I'm the President?

"I just can't help it! I can't stop using foul language!"

"I can't resist Butter Maple Raspberry Scones with my Latte."

"I see something advertised on T.V. and I just can't resist it. I have to get out my credit card and order it."

"I just can't pass a bar without going in and having too many beers. It's hopeless."

"I'm a slave to Internet porn. I can't resist cruising the Net for porn sites when I'm all by myself."

The statements above are from individuals who have addictive behavior. Most of us have weaknesses that we have difficulty overcoming.

In many of these cases, in order to break their addictions, these individuals will need help from outside of themselves. They may need the help of a caring professional and a number of friends and relatives praying for them. They will need to lean on God for strength.

The bottom line is, it's possible for them to lick these insidious dependencies.

It isn't easy to go head to head with a craving... a fixation... a habit. But they can be dealt with.

At the very root of what is going on in our lives when we are suffering from dependencies, is that we have lost the understanding that we have a will. Our wills have been corrupted and weakened by sin and they need to be resurrected and rebuilt through Christ.

A very wise pastor of mine from many years past made this statement one Sunday morning... and it changed my life - "You're the President of you."

Wow! That was a great phrase for me to grab on to. Ultimately, we will be judged for the choices we make in our lives, and what that means is that we have the power to make right choices. We may need to ask for help, but that in itself involves a choice.

We will never improve our situation, whatever it may be, without first making a choice in our lives. The initial choice may be to surrender our lives to Christ, but that is still a choice.

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

Remember... you are the president of you.