Page 106 - Overcoming Addiction

simply for the sake of historical record. It has been written for our instruction.
Many Christians today do precisely as King Saul did. God sends them forth to
battle an enemy and they only do the job part way and then say they are finished
and they expect God to be pleased. The Christian often will get rid of that in their
life which appears worthless to them, but those things that are attractive they will
spare, even when God says to destroy them.
Working and living at a rescue mission, I have found this to be the pattern of
most men. Many come in who want to be delivered of that which is destroying
their life, but they do not want to go as far as God would have them to go. When
God would begin to convict them regarding those substances they are putting in
their body, they immediately begin to divide them up into those things they are
willing to get rid of, and those which they are not. Many missions have rules that
prohibit smoking cigarettes. At those that do not prohibit smoking, it is not
unusual to find that nearly all of the men in a recovery program smoke. Whereas
they are willing to forego illegal drugs to be at a mission, for they are not tolerated,
they are unwilling to do anything about their equally destructive addiction to
cigarettes.
Some men who have been convicted by God to lay aside cigarette smoking,
switch to smokeless tobacco instead. They dip snuff, or chew tobacco and they go
on as if they have done all that God desires them to do. I have found the same
pattern being followed in alcohol consumption. Some who were greatly convicted
of their drunkenness would give up hard liquor, but they would continue to drink
beer. There are some who even feel they have done the will of God when they have
ceased to use cocaine or methamphetamines, but they convince themselves it is
okay to continue to smoke marijuana.
All of these things are examples of the type of failure manifested in the life of
King Saul. They are also examples of not putting on the belt of truth and the
breastplate of righteousness. We must agree with God concerning those things
which are sin. If we do not, we will sit back and glory in our victory when we have
not done the will of God. King Saul even erected a monument to himself after his
defeat of Amalek, and so too do men and women celebrate their victories when
they have fallen short of God’s command.

The Shoes of Peace

“and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace...”

This may seem like a strange description of a warrior’s apparel. What does
the gospel of peace have to do with spiritual warfare? The word ‘gospel’ literally
means ‘good news.’ What good news is being referred to here? Evidently it is good
news concerning peace. The angels announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds
in the following way:

Luke 2:14
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”