David Diga Hernandez - How Do I Get Free from Addiction for Good?

I want to talk to you about the stronghold of addiction. Now, there are many different forms of addiction: there’s drug addiction, alcohol addiction, porn addiction, food addiction—so many different things can become addictions. I want you to remember this about addiction: people ask me all the time, «Brother David, let’s just use drug addiction or alcohol addiction as an example.» People often ask me, «Brother David, is that spiritual or is that physical?» I tell them it’s both. All addictions have some form of demonic influence; how can they not? Think about what an addiction does: it destroys someone who carries the image of God. Every addiction that is destructive to the life of someone who bears the image of God has some element of demonic influence. Just look at addiction and observe what it does in someone’s life. You tell me what other kind of influence could make a parent abandon their child. You tell me what other influence could cause someone to give up everything that God blessed them with to pursue the pleasures of the world. There is demonic influence in all forms of addiction, period. Now, don’t confuse demonic deception with other forms of demonic attack, and I want to show you how this works, okay, in just a moment. So, it’s partly demonic, partly the sin nature, and partly physiological. Now, when I say that an addiction is partly demonic, people who don’t believe in the supernatural say, «Oh, you’re crazy! Oh, you’re demon-obsessed! Oh, you don’t know what you’re talking about! Oh, you’re superstitious!» They neglect the reality of the supernatural. Then, when I say that there’s a physiological element to addiction, the people who are superstitious say, «No, it’s completely demonic, and there’s nothing else that needs to be addressed.» Both sides are wrong. An addiction is demonic in nature, fleshly in nature, and physiological in nature. Now, when I say fleshly, I’m using that term as it pertains to the sin nature. And that word you have to watch because sometimes, when the word flesh is used, it’s talking about the sin nature, and other times when the word flesh is used, it’s talking about the physical body. Context will give meaning to that particular word. You have to address all these areas.

Now, let me show you how addiction works. Here’s how addiction works: it begins with deception that gives way to yielding to temptation. You say, «How does addiction begin with deception?» Well, think about this: all temptation is rooted in deception. In Matthew 4, you can look at it later. When the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, the devil tempted Him with lies and challenged His identity, which was a form of deception. «If you are the Son of God,» that’s deception; it’s the challenging of the truth. So, deception is the framework for temptation. Deception gives temptation its power. Deception says, «The sin will satisfy; the drug will satisfy; the sex will satisfy; the alcohol will satisfy; overeating will satisfy.» Then, that deception gives way to temptation. Another lie could be, «The presence of God can’t fulfill you like this can,» or «This doesn’t have any real consequences.» Those are the lies we believe that cause us to yield to temptation, the ultimate lie being that it’s worth it. Temptation produces sin, and that sin becomes habitual.

Now, watch this: at some point, the habitual sin becomes a physical problem. Hear me now: at some point, the habitual sin becomes a physical problem. Watch this: now, deception—that’s the demonic aspect—temptation—that’s a combination of your flesh and the demonic—because the Bible says that when we’re tempted, we’re tempted because we’re carried away by our own lusts. Then, the Bible also makes it clear that the devil tempts us: «Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.» That’s crying out for deliverance from temptation. Temptation is demonic and fleshly; sin is of the flesh. You choose to sin; demons can tempt you, but you choose to sin, and then it becomes habitual. Now the flesh is getting stronger with habitual sin.

Now, watch this: eventually, that habitual sin of the sin nature, of the carnal nature, begins to become an addiction. Now you’ve got a physiological problem on your hands. You have to deal with the demonic; you have to deal with the sin nature, and you have to deal with the body. To address the demonic, you have to realize that the enemy is going to seek opportunities to tempt you. Now, the context here will consider it, and then I’ll show you the principle we’re gleaning from this. 1 Corinthians 7:5 says, «Do not deprive each other of sexual relations,» talking to married couples, «unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so that you can give yourselves more completely to prayer.» So he’s talking to a married couple, saying, «Look, if you want to fast, you can refrain from sexual intimacy for the sake of prayer.» But watch the warning he gives afterward: «You should come together so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.» You see the combination there: temptation of the devil, self-control—that’s you, that’s the flesh. He can only tempt you because of your lack of self-control; he can only tempt you because of the desires that you have in the sin nature.

Now, watch this: this also shows us that the enemy looks for opportune moments. He looks for the moments when you are weakest, and he tempts you with what?