ALTERNATE ACTIVITIES ARE VITALLY IMPORTANTLY

1. To quit an addiction we decide to do new activities and then we do them. They are not for fun, play, pleasure, or profit. It is wise to treat them like work or some great difficult goal.
   
   
2. Example: I decide my new activity is playing the piano. First I set a goal: 30 minutes per day. # 2 Decide exactly when you will do it: 6:30 PM. # 3 Say 10 times daily why you need to do this activity: “I need to play the piano so that I stop being a slave to ______.” # 4 Pray, “Father take away this spirit of lust, and show me how playing the piano will help me to do Your will someday.”
   
   
3. Spiritual goals should be # 1 in life. But after that, your activity goals should sometimes be the next most important. But what about family. It is a balance, a juggling game that you need to play until you get healthy. One solution to the family question is to work out with them. Do a hobby with them.
   
   
4. New activities are not great fun if you are really addicted. Addiction uses up all our fun and leaves us dark and empty. So keep this in mind. The exact same activities that you don't love in week one of quitting seem a lot better in week 4 after you have been clean for a month and are in a good place with God.
   
   
5. Someday, some of your new activities will become positive addictions. I lift weights every day. I play either the piano or bass guitar virtually every day. I write articles about addiction every day and I do many other things every day.
   
   
6. Secondly, I want to try to explain how life gets better after we quit. With addiction we move from fun event (hopefully) to fun event. Trying to find answers, fun, thrills. With freedom plus Jesus, we start to find increasing joy, and answers. With addiction, we watch TV always searching frantically for thrills. With freedom plus Jesus, we start to enjoy clean TV and we start to find contentment. With addiction, there are no answers. With freedom plus Jesus, we start to find a purpose for living. With addiction, we are driven, driven, driven. A constant flurry of trying to find... I don't know what. With freedom plus Jesus, we can ask Jesus what He wants us to do. Then we are filled with His peace and we can do His will. With addiction, we sometimes struggle with family and people. With freedom plus Jesus, we learn how important it is to live in love.
   
   
7. Activities are key. They will change your life if you make it a priority to do them daily.
   

 

Exercise is a key. Movement makes us feel good. Write out a plan for exercise and for alternate activities. Studies show that we are twice as likely to succeed with a plan when we write it down.
Copy and paste quitting articles that will help you. Then write out your plan. When, where, how. It works.

 

Satan will be right there fighting with you if you are determined to replace what he wants you to do with new activities.

Pray: “Father, help me to get active.”

Satan is even more upset if you decide that sin is the problem.

Pray: “Father, show me how fighting sin will improve my life.”

Psalms 23 starts: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Wow! When we do things God's way we will not “want” for anything.

Satan says to skip your daily Bible reading, skip going to church. But if you listen to him you start to cut God's promises out of the Bible. One after another.

Satan reminds you that you struggle to spend time in prayer. Here is the thing. We need to thoroughly repent of all sin first. We need to have a perfect plan to change first. Then... spending time in prayer will be the highlight of our day.

Here is what to do if you are determined to learn how to pray, but the truth is – you have no idea how to do it. Read a chapter in the Bible. Pray about it or anything on your heart. Read one article from Nofap, pray about it for 5 minutes. Read another article from Nofap, pray 5 minutes, read 1 or 2 of the verses for quitting, pray 5 minutes about them, rinse and repeat for an hour.

Five-star spiritual activities are spectacular for quitting. These include daily Bible study, prayer, getting together with other believers, studying Nofap, and helping others. Make it a priority to do your spiritual activities first. Then, make it a priority to add practical activities. For most people, both are needed.

 

• We were created to love and worship God. I added Christian ideas to the first five activity suggestions so that we have something to do, and so that we are loving and worshipping God.
  
  Activities

• Learning a new instrument so you can play Christian music
  
  
• Photography – It allows you space to practice praising the Lord
  
  
• Reading Christian books
  
  
• Volunteering at Christian places
  
  
• Music writing of Christian songs
  
  
• Drawing
  
  
• Martial arts
  
  
• Learning a new language
  
  
  
  Last, one of the greatest ways to worship God is by fulfilling our purpose. To find new books on purpose simply write “Christian purpose” in the Amazon search. You can read books like God's purpose for your life: 365 Devotions by Charles Stanley , or What the Bible Says about Addiction, or the Purpose Driven Life, or take your pick of many others.
  
  Getting active is good, getting active in a way that grows our Christianity is great and it will start the change the way we think. Thinking right is the first step towards living right.

 

Psychology recommends charting what you do every hour of your week. This article is loosely based on information from this link at Psychologytools.

Simply use something like a Google calendar and write in what activity you do during every free hour. Then, at the end of the week review how each activity made you feel and what caused increased temptation. Then, slowly start to replace activities that bring you down, tempt you, or are passive and replace them with better activities.

Unless you are 18 don't change from sitting in front of the TV 7 days a week with 7 days of going out. You will be exhausted. But slowly, start making positive changes. Start adding physical activities, and hobbies. Start adding spiritual activities.

Feel free to plan a bunch of changes, but especially with physical ones – start slowly and work your way up.

Charting forces you to learn exactly what you are doing that is causing issues. This method will show you which days are causing a spike in temptation. What activities during which hours are causing a spike in temptation? Show you what activities make you feel bad, which then lowers your determination.

