Prayers please.
I was counseling a drug addict. He's a Christian. We've done all that can be done to be sure of that. But he can't stop doing drugs. We're working on why. Usually there is a deep-seated reason people seek drugs (to cover something, to avoid something) but it may be that this friend in Christ uses drugs simply for the high... "it likes a high of seeing God face to face." I know that's not true. The guy who sells me the drugs has a pentagram tattooed on his body. I know its a sin for me but I'm powerless.
As we discussed he addiction, I tried to give him some new reasons for wanting to stop. The first was a worldly reason. Every time he puts a needle into his arm, he is also stabbing many people who worked to supply his drugs... the grower who gets very little, the refiner who works people to death, the overlord who kills people, the transporters who let people die to carry the goods, etc. That may have helped.
And I explained the gospel one more time. Jesus drank the cup of wrath in the garden of Gethsemane. The client knew the story well. So in the cup was your sins. And every time you put a needle in your arm, the cup gets bigger, and more bitter, and more filthy. Jesus has to drink it. The pain of separation from God for Jesus gets that much worse on the cross every time you do it. Jesus cries out, "Father, father, why have forsaken me" even as you put the needle into your arm. You are hammering the nails into Jesus every time you do that. When is enough?
He liked both of these tools. He wanted time to think it over. On our next guidance counseling, we plan to discuss how to use the Holy Spirit as spiritual armor against the addiction. Ultimately, his healing and his recovery are up to God. The client has to be willing to give it all to Jesus and he has to be willing to work on recovery. Praying for him mightily!
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Youth Ministry in Yorba Linda also works for such social causes. Addiction must be eradicated from the society to make the world a better place to live in. The Youth Ministry should do their best to help the cause.
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