There is a way out of sin and addiction. God can help you to overcome it with the strength of His Holy Spirit. But, it will first require your determination to quit and stay clean.

God wants all addicts to be free from their addictions; He wants all sinners to be freed from their sins. He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Slavery to addiction and sin can be broken by first determining to stop sinning. Then, the Spirit of God can help you to renew your mind from its corrupted thinking.

If you are struggling with an addiction or other sinful behavior that you know is damaging, you need help. We become slaves to our sins (Romans 6:16). An addiction keeps you trapped in its clutches, but you can be freed from this form of slavery.

Once addiction or sinful behavior becomes ingrained in your thinking, it is difficult to change. So, overcoming it requires a change in the way you think. Since your mind has been corrupted, it needs a transformation.

This is where God’s Spirit can help you see that your behavior is wrong and give you the strength to stop it. The Spirit will not take away your addiction and sin unless you are willing to stop it and start doing the right thing. The strength of God’s Spirit can help you resist the urge to indulge in your sin or satisfy the craving of your addiction.

This will be a struggle, and perhaps you feel like you will never be able to overcome. Even the apostle Paul struggled with thoughts and behavior contradicting what he wanted to do. He wrote, “in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” (Romans 7:18). God’s Holy Spirit helped Paul keep himself from giving in to the temptation to sin.

Likewise, you can stop an addiction’s control over your life with the help of God’s Spirit. He gives that Spirit to them that obey Him (Acts 5:32). For instance, in Acts chapter 2, many heard Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost and realized their complicity in killing Jesus. They cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). The answer from Peter was, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

To overcome an addiction, to stop sinning requires you to repent like these men who realized they had sinned. The sinner must admit the problem is deep-seated within his mind. Then, with the help of God’s Spirit, he can stop sinning and change his corrupted thinking.

King David once cried out to God when He realized how sinful he was. He asked God to renew his mind and give him His Holy Spirit. He wrote: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalms 51:10-11). God heard that prayer and renewed David’s heart. David put away his sin and God renewed David’s mind with His Holy Spirit.

Slavery to addiction and sin can be broken by first determining to stop sinning. Then, the Spirit of God can help you to renew your mind from its corrupted thinking. The truth is, only God can totally take away an addiction, but you must first be willing to stop sinning and obey Him. With God’s Spirit in you, you can overcome your sin or addiction. You can do as He commands when He says in His Word, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).