"I'm too dirty."

"I'm too dirty. God wouldn't want me back."

Wrong.

Your damaged life is proof you've listened to the Devil in the past, as we all have.

And your last statement is proof that you are still believing his lies.

While you may be dirty, for any number of reasons... God still wants you back.

The Devil is lying to you, as he regularly does.

Jesus took on the demon-possessed man of Gadarene. (Luke 8:26-39)

Jesus cast out his demons and presented him back to the town, clean and healthy.

Jesus can clean you too.

Too often, I have known people wallowing in sin and addictions.

I was close enough to see the damage they were doing,

but not close enough to steer them away from harmful behaviors.

But God operates above the human realm.

So, if you want to return to God, be ready take some responsibility for your life,

and accept the consequences of your uncleanness.

Bit o' Wisdom: If you have an addiction, here are a few things common to addicts that you'll need to get rid of:

1) Self-Pity. Addicts are filled with self-pity. There is a continual message going through their mind, "Poor Me."

2) Self-pity then initiates thought-cycle, "I deserve" - whatever thing they are addicted to.

They think, "I deserve the feeling that 'xyz' gives me."

3) Another factor in addictions to illegal stuff: Whenever addicts get the 'stuff' they want without getting caught,

it gives them a sense of superiority, of cleverness.

Perhaps a sense of cleverness can be as addictive as the drug itself.

Yes, I believe one thing that draws people to drugs is the allure of being thought clever by other people in the drug lifestyle.

If you, as a young person, ever did something forbidden without being caught ...

after that nervous spell immediately afterwards, you congratulated yourself on your cleverness. Yes, you did.

Well, thinking oneself as clever, and being seen clever by one's compadres,

is a big ego lift for people have felt incomplete and incompetent all their lives.

So those wanting to get free also need to deal with their addiction to a sense of cleverness, eh?

If this is true, one must not only withdraw from their craving for _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, but also from their craving for 'cleverness'.

Addictions may be fun at first, with the newness of the feelings involved,

but after a while, it is degrading to be addicted. You know it's true.

Cleverness helps mute that feeling of degradation that comes from slavery to an addiction.

4) And while most may think I'm talking about only drugs here, this thought-process holds true for a wide range of addictions.

Hoarders are addicts. Gluttons are addicts, as are most fashionistas. Porn is addictive.

Lucifer was an attention-addict, and it cost him his place in Heaven and his reputation.

And most addicts become angry and abusive when denied their particular 'fix'.

But the Lord Jesus has helped untold millions of people become clean, and He can help you too, if you let Him.