Ken L

Every bad habit features things
we do to fall before a fall. A drinker might put on a movie that
glorifies partying. A gambler may call a buddy who is obsessed with
talking about gambling. A person struggling with drugs might just not
fight against constant thoughts of how much they need to find some
drugs. A person struggling with food may allow…[Read more]

I think that God had Eve eat an apple as the first sin on purpose. It was a minor sin, not like murder or rape. But I think He wanted it to be a minor sin to show that two huge problems with sin are separation from God, and a lack of faith that God’s way is best.

So, if we want to return to paradise, we need to believe that gambling and “All s…[Read more]

I’m back on this site after about almost a year. Haven’t been honest with myself and fell hard to online gambling/gaming. I’m getting to the point where when I lose, I start to slap myself multiple times really hard and it gets worse and worse the more that I lose. I think I’m going insane. I work so hard for my money only for it to just fizzle…[Read more]

Emotions
Negative emotions lead back to addiction. So, we must identify what emotion leads us back to addiction and fight it aggressively.
Secondly, Anger leads to addiction. Consider praying: “Father, take away my spirit of anger and fill me with a Spirit of love.” I have prayed this prayer a zillion times. It really helped. Anger increases sat…[Read more]

Our desires plant gambling thoughts in our minds. We can reject them, and we must reject them.
Step one: Determine to control your thoughts. Experts at discipline struggle and say: I need more notes to remind me to reject bad thoughts. I need to pray more so that the Holy Spirit helps me more. I need to have more Bible verses available so that I…[Read more]

Joy is long-term, and fun is short-term. Joy can (and should be) consistent, fun is always fleeting.
Second, gamblings short-term fun ends in pain far too often. Consider how many times you should quote that sentence.

The Bible says in Isaiah: “Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.”
Your will says: “Go back to your…[Read more]

Consider saying every hour:
“I want to have stable finances.”
Consider setting an hourly alarm in your phone to remind you.
Consider saying 5 times per day:
“Gambling has hurt my finances many times in the past. I plan to learn from that.”

The Lord’s prayer says that God forgives our sins, “As we forgive those who sin against us.”
When…[Read more]

Spiritual Ideas
The Bible says “If I do not have love, I have nothing.” It is hard to quit _____ if you have nothing.

When we get key Bible verses in us, the Holy Spirit increases in us, and He is not going to be a slave to ______. Consider printing out this key passage so you can pray over it often so that you are more filled with the Holy Spi…[Read more]

Being content is a great skill for quitting. “Father, help me to be content.” There are days when I pray this constantly.
Turning from sin is a great skill for quitting. I pray constantly, daily, often hourly, to turn from sin and to turn from _______. Remember, any habit (that you are quitting) will be prompted by other sins. Consider making it…[Read more]

I had my main habit forever, because, when life punched me in the face, I always went back to my habit. Instead, we can learn to practice resilience.

There are seven C’s in resilience:

Competence involves learning new hobbies, or skills. We practice resilience when we choose “New Activities” when tempted. Resilience is doing them whether we wan…[Read more]

I have gambled since 1999. I have ruined my financial and emotional life. I haven’t gambled for one month and I hope I will never ever go back to the casino. It is a very destructive addiction…..not that there is a good addiction.

Good morning. I am new here. I have read many posts and knowing I’m not alone in my gambling addiction is hopeful. I am struggling. I got paid Thursday, and my complete paycheck is gone to slots. Rent was due yesterday. I have exhausted family & friends. Never been late with rent, but now I must tell my landlord I’ll pay him in 2 weeks.…[Read more]

A two-way prayer consists of a Godly trait we want, plus what God wants, or commands. Example:
“Father, help me to fight thoughts of ______, and to replace them with thoughts of love.”
In this prayer God wants my thoughts changed, and I want to increase in love.
Today, consider writing your own two-way prayer. Step one: What positive Godly tra…[Read more]

Friday I wrote about picking a verse (Search verses gambling) to quote regularly to fight temptation, Saturday, I wrote about picking a prayer to pray regularly to fight temptation. Today is activities. New activities are vital to replace habits, but are often frustrating because they are “Not what we want to do.”
First, we need to be tough and…[Read more]

Blessings
I think ______ will fix me (Fill in your habit of choice). I think it will make me happy, and kill my pain. I have proven 1000 times that this is not true, but… I refuse to believe it is true.

Fact, until you fix “you,” you will not be happy, and you will have a lot of pain. I have some of the same struggles you do, but, I am busy hav…[Read more]

I REALLY WANT TO STOP THE GAMBLING

Every bad habit gives some pleasure and some pain. But the ratio is very simple yet very complicated. It is simple because it is a fact that many bad habits cause massive destruction. It is complicated because sometimes the destruction is small and we hardly notice it. It is complicated, because, when we ignore the small destruction we forget, the…[Read more]

Gamblings bad days are 5 times (5x) as painful as the good days are great. I am not fully aware of this fact. How can I fully learn this fact?
#1 Write 5 notes and put them where you will see them constantly.
#2 Write: Pain = 5x the pleasure. At work simply write 5x.
#3 Consider writing down and memorizing the first sentence.
#4 I remember the…[Read more]

We all think that our habit is (or was)) the greatest thing on earth to do. It is not. Other activities are better. The challenge is… To understand the whole equation, instead of just focusing on the pleasure.
Bad habits cause destruction. Sometimes twice as much destruction as we think. Consider praying:
“Father, show me the full destruction tha…[Read more]