Hi Maymaggy.
I am so excited to hear you are saved! Yeah! I got saved when I was 18 and fell away a year later. I started working at a night club, and some of the things I did I am so ashamed of now... SO I AM NOT GOING TO LET MYSELF THINK ABOUT IT! Jesus died for that, all my sins hung there with Him on the cross. After I had my first daughter I stopped drinking, and drugs, and rededicated my life to God... However, because I had such a negative self image, I soon replaced those addictions with another one, and that is food. It doesn't kill you as fast but it still kills you. I hope you don't mind and it's a little long but I have been sort of journaling my freedom from my addictions and because addiction, is addiction no matter what you are addicted to, I think this may pertain to your situation.
This is an excerpt from it.
If you are addicted, I bet it feels like almost every waking moment is spent thinking about it.
II Corinthians 10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
“Punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilledâ€Â. How do you punish disobedience? By not giving into it. Did you know, once you became born again, you have authority over your thoughts? You are in control, you decide what you think. I know that sounds kind of strange you’ve probably not given your thoughts, well, much thought.
Your addiction needs to become a non-issue, but how?
Philippians 4:4-12 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
And this is how you do it. Continue reading in Philippians 4
Meditate on These Things
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthyâ€â€meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
This is a promise, a promise from God. God cannot break His promise.
We need to keep focused on God instead of trying to zone out, when we are giving in to addiction. I admit this was one of the hardest things for me to do. I prayed and prayed for God to give me the answer on how to stay focused on Him, slowly but surely I began to understand you have to live in this moment, this moment right here and right now. Don’t look back and don’t worry about the next moment, keep focused on this second. You can do anything for one second. You can also decide to focus on the right things. Focus on how strong God has made you. How easy God makes it to resist. Imagine saying, Jesus, Satan is at the door, could you get your chariots of fire to answer it. Imagine the door opening to Satan’s knock and his eyes widening with shock at seeing such a sight. Imagine him running away screaming at the top of his lungs. Weather you know it or not your imagination has had a huge influence on you being over your addiction. Imagine you and Jesus “high fiving†with the angels, Imagine victory.
You may not think you have a great imagination, but every time you are tempted, you are seeing yourself take that drink, you can feel it, taste it etc.
When you dwell on negative thoughts you give them power, when you dwell on positive thoughts of Gods power you release His power to walk in victory. You actually limit God’s power with negative thoughts. Psalm 78: 41,42 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! 41 Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. 42 They did not remember His power:
To sum it up, capture your thoughts, stay focused, Think positive!
Love Kelli