For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies - Mathew15:19

I have come across a number of young people who get into addiction of various kinds – smoking, drugs, pornography and many such evil habits which have spoilt their lives and caused miserable physical conditions. You reading this today might have friends who are addicted to the evil things in this world or you yourself might be one such person. The worst part of addiction is that you never know that it is taking hold of you, until you realise one day that this habit has taken control of your behaviour and you are addicted to it. You might be addicted so much that you can no longer live without it or you are just in the start of being addicted to something. My dear friend, the saddest part of it is, most of the young people cry that they did not know it would take such a stronghold on them and control their activities else they would have not tried it at all.

Recently, a young man named Andrew was executed in a prison, in Indonesia, arrested for drugs. He wrote a letter to the youngsters, who are trying to use drugs, in which he said,

“I have missed weddings, funerals, just the simple presence of my family. The hurt and pain that I don't just put onto myself but my family is agonising. A simple touch such as a hug is not possible for a condemned man like me; I have nothing but an iron bar to hug rather than to be embraced by those I love and whom I miss. Most likely, I won't have the chance to see such things such as the birth of my first child, let alone have a child. My life is a perfect example of an absolute waste. That does not have to be for you. At the end of the day, I'm only 29 years old and, the truth is, I might not be able to see my 30th birthday. How many of you want to follow in my footsteps? And I hope these words will penetrate through your minds and in your hearts and that most of you, if not all of you, will achieve more than I ever did.”

Andrew is one among the millions who cry this to people who are addicted or planning to do it just once and quit it. It does not leave you with just a single try. If you try once, you will do it the second time, the third and it goes on. It is wise not to start than to try it once and not end. If you are one of those youngsters who is addicted to some evil habit that even your parents do not know, or you have just started with something wrong or addictions to porn and you want to leave it but cannot, if you are struggling to get away from it or stop doing it, here is a good news for you. If you have a garden in your house, sometimes there are trees that begin to grow near your house and you might have seen your elders say that this tree has very strong roots and so it will spoil the entire house if it grows and so we must remove it now or it will get stronger if we allow it to grow. Once when I was doing something like this with my grandfather, I was helping him cut the small stem and the branches that it had. Since I was a little boy then, I did some hard work and gave a smile at my grandfather saying “I have finished it and we have no problem now. The tree is dead and we are not going to have problems.” He said, “It will grow again in no time”. But I thought to myself that it was impossible since I have completely destroyed it. Two or three days later my grandfather called me to see something and to my surprise the tree grew again to the same extent it was before I cut it. My grandfather had a bottle filled with something in his hand – it was some acid. So he asked me move a little farther from the tree and taught me saying that it was the root that we have to remove and not the stem and leaves. He dug a little and cut the stem at its bottom and just poured this strong acid on the roots. Only if the root dies, the addictions stop. Only if your heart is clean you can win over temptations. Jesus says that all the evil things come from the heart of a man; the heart is like the root of the tree. We can easily overcome temptations only when our hearts are clean. Sin has hidden roots in our hearts that we often neglect or think it is not so. The truth is, you struggle to come out of something bad even though you know it is bad is because there are roots of that sin in your hearts. If you remove those roots you will be free. How do you remove those roots? How can we make our hearts clean? It is an everyday process to keep it clean, by praying and reading the word of God. When we read God’s word our heart is pricked and when you pray for forgiveness, God’s own blood cleanses you and keeps your heart pure. Do this from today; destroy the root of sin in you.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Please help me to overcome this addiction in my life. Forgive me for my sins and iniquities. I confess it in your presence and I want to stop it completely. Help me read your word and spend time in your presence, praying every day. Help me Lord. Thank you for doing so. Amen.

Bro John Clement A

God's love missions family