What’s the one thing
we need to be addicted to?
One of the greatest ways to overcome
A destructive addiction is to
replace it with the needful addiction...
- The word, “needful,” means “necessary”.
- The word, “addicted,” means “devoted by customary practice.” - (1828 Noah Webster’s Dictionary)
Did you know the word,
‘addicted’
is found in the Bible?
“...they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)”
Welcome to
His ways are Higher-Part Two:
“The Needful Addiction”
The word, “addict,” means “to devote oneself habitually; to devote time and attention by customary practice.” - (1828 Noah Webster’s Dictionary)
Let’s look into God’s Word to see ‘an addict’ named Mary who understood the One Thing Needful...
“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. ”
Mary was devoting herself to Jesus—devoting her time and attention to sitting at His feet, hearing His Word.
Our Needful Addiction is
To have a personal daily relationship
With Jesus Christ.
God tells of another “addict” who sat at Jesus’ feet...
“Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. ”
“...in his right mind.”
Want to fix your thinking?
Spend time with Jesus,
sitting at His feet,
Hearing His Word.
Both Mary and the Demoniac understood how much they needed to spend time with Jesus, hearing His Word—the one thing needful for a personal relationship with Him.
Are you ready
to exchange your
old addiction
for
the Needful one?
My friend, that is exactly what I did and let me just tell you right now...
There’s no ‘high’
like ‘The Most High.’
: )
I’m so excited to share with you one of the greatest weapons against the stronghold of addiction—having a personal daily relationship with Jesus Christ.
Having a relationship with the Creator of the universe is just like any other relationship we have—in that there has to be two-way communication.
How exactly do we have
two-way communication
with God?
1. Prayer.
2. Time in His Word.
Let me encourage you to
begin each day by having
a daily quiet time
with the Lord...
When I was at the Reformers Unanimous Discipleship School, they taught us how to have devotions each morning. They gave us an “It’s Personal Daily Journal,” to use. (I just use a plain notebook now.)
Here’s a way
to get started
having your own
daily devotions:
- Begin your devotion time by reading the chapter of Proverbs for that day. For example, today is the 17th, so you would read Proverbs 17.
- As you begin to read through the verses, there will probably be at least one verse that will stand out to you or speak to your heart more than the others.
- Write that verse on a card and that can be the verse to take with you that day to meditate on.
- Then, you can choose some other portion of God’s Word to read and see if any other verses speak to your heart in a special way. If you will ask the Holy Spirit to help you, He will.
- After spending time with Jesus in His Word, begin praying and asking God what to praise Him for that day—then pause and listen in your heart for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Then praise the Lord.
- Next, pray and ask God to show you the sins (things thought, said, or done) that you need to ask forgiveness for. Then pause and listen in your heart for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Confess those sins and ask for forgiveness. Receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing.
- Next, pray and ask God for any needs you or others have that you should pray for. Then pause and listen in your heart for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Then pray for those needs.
- Next, pray and ask God who you need to pray for protection for. Then pause and listen in your heart for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Then pray for their protection.
- You can ask God if there is someone you need to encourage too.
I know All That
may seem like alot!
I don’t always do all of it, but it's the way they taught me to have devotions. The important thing is to pray and spend time with God in His Word every morning...
And you know what
the best part is??
The Expectation.
: )
Yes...you will develop real curiosity to see what God will give you each morning! You see, God is sovereignly in control and He already knows in the morning what each of us will be facing the rest of the day.
You can look forward to your ‘daily manna’ from Him. God can prepare us ahead of time for whatever we will be facing.
By taking a verse from our devotion time, and writing it down on a piece of paper, we can take it with us and meditate on it throughout the day. It might be the very truth or encouragement we will need and it can really help us remember what God showed us that morning.
And guess what else?
It becomes an addiction!!!
The needful addiction.
: )
Spending time with Jesus
every morning,
sitting at His feet...
studying His Word
and having that
two-way communication
is how We can have
a personal daily
relationship with Him.
Dear friend, I hope this has been an inspiration for you. As I write these posts, I don’t know where you are in your journey with the Lord.
You may still be like I once was, still using, still trapped. Please believe God loves you and just be still. Rest in His arms a while. You are never alone and you don’t have to do this alone.
God calls His Word
the Sword of the Spirit.
Realize that your own spirit is separate from your fleshly body.
Sometimes when I would so desperately want to give up on ever overcoming addiction, I would want to die.
But God showed me that really my spirit wanted to live.
My spirit was just grieved by my lack of control over my body and soul.
That is why we need the power of God’s Word working in our heart and spirit.
I just want to
encourage you
to simply begin opening up
your Bible in the morning
and begin sitting
at Jesus' feet.
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
I hope you will join me for the 3rd Truth in this series of posts: “Victim No More.”