NOTE: You will often need to take the initiative to help the dependent find a
center for treatment and check in, or perhaps assist the addict's family in doing this. Indicate that you intend to do this. The addict cannot be trusted to handle this alone. He or she may promise, but never follow through. Both during and following treatment, the helper should be as supportive as possible. Visit frequently. Start the recovering addict in the reading and study of God's Word and prayer. Assist in finding a support group of Christian ex-addicts, if such is available. Get the person involved in the life of a caring, Bible-teaching church. Get him or her in touch with a Christian professional counselor or group experienced in the treatment of addicts. He or she will need ongoing help with those personal problems which led to addiction in the first place.
CAUTION: Do not promise help in finding treatment, only that you will
do the best you can.
8. Pray with the drug-dependent person for courage, for commitment, and for the power of the Holy Spirit to be released. All these are necessary in the redemptive process: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).
Scripture
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives. . . . And He began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' . . . So they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, 'What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out'" (Luke 4:18, 21, 36).
"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness" (Romans 6:11–13, NIV).
"But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death" (James 1:14–15).
"For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry" (1 Peter 4:3, NIV).
ENEMIES
Background
An enemy is anyone who may show hostility or ill will toward us, or seek to harm us. None of us is entirely free from the unhappiness caused by the wrongs of others. Our inclination may be to retaliate or "get even." But the Word of God always speaks of a different kind of response:
• "Live at peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18, NIV).
• "Repay no one evil for evil" (Romans 12:17).
• "Do not take revenge" (Romans 12:19, NIV).
• "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
Certain attitudes and actions tend to create enemies or widen differences:
• Selfish actions or lack of sensitivity toward others.
• Unwillingness to realize that we may be the "offender" rather than the "offended."
• Talking about people rather than to them; "putting them down" or criticizing their attitudes and actions instead of humbly confronting them.
• Deliberately ignoring a tense situation rather than trying to correct it.
• Believing that we are morally superior because we have found something to condemn in someone else.
• Refusing to "go the second mile" or to "turn the other cheek" as taught in Scripture. Forgiveness is the essence of the redeemed life: "Forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Luke 6:37).
• Disobeying God's directive to love our enemies, bless them, do good to them, and pray for them (Matthew 5:44).
Billy Graham writes: "God can and will give you a forgiving spirit when you accept His forgiveness through Jesus Christ. When you do, you will realize that He has forgiven you so much that you will desire to forgive any wrong done to you. In the world, the policy of getting even with the other fellow is generally accepted. Among Christians, it