Drive gently over the stones. Jonathan Swift
When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes in the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, I will return to the person I came from. So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and clean. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. (Luke 11:24-26 NLT)
These are words of Jesus and they ring very true in my life form my own personal experiences. The evil natures in my life always progressed and became worse as I would quit some behavior and later go back to it. I relate this scripture to what is called the progressive nature of the disease of addiction. I would first like to clarify why I consider alcoholism and drug addiction a disease. It is not because it is started by a virus or some bug. It is not, it has very much to do with our self-will. It is a disease because it follows the same pattern as other diseases. That is that it has a start, it grows progressively, and the end result is death if not arrested. All diseases will follow this pattern that is why we seek prayer, treatment, and cures. I have found that in myself the nature of the disease of addiction always progressed even while I was not using or drinking. I know that this goes against the ideas of being delivered once and for always from my malady, but God loves us so much that He continues to give us our free will to make choices in our lives, what ever they may be, good or bad. I am delivered from the physical and mental cravings of addictions, but God allows me to take them back at any time. Today I choose not to, I work on this daily, and thats just how it works for me. In times past I have quit drinking and drugging for periods of time only to pick it up again to find that my condition was worse than it was before I quit. Its as if I never quit. You would think that after quitting for some time, that the problems I faced would be lessened, but that is just not so. They were always worse. Several years ago this scripture really spoke to me. I came to the conclusion that it was not what I quit that was important, but what I started that was important. You see, when the evil spirit left the person it found no rest and returned back home to the person. Having found the home clean and sober, and with much room, the evil spirit brings seven others which are much worse. There you go, worse is progressive. For me the key is to fill up the home of my heart after it has been swept clean and sober with new spiritual furniture and accessories, and not have room for the return of the evil spirit. Table and chairs for blessings, a sofa for resting in God, scriptural lamps lighting my paths, my favorite passages from the Bible framed on my walls, fellowship with friends that are believers, and most important I invite the Holy Spirit to dwell there also. I am not alone, today God does for me what I could not do for myself JRE
We often stay in relationships in which we seem powerless, for in doing so, we maintain built-in excuses for failure. We may also spend time looking down on others who are worse than we are, thus avoiding an examination of our own corruption. But in doing these things, we fail to take responsibility for our own life through honest self-examination.
Jesus confronted the Pharisees, saying, You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are still filthy, full of greed and wickedness! (Luke 11:39). Can you imagine washing only the outside of a cup that is moldy on the inside and then drinking from it? Of course not! But we do this in a spiritual sense because it is hard to deal with the dirt inside our heart.
THE LIFE RECOVERY BIBLE, page 1227
When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes in the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, I will return to the person I came from. So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and clean. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. (Luke 11:24-26 NLT)
These are words of Jesus and they ring very true in my life form my own personal experiences. The evil natures in my life always progressed and became worse as I would quit some behavior and later go back to it. I relate this scripture to what is called the progressive nature of the disease of addiction. I would first like to clarify why I consider alcoholism and drug addiction a disease. It is not because it is started by a virus or some bug. It is not, it has very much to do with our self-will. It is a disease because it follows the same pattern as other diseases. That is that it has a start, it grows progressively, and the end result is death if not arrested. All diseases will follow this pattern that is why we seek prayer, treatment, and cures. I have found that in myself the nature of the disease of addiction always progressed even while I was not using or drinking. I know that this goes against the ideas of being delivered once and for always from my malady, but God loves us so much that He continues to give us our free will to make choices in our lives, what ever they may be, good or bad. I am delivered from the physical and mental cravings of addictions, but God allows me to take them back at any time. Today I choose not to, I work on this daily, and thats just how it works for me. In times past I have quit drinking and drugging for periods of time only to pick it up again to find that my condition was worse than it was before I quit. Its as if I never quit. You would think that after quitting for some time, that the problems I faced would be lessened, but that is just not so. They were always worse. Several years ago this scripture really spoke to me. I came to the conclusion that it was not what I quit that was important, but what I started that was important. You see, when the evil spirit left the person it found no rest and returned back home to the person. Having found the home clean and sober, and with much room, the evil spirit brings seven others which are much worse. There you go, worse is progressive. For me the key is to fill up the home of my heart after it has been swept clean and sober with new spiritual furniture and accessories, and not have room for the return of the evil spirit. Table and chairs for blessings, a sofa for resting in God, scriptural lamps lighting my paths, my favorite passages from the Bible framed on my walls, fellowship with friends that are believers, and most important I invite the Holy Spirit to dwell there also. I am not alone, today God does for me what I could not do for myself JRE
We often stay in relationships in which we seem powerless, for in doing so, we maintain built-in excuses for failure. We may also spend time looking down on others who are worse than we are, thus avoiding an examination of our own corruption. But in doing these things, we fail to take responsibility for our own life through honest self-examination.
Jesus confronted the Pharisees, saying, You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are still filthy, full of greed and wickedness! (Luke 11:39). Can you imagine washing only the outside of a cup that is moldy on the inside and then drinking from it? Of course not! But we do this in a spiritual sense because it is hard to deal with the dirt inside our heart.
THE LIFE RECOVERY BIBLE, page 1227
