We increase in power by repenting, planning our change, and then praying over the fruits of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Pray: “Father, fill me with a Spirit of love. I pray that Your love would flow into me.” I often spend 10 minutes praying to be filled with God's love. This is a great practice because God's love takes away our darkness and fills us with light and love. We also should pray over 1st Corinthians 13:4 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (endures all things). To pray over this passage I simply pray: “Father, help me to be patient.” Then I pause and meditate on that for a minute. Then, “Father, help me to be kind.” Then I pause and meditate on that for a minute. I just go through the whole passage praying and meditating over each section. We meditate over Scripture because usually, we are in a dark struggling state. As we meditate, the light and power of Jesus begins to flow into us. And with the Light on, we increase in our power to fight addiction. Secondly, pray, “Father, fill me with Your joy.” This one is more complicated so I have added a link to an article about finding joy. Tomorrow I will continue with ideas about praying about long-suffering and kindness. They are 2 fruits that are powerhouses against addiction.
This is not the only reason we meditate on Scripture, and this certainly does not need to be our usual state. Indeed, I hope it will not be for very long, once we come to know Christ!
My brother-in-law came to town this week. He struggles in some areas like many of us do. But, just a little bit of Jesus shines through him when you see how much he loves his family and how he treats others. He is increasing in his power to help others simply by his example of Christian love. Pray: “Father, fill me with Your love. Help me to focus on Your ways so that Your light shines.” A farmer saw his electric bill soaring. So he changed all his bulbs to a lower wattage despite his constant need to work after dark. On his first night, he skinned his knee slipping off a ladder step that he could barely see. On his second night, he cut his hand with a saw. He thought he had the board in the right place, but the darkness fooled him. Then on the third night, he stepped in a hole and broke his ankle. Sometimes I am tempted to not read the Bible. But... the Bible turns the light on. And honestly, I am rarely tempted not to pray. It turns on a bright light. Things like working on addiction turn on the light. Praising Jesus, singing Christian songs, and focusing on toughness turn the light on. Say: “I refuse to continue to be a slave to this.” Secondly, notice how good your life is when you have your light shining brightly. This is vitally important because trials and temptations will come. And when they do, you will remember that making the right decisions do lead to a great week, month and year. You will know that you just have to make it through that tough day. And once you know that you want a great year... it is an easy decision to study the Bible, or Nofap articles, or to pray for an hour so that you can change and have a great year. Finally, when we focus on living in the light, it is a lot easier to see the path to a great productive life.