Once you have your information you can print out articles about which activities would be great replacements for the negative ones. Then pray about what you should stop doing and what you should start doing.

Bad activities cause traps. We will fall into them. Good activities lead to strength and the power to win.

 

Daily Bible-study is a vital alternative activity because it allows God to talk to you, and start to live through you when you submit to Him. Today I read James one. Here is an example of how much we can learn from daily Bible-study.

12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

The Contemporary English version says: “12 God will bless you, if you don't give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him.”

God will bless us when we keep fighting and don't give up.

15 “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

A good reminder for what happens if we keep sinning.

CEV 20 “If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things God wants done.”

Anger often leads to an inability to fight temptation. Consider praying often:

“Father, take away this spirit of anger so that I can more effectively fight off sin.”

NIV 21 “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

Fight sin, read the Bible, accept the Word.

22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Consider memorizing V 22. I also liked the CEV: 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

25 “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Consider memorizing V 25. The perfect law gives us freedom. When we continue in it, and when we do it, we are blessed. What a great verse.

Make daily Bible-study a habit. It is a key to quitting.

 

Wikihow wrote: “Build a support network for yourself. Overcoming your addiction will be easier if you have lots of support. Surround yourself with friends and loved ones who will be there for you.”

Consider praying: “Father, help me to turn from lust, and fill me with Your love.”

There are two reasons to increase in love. First, the Bible says to do that. Second, when we increase in love the support network (that we need) will be stronger for us.

Wikihow added: “Additionally, join a support group to help you get through the tough times and celebrate your successes. To give yourself the best chances, start seeing a therapist or counselor who can help you create a treatment plan and work through the issues that led to your addiction.

• Choose a support group that shares your core beliefs. Some programs are based around religion, so you might prefer a group that speaks to your beliefs.”

Even in my tiny town, one can see a Christian counselor at a reasonable price. If that is not available see if you can find a pastor or a priest.

Second, realize who can help you. Many of us have a family member or friend who could give us all kinds of advice about quitting habits. Even if you can't tell them what you are quitting, just tell them you keep slipping into bad habits. Who knows, they may, or may not have advice, but they may be willing to do “activities” with you. We need alternative activities.

If you always slip up when you get bored tell your support network that. Then they will better know how to support you.

Third, be highly intentional in setting up time to spend with family and friends. If you are lonely pray every day about “trying” to be intentional in spending time with people. My brother is single and he “always” tries to make friends with a bunch of people. He is grumpy and opinionated, but sooner or later, he makes friends. Keep trying!

Last, pick a new activity and try it every day this week for 10 minutes. Keep trying things until you find activities that you enjoy doing. Note: always make your new activity a Spiritual experience. You are not doing that activity for a 5-star thrilling experience. You are doing it to try to implement activities that are pleasing to God. To find activities that will distract you. To form habits of “clean” activities.

So pray a prayer before you start. Say “Praise the Lord” after you wreck a pop song while trying to learn how to play the guitar. Act like David from the Bible when you try new things. He would probably do a little dance for God before he would start a new woodworking hobby.

Finally, realize that doing the new activity is the win. Finding something you really love at some point is better, but one way or the other... celebrate the win. You did an alternative activity. You are starting to do things God's way.

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Think about how your alternate activity affects P. If we dig into a bit of scripture first, we will be more content with many activities. If we pray during the alternate activity, we will have more patience for doing something that our “self” does not want to do. Pray, honor God, fight, and win.

 

Satan wins if we sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. We know what that leads to.

Every day, consider praying urgently to “Get started.” Get started daily with Bible study, movement, increasing in spiritual things, and fighting bad habits. One of the most important habits you need urgently is to form the habit of “Fighting bad habits daily.” Set a time and a place for this war. It is vital!!!

Second, free time leads to temptation. Fill it up. Here are some ways:

1. Study and pray about purpose.
   
   
2. Meet a strong spiritual friend for lunch.
   
   
3. Read a Christian book.
   
   
4. Pray about being filled with the Holy Spirit.
   
   
5. Attend an exercise class.
   
   
6. Study Bible verses on love, contentment, toughness, joy, peace, or anything else that you need.
   
   
7. Volunteer in your community.
   
   
8. Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while.
   
   
9. Pick up a new hobby through classes or online tutorials.
   
   
10. Go for a run.
    
    
11. Pick a spiritual trait you should be doing, and do it today and this week: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
    
    
12. Clean your home or car.
    
    
13. Meditate or pray over spiritual traits you need to increase so that bad habits decrease.
    
    
14. Learn a new language with books or an app.
    
    
15. Count your blessings
    
    
16. Print and frame digital photos from your phone.
    
    
17. Catch up on errands.
    
    
18. Go for a walk.
    
    
19. Finish a home-improvement project.
    
    
20. Call an elderly relative.
    
    
21. Plant a garden in your yard (or join a community garden).
    
    
22. Write in a journal.
    
    
23. Do a crossword puzzle.
    
    
24. Play a board game.
    
    
25. Take yourself out for ice cream.
    
    
26. Put together a jigsaw puzzle.
    
    
27. Write a poem.
    
    
28. Try mindfulness techniques.
    
    
29. Make a commitment to strengthen relationships
    

Firstly, attack bad habits with spiritual techniques. But, almost as importantly, fill up your free time with healthy activities. An idle mind is the devil's workshop.

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