 For those Christians who are struggling with some sort of addiction, some sort of bondage, how do we as Christians break these addictions? Whether you've been saved for a short amount of time or a lengthy period of time, we all have these struggles that we deal with. And I don't care who it is, sometimes these struggles seem to be nagging, they don't, they're persisting. Sometimes they become a stronghold or a serious addiction. How do we fight those things? Because let's be honest, there are addictions. Maybe it's drugs, maybe it's alcohol, maybe it's sex, maybe it's working. You name it, there are different things that we, even as believers, still have to deal with. The inner man is being renewed, but the flesh has not. And Paul has to struggle himself. And so how do we deal with addiction? Well, James says in James 5, 13, he says, is anyone suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church. And they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sin, they'll be forgiven. This applies to a lot of things. It can be an actual emotional or spiritual issue. It can be a physical issue, a physical sickness. But in this case, since we're talking about an addiction, this can refer to this as well. You ought to have someone that you can trust, that you can go to, that they can pray with you. You ought to be in prayer as well. And the chief way that this can go about is just by drawing close to him. James was it this way. Also, he says, submit to God, resists the devil, draw to him, and then he will draw near to you. The closer you get to him, whatever the issue, whatever the addiction is, whatever the stronghold, the closer you get to God, the further you get away from that. Why? Because he is the one better than any counselor, counseling session, any 12-step program. He is better suited at delivering you, setting you free. Remember, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God. How is that? Well, according to the scripture, it says that, but the violently powerful for the destruction of fortresses, we are destroying speculation. This word here are high thoughts and every lofty thing rakes up against the knowledge of God. And we take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. And so as we get close to him, as we walk in him, the close we are with him, even in our daily walk, these things tend to go away. As a matter of fact, not even 10, they do go away. Oftentimes it's that we tend to sometimes hold onto these things. It might be something that we're used to. Maybe it's a bad mouth. Maybe it's a bad attitude and we fall back on that. But the closer we get to him, the further we tend to get away from those negative things. The closer you get to him, the more your heart and your spirit is filled with joy, thanksgiving, love, kindness. It is hard to be close to him, to be focused on him and to be engaged in whatever this stronghold or addiction is, which is oftentimes why people who are caught in these things tend to want to avoid the body, avoid the Bible, avoid church, even avoid listening or watching anything that has a Christian overtone. Christian songs or Christian television or anything like that. Why? Because it's just difficult for the two to be in the same place, the spirit, or you in a place of worship and adoration and focus on him, or at the same time, focusing on the sin. Those two things seem to be pretty difficult to do. And so we know that for the most part, even though they may manifest this way, but our issues are not a physical issue. They are a spiritual issue. That's what we were against and the way that we defeat those is in the spirit. How so? As the Bible says, by being filled. How does that happen by being filled with the spirit? It happens by being closer with him, by yielding yourselves, by doing your best to move from those things closer to God. You don't even have to focus on how to leave the problems that you're dealing with. All you gotta do is focus on how to get closer to God. Well, how does that happen, Corey? The way that happens is by you focusing in your word. There's power in his word. The second way is by prayer. Sometimes we neglect prayer. Remember, James says, if any of you sick, well, then pray, call for the elders and pray for him. Prayer sometimes gets neglected, but there is something powerful in that, in you speaking with him and in him also returning in favor. I know some people don't believe that the Lord speaks to us. Maybe not in the same way that we've seen in the Bible with these audible voices coming down from heaven, thundering. No, Jesus tells us and how to pray. He said, lead us. Well, how does he lead us? Well, through his spirit, that is from this line of communication that we have through prayer. A third way that often gets neglected is through the fellowship of the brethren or with the brethren, namely church. We are a body. We need each other. Everyone needs you. You need everyone else. And there might be someone there that can help walk you through, someone that you can confide in, someone that can pray with you, someone that can also be a source of encouragement with you. We are to stir up the gift. We are to stir up something in each one of us. We are not here to be, as we would say, long range of Christians, but we are part of a family. And then lastly, something else that also I found that helped is just by praising him. When your focus is on him, not on what he can do, but just who he is. The Bible says that he inhabits the praises of his people. And so there's something very therapeutic about how when we praise him, it seems to do wonders for our soul and the things that we're dealing with. As a matter of fact, oftentimes, the things that we're dealing with, the strongholds addition, don't seem that great after having spent time with him. And so let's just focus on him. Give him the opportunity rather than some program or some psychologist. Let's give him the opportunity to liberate us, to set us free. Whom the sun sets free, that person is free indeed. Amen.