You have to start by changing your environment. If someone tells you there is a bomb next door you probably won’t respond by saying, “hey, let’s go take a look.” So why would you go into a bar if your a Christian? A bomb only serves one purpose and that is to blow things to pieces, likewise, the general purpose of a bar is to drink alcohol.
1 Corinthians 10:13 states: No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it. (CSB)
The door to the bar is a good escape. In fact, most temptations have a partition of some type that you must open in order to experience it. Some temptations have multiple partitions between you and them. Cigarette smoking for example had what I believed to be an impossible to break choke hold on me. Now I live my life daily and very rarely even see a cigarette. I don’t smoke so I don’t go to the smoking areas, and I don’t even join them to visit. If they want to talk to me then they can come to where the air is clean. The cigarettes, are in a store usually in a corner or hidden above a register. I personally was amazed at how far I used to go out of my way to smoke. I won’t go in to the details here, but I am sure the other smokers know what I am talking about. The first step to beginning our sanctification is changing our location in the world. You have to evaluate what is not cohesive to your life with Christ. Paul the Apostle mentions fleeing from various Sins. (1Timothy 6:11, 1Corinthians 6:18, and 10:14 for example) Having had many successes myself and praying for many more I can attest to the validity of this concept. If you do an assessment and find it won’t help your spiritual growth then it needs to change as soon as you can change it. Find another job, get another house, make new friends...... Take it a step at a time and read God’s Word and pray daily.
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