VICTORY OVER ALCOHOLISM
In Proverbs 28:13, the Bible says that whoever hides his sins cannot prosper. If freedom is to be won, then the first thing that an alcoholic has to do is to admit that a problem exists. The next step the alcoholic should take is damage assessment. Stock taking can begin with four key areas:
1. Personal health: Most often, the health of the alcoholic suffers especially if they have reached a point where they drink without proper meals, or enough hours of rest. Excessive alcoholic consumption also damages the liver. The overall result is that the body immunity goes down, rendering the body an easy target to other opportunistic diseases. Ill health will therefore produce a negative impact on the income of the alcoholic.
2. Marriage: Relationship in marriage is severely damaged as many alcoholics under the influence of alcohol tend to develop aggressive tendencies leading to quarrels and fights with their spouse. Wife battering by men are many times attributed to aggressive behaviour developed under alcoholic influence. Likewise, there are women who mistreat their husbands and abuse their children for the same reason. Alcoholic influence lowers the moral guard in many people leading them to get involved in extra marital affairs. I have heard many people attribute alcoholic influence to extra marital affairs that led to disastrous consequences for their marriage and life. Many have visited bars without any intention of having any affairs, but ended up with it.
3. Finance: Addiction to alcohol can eventually lead to financial drain with the result that the family or the addict suffers from lack of essential things such as food, clothing and so on.
The ability for the addiction to reduce a person to a very selfish individual can be evidently seen when an addict’s spendings are examined. The usual trend for most alcoholics is that only a tiny portion of their income benefits their families or dependants. The lion’s share is squandered through drinking. The result is that the family, especially the children suffer.
The addiction problem can progress and cause a reduction in the productivity of the person. Job loss or lack of confidence in employers to hire the addict thus causes further deterioration of the financial condition.
4. Parenting: Alcoholic addiction can progress to the point where the addict’s ability to be an effective parent is seriously hampered. One of the things that is commonly lacking between an addict and the children is quality time together. Many of the alcoholic parents especially fathers, spend much of their evening time in the drinking joints after their work. By the time they come back home, the children are already in bed. In the morning some of them are off to work before the children are awake. And if the children are fortunate to be going to school they are off before that parent who could be suffering from hangover is out of bed.
In addition some alcoholic parents under the influence of alcohol assault their children verbally or physically and are very hostile towards them. This creates further rifts between the parent and children; because of that some children are compelled to run away from home into the street, while others rebel against the authority of the parent leaving them even more vulnerable to destructive forces. Perhaps the most saddening aspect of alcoholism in a parent is that, unless otherwise, the same habit is invested into their children and manifested when they are grown up.
Having taken stock in the four areas mentioned, is it worth the cost of continuing with the practice?
You could be saying to yourself that you are just an addict not an alcoholic and therefore your condition is not bad. I want to remind you that every alcoholic begins as an ordinary addict. They began the first step into the practice with a tot or a bottle and little by little they were brought far into the practice. Whether one is an alcoholic or just an addict, the practice is enslaving, and costly in many ways. The Bible says in 1Peter.29 that a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. You may be tempted to say that: “Oh I have no problem. I don’t disturb people when I am drunk. I just go to sleep.” No! An alcoholic has a problem. What about the harm they do against their bodies through that lifestyle? What about the things left undone because of neglect. From God’s point of view, drunkardness is sin. The bible does not mince words about the matter. It clearly says in 1Cor.6:9-11 that no one should be deceived about the matter: no drunkard will inherit the Kingdom of God
Hear what He says in Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.”
Even if you are not an addict to alcohol, you could still need help from a certain type of addiction that affects every man. And the Bible says that if that type of addiction is not dealt with, it will lead to our total separation from God and eternal condemnation. That is the addiction to sin. Rom 3:23-24 assures us of Christ’s ability to set us free from the compelling power of sin, through faith in Jesus Christ, who died as a payment for every shortcoming that men have. As many as there are shortcomings in the lives of men, there is only one solution: Faith in Jesus Christ.
Tonight I want to encourage you to receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour! Not only will he set you free from your addiction, but he will free you from the power of sin and its penalty. If you have made up your mind to accept Jesus, follow this prayer after me:
“Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. Forgive my sins. I believe that you died for my sins on the cross, and was raised to life for my justification. I do now receive you as my lord and saviour. Come into my heart and change my life. Cleanse me by your blood. Free me from every form of addiction. Jesus, in your name I pray. Amen”.
If you have made this confession from your heart, thanks for receiving a wonderful saviour. Get a bible based church near you and fellowship there. Get the counsel of a pastor or whoever handles problems associated with addiction. If you are able to reach us, we shall gladly help you by God’s grace. Let us know about your decision for Jesus Christ. God bless you.
George Oduch (Senior Pastor) Victory Church P.O. Box 34167 Kampala
www.vccmin.org
This message is brought to you by:
www.yourdailyvictory.blogspot.com
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