to do what I should do.

I’ve compressed something very complex into a few words, but let’s skip the intricacies and get to the benefits. By Jesus accepting treatment we deserve, astounding possibilities open up, including having the holy God dwell within us, even though we have been a world away from being divinely perfect. In fact, you can enjoy powers and honors that would otherwise be reserved for God alone. And, of course, this includes the power to crush evil.

Let’s look at this from another angle:

A slave to habits

That’s what Jesus taught, and any addict – whether it be to heroin or bad language, shoplifting or smoking, alcohol or anorexia, gambling or bad temper, pornography or pedophilia, incest or masturbation – is forced to agree.

Behind life-controlling problems is a spiritual power. It is evil, much stronger than us, and it ultimately destroys its victims.

It’s as though we have been abducted and enslaved by habits and evil forces. Resistance is useless. When you are a slave, if your master barks an order, you obey. He’ll whip your flesh to shreds until you do. He owns you. Your only hope of escape from a slavemaster is if he beats you to death or if another master buys you. That habit has you by the throat.

At the astounding cost of his own lifeblood, Jesus has offered to ‘buy’ you from your slave owner, paying your ransom to release you from your abductor’s death grip. Think of it as a prisoner exchange in which the innocent Son of God traded places with you. That’s what the cross is all about. Jesus let himself became Satan’s plaything, in exchange for your release. Evil did to Christ what it would have done to you. He was harassed, bullied, beaten, bound, tortured, killed. Once that evil tyrant had Jesus in his power, however, he discovered Jesus was too strong for him. The victim became victor! Innocence won! In Jesus, good overpowered evil, guaranteeing your release, by defeating the forces of evil and rising triumphant from the grave.

If you accept Jesus’ offer, that cruel tyrant no longer owns you; your loving Savior does. Those forces that once enslaved you, can try their old tricks, threatening you with all their hellish fury, luring you with all their seductive charm, and you can just walk away. Drugs, drink, lust, greed, or whatever, haven’t changed. But they no longer own you. Jesus does. (If this seems simplistic, don’t be concerned. We’ll examine the complexities soon.)

Relevant Scriptures

But note this: If Jesus isn’t our loving master, sin is. If we don’t obey Jesus’ wise commands, we’ll have to jump when sin commands.

Oh, Yuk!

We hate the idea of being pushed around by evil. The thought of being bossed around by God, however, seems not a lot more pleasant – until we discover that God is nothing like the selfish, power-hungry fun-spoiler we imagined him to be. Discovering that God is devoted to maximizing your happiness is a most liberating experience. He is the God who made every good thing we have ever enjoyed. How could we ever have imagined that he is a killjoy? And somehow we’ve ended up with the preposterous notion that God frowns on us – the One who loves us with such intensity as to pour out his blood for us when we were at our very worst.

The reality is that from the moment that you are truly born again, God is thrilled with you. We might hold that thought for a few hours, but it quickly slips away. We often think that if God were ever pleased with us, it was some time in the past, not now. Why is that so hard to believe that God is smiling on us right now? Because we have a highly intelligent spiritual enemy who knows the only way he can dominate us is if he can weaken the joyful trust and delight with which we run into God’s loving, powerful arms the moment we encounter the slightest difficulty.

To help strengthen your awareness of God’s love, please bookmark or note this website address, so you can return to it, and go to the following webpages: