Don't Quit Your Addiction-Transfer It Ep.8

Sarah Annie Schneider: Welcome to the Addicted to God podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Schneider, and I am addicted to God. This podcast is for people who are feeling tired, defeated, overwhelmed, or discouraged. People who desperately want a real relationship with God, but they aren't sure where to start or how to make it stick. Not just for today, but for life. For over 10 years, I've had the honor of mentoring women in our local jail. That's exactly where the Addicted to God movement was born. So many of these women walked in carrying destructive addictions that had taken everything from them. Their freedom, their families, their hope, and even their sense of worth. The ones who experienced real lasting transformation weren't the ones who were just trying harder to quit. They were the ones who learned how to transfer their addictions. to take that same intense hunger and drive and replace it with a lifelong pursuit and deep love for God and His Word. But here's what has inspired this podcast and the entire Addicted to God movement. The biggest barrier most of them faced wasn't that they didn't want to change. It was that they simply didn't know where to start. That's why we're here. This podcast is your gentle, practical introduction to understanding God and His Word. what it really means to follow Jesus and how to apply His truths to your everyday life, especially in the areas where you feel weakest and most stuck. Today, we're diving into a topic that's really close to my heart, destigmatizing addiction by learning to transfer our worldly addictions to the one and only healthy addiction, a passionate, all-consuming love for God and His Word. We'll talk about the Word of God and how it transforms us from the inside out, not the outside in, and why sheer willpower simply does not and cannot work long term. This is the place where we journey together toward the abundant life that God has promised us. Real freedom from the chains of harmful addictions, worldly strongholds, and all those temporary fixes that never deliver lasting peace. God is the one and only true healthy addiction. You will hear me say that over and over again. And that is why this podcast exists, to help you or someone you love fall deeper, more intimately in love with God and His word. I should just put a disclaimer out there that I am not a Bible expert, a theologian, or a seminary graduate. I'm not a polished spokesperson with fancy credentials. I'm a flawed, imperfect girl who loves God and loves people, especially people who are hurting, feeling helpless, or walking through a season of hopelessness. Being addicted to God means transferring our bondage, our brokenness, and our bad behaviors to God. The one who heals, restores, and sets us free. If that's you today, you're in the right place. So let's jump in. Part of my deep passion for the Addicted to God movement is to help destigmatize the word addiction. Some people hear the title of this podcast in wince by the mere mention of the word addict, addicted, addiction. But I love this word when it's reframed in a healthy, healing-centered, restorative, and refreshing way. Let these words sink in for a second. Addicted to God. How can that be a bad thing? Particularly when you realize the more of Him that you can know, the more you can learn about Him, you'll start to know His heart, realize His love for you, and what that love cost Him. Friends, we have embarked on the most invigorating, exhilarating, and fascinating high that we will ever, ever find. And I'm not kidding. I have been reading and studying God's Word for over 20 years every single day. I open my Bible every morning and I am always in awe. Not only of the new perspectives and insights, but how I can see firsthand how God has changed me for the better. I am so grateful. We've done a beautiful job as a society, making it safer to talk openly about mental health. People feel comfortable sharing when they're feeling anxious, depressed, triggered, or even overwhelmed. But when someone has the courage to admit that they're struggling with addiction, that often brings judgment instead of compassion. It can feel like a warning sign, like they're announcing they're in a destructive downward spiral that could pull others down with them. Let me be clear. I'm not talking about the person who proudly says, I'm a drunk. and I like getting drunk or I'm a pothead and I'm proud of it. Those kinds of claims aren't coming from a heart that's desperately seeking change. Biblically, we would call that unrepentant. Someone who loves their sin and has no regard for God, his ways, or need for God's help. I'm speaking to those of you who feel defeated and discouraged and you are absolutely desperate to break free from those addictive chains or the emotional bondage that has held you captive for far too long. If you're exhausted by the cycle and you're longing for freedom, to God is for you. Too often, especially in Christian circles, addiction gets wrapped in shame. We hear things you can just stop it, or if you had more faith, you wouldn't struggle. But that's not how God sees it at all. Addiction isn't just moral failure or lack of discipline. It's a symptom of a deeper hunger. We were created with a God-sized void in our hearts and when we don't fill it with Him, we try to fill it with anything else, be it substances, behaviors, relationships, success, scrolling, shopping. I mean, you name it. We are not at a shortage of finding things to make us feel better. The Bible doesn't shy away from this either. In 1 Corinthians 6-12, the apostle Paul writes, I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but I will not be mastered by anything. That's the heart of it. Anything that masters us, that controls us, becomes an idol, and it becomes our master. And idols always promise satisfaction. but what they really deliver is slavery. Here's what I want you to hear. The Bible doesn't say you can't have fun, enjoy your life, or experience pleasure. It's actually the opposite. God gives us freedom to enjoy good things as long as they don't become our God. And they don't take their rightful place as the one and only true God in our lives. A lot of people are afraid to surrender their life to Jesus. Because they think that means God is going to suck all the joy and fun out of them. Friend, that is a straight up lie from the enemy. Satan wants you to believe that following Jesus means boring, restricted lives. Even well-meaning friends might push back when you talk about getting clean because they worry you want to hang out with them anymore or you won't be any fun. maybe even risk becoming too holy for the old crowd. But that fear couldn't be further from the truth. When you make God your greatest pursuit, you don't lose your life, you find it. You don't lose friends. God may pivot you into a better crowd, but he also might keep you in that crowd to influence others for their good. Once you taste the real satisfaction that only He can give, nothing else will measure up or leave you empty again. He's not a killjoy. He's the source of true lasting joy. Jesus says in John 8.34, Very truly I tell you, everyone whose sins is a slave to sin. In that way, addiction is a form of slavery. But here's the good news. Jesus came to set the captives free. Now, why doesn't willpower work? Because willpower fights the symptom, not the root. Willpower is like trying to hold onto a beach ball underwater. It takes constant effort and eventually it pops right back up even stronger. Addiction rewires our brains and our hearts toward temporary relief from pain, trauma, emptiness, or even boredom. Sheer determination might get you a few days or even a few weeks, but without transformation, the poll returns. People and programs could even tell us to be stronger, try harder, just say no. One of the women I mentored in jail was convinced that if she didn't keep alcohol in the house that she wouldn't drink. But that didn't safeguard her from the temptation to drive to a liquor store on her way home from work after a bad day to pick up a bottle that she believed would help her to relax, take the edge off, any pain, or remove that frustration. Scripture points to something better. transformation the Holy Spirit. Look at Romans 12, 2. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will. You see, transformation happens from the inside out. And as we renew our minds in God's Word, that's when we receive behavior modification. It's almost like a heart renovation. 2 Corinthians 517 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new is here. If you haven't prayed and asked Jesus Christ to be the leader of your life and let God take control, then you wouldn't experience this new birth. You wouldn't experience becoming a new creation. where that old life is passed behind you and a new future is standing right before you. When we try to knuckle our way through a recovery, all by ourselves, on our willpower alone, we often end up exhausted, ashamed, or right back where we started, possibly even worse off than where we started. But when we transfer our addiction or any intense craving, vice, or temptation to Jesus, Something supernatural happens. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us. The Holy Spirit gives us new desires. The things that once mastered us lose their power because they're now mastered by love. Perfect, unfailing love. Love like you've never experienced. Love like we can't ever experience on this side of heaven. Without God, that is. God doesn't want to take away the bad, He wants to fill us with the best. That's why being addicted to God is an acute phrase. It's a biblical invitation to hunger and thirst for righteousness, as it says in Matthew 5-6. It's letting the living water of Jesus satisfy what no substance or habit ever could. Nothing illustrates this better than real of people whose lives were radically changed when they transferred their addiction to God. One of the most powerful examples and testimonies that I have heard is the rock legend, Alice Cooper. You might know Alice Cooper as the shock rock pioneer with the makeup and snakes and wild stage shows. At the height of his fame in the 1970s and early 80s, he was living the rock star dream, but it was destroying him. He became a severe alcoholic and cocaine addict. By his early 30s, he was throwing up blood every morning, paranoid by his own mansion, and on the brink of death. Doctors gave him grim warnings. His marriage was crumbling. He was, in his own words I heard on a recent interview, a classic alcoholic headed for an early grave. But Alice had grown up in a Christian home. His father and grandfather were pastors. Deep down, he knew the truth. At his lowest point, he hit rock bottom. and cried out to God. And sadly, that's what a lot of people tend to do. He drugs, reached out for help, and turned back to the faith of his childhood. ⁓ what makes his story so powerful for us today. Alice didn't describe his ⁓ recovery as, got cured or I used willpower to quit. No, he says, God healed him. For over or 39 years now, he hasn't had a single drink or used a single drug. Even his doctors were stunned, telling him it was impossible for a classic alcoholic not to relapse multiple times. But God literally took the craving away. In interviews, Alish has shared that at one desperate moment, he looked in the mirror and realized he had to choose. Let alcohol kill him or give everything to Jesus. Praise the Lord, he chose Jesus. He started going back to church, he's fully surrendered his life, and the Lord didn't just remove the addiction, he gave him a new passion. Alice often jokes that he traded one addiction for another. Now he's addicted to golf. But more importantly, he's addicted to Christ. He says Jesus became the core of everything. He is life. itself. He is light. Alice still makes rock music, but now he does it as a Christian, using his platform to point people to the hope he found. He warns about the emptiness of chasing the world and testifies that only God can fill that void. I honestly hope I can interview Alice Cooper on this podcast one day. His story is so inspiring. But it isn't unique. Many others have walked similar paths. Others like actor Dennis Quaid, who overcame addiction and had a powerful white light encounter that drew him back to his Christian roots, or musicians like Brian Head Walsh from Korn, who left drugs behind after a radical encounter with Jesus. These aren't polished stories. They're testimonies of broken people who stopped relying on their own strength and let God do what only God can do. What do these stories show us? that no one is too far gone, that addiction doesn't define you. Your identity in Christ does. And that when we transfer our hunger to God, He doesn't just manage the symptoms, He brings healing and purpose. So how do we practically transfer our addiction to God? I actually have five recommendations, I'll call it. First, admit the hunger. Be honest with God about what you're craving and why. To be honest, he already knows. He just wants you to admit it or confess it. Secondly, renew your mind every single day. Spend time in Scripture. If you want, listen to podcast episode seven, where I talk specifically about Scripture. Let verses like Philippians 4.13 that says, can do all things through Christ who gives me strength or 2 Timothy 1-7 that says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline. Third, surrender. Don't strive. Willpower says, I'll try harder. Surrender says, Jesus, I can't, but you can. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill the void. Fourth, build community. You weren't meant to fight this battle alone. Find people who will point you to Jesus, not just behaviors and rules about how to live. then fifth, replace, don't just remove. Fill your time and thoughts with worship, prayer, serving people, volunteering in your church or the community, and pursuing things that would honor and please God. Let your greatest passion be knowing Him more. Friend, if you're struggling today, please hear this. God is not ashamed of you. He's not waiting for you to clean yourself up first. He meets you right in the middle of the mess and offers real freedom, not through more effort, but through His grace and transforming power. Being addicted to God means your deepest desires shift. They break chains. Peace replaces chaos. And you step into the abundant life Jesus promised. So, I'm going to wrap up this episode today and I am going to speak to you as we conclude. If you or someone you know needs this message, I encourage you to share it with them. I do ask that you remember that you are not defined by your past or your struggles. And with Jesus, you become a new creation in Christ. So thank you for joining me on this Addicted to God journey. on this Addicted to God podcast and on this Addicted to God transformation, destigmatizing what society says is bad when being addicted to God can only be good. So keep hungering after Him more. Continue to tune in to this podcast and others like it that can give you encouragement, that can reinforce the truth, and that will keep you on the path. So until next time. day addicted to God.