When things aren’t happening on your timetable, when you don’t see anything changing, are you tempted to get complacent or quit trying?

I have a friend who struggled with an addiction for a long time, many years. In high school, he got mixed up with the wrong crowd; and twenty years later, he was still addicted. He’s a good man, has a good family. He’s gone through a lot of counseling and to different treatment centers with no success. I’ve prayed for him personally at the church altar several times. This young man could have easily just given up and thought, “Well, this is just my lot in life. It’s never going to change.”

But he was determined. He had a made-up mind. Even though he would fall, he would get back up again and again.

About two years ago, he told me that after being addicted for twenty-one years, he is now totally free. I congratulated him and asked him how he did it. I thought maybe he went through some kind of new, special program. But he said, “Joel, I didn’t do anything new. In fact, I can’t really put my finger on it. It’s just like something broke on the inside. All of the sudden, I didn’t have the desire anymore. I had a strength that I had never felt before.” What’s interesting is that in years past, he could stop for two or three weeks, but then he would crave that drug so strongly and would always go back to it. He couldn’t resist the temptation. But he said, “This time I’m not even tempted by it anymore. It’s not even a struggle.” That’s the power of God at work in this man’s life! That’s God taking him out of the enemy’s reach!

Friend, you may fall in life. You may have some setbacks. Remember, an athlete in training gets stronger through resistance. The same is true in your spiritual walk—it’s the struggle that makes you stronger. Each time you get back up, you are better. You are wiser. You are stronger. If you will just keep getting back up, one day, you will have the supernatural strength to stand in total victory!

Today, know that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. If God is for you, who can be against you? The forces of darkness may have held you back in the past, but it’s time to rise up in faith in Jesus Christ and keep moving forward! That addiction is not going to defeat you; I declare it’s coming to an end. That struggle, that stronghold; don’t accept it as the norm. You just keep pressing into God, keep praising Him and thanking Him for the victory. Keep studying and obeying the Word. It won’t be long before the chains fall off so you can run in freedom and victory the way God has planned!