Category
VERSES ABOUT VICES AND ADDICTIONS
Addiction and bad habits can be so destructive. Think about it, addiction is clinging to something—a behavior, a substance, an activity, even a person—that's actually harming you. So many of us struggle with these things, feeling trapped by a vice or an addiction. Sometimes, we feel like it's because of our past.
But here's the truth: in God, we're free. Christ set us free from all of that and forgave our sins. If you keep dwelling on the past, those chains can really hold you back. Sometimes, these struggles can even stem from negative spiritual influences, finding a foothold and coming to light when we unknowingly open a door, giving the enemy a legal right to step in.
You have the power to let go of what's binding you. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any areas of bondage you need to address. Receive God's forgiveness and His healing. He's there for you.
I pray that we all find freedom from anything that's hurting us and holding us back. Just like it says in John 8:36, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word,
When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married.
And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.
The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions,
and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife,
and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.
I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry.
But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, he will do well.
So then, he who marries his fiancée does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.
A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.
For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.
because we are members of his body.
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.
Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.
Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving.
Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.
Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word,
so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.
In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,
But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.
because we are members of his body.
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.
Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Do not quarrel with anyone without cause, when no harm has been done to you.
Do not envy the violent and do not choose any of their ways;
for the perverse are an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.
The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the abode of the righteous.
Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he shows favor.
The wise will inherit honor, but stubborn fools, disgrace.
So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and of people.
Wives, in the same way, accept the authority of your husbands, so that, even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wives' conduct,
For “Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit;
let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?
But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated,
but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,
in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,
when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing;
rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight.
It was in this way long ago that the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by accepting the authority of their husbands.
Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters as long as you do what is good and never let fears alarm you.
Husbands, in the same way, show consideration for your wives in your life together, paying honor to the woman as the weaker sex, since they too are also heirs of the gracious gift of life—so that nothing may hinder your prayers.
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”
Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
A capable wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
That is not the way you learned Christ!
For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus.
You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts,
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.
Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and do not make room for the devil.
Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.
Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever.
For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ.
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.
In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.
Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.
I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are.
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that.
I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none,
The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions,
and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife,
and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.
I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry.
But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, he will do well.
So then, he who marries his fiancée does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.
A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.
For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
But Timothy's worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me;
and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.
Still, I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus—my brother and co-worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister to my need;
for he has been longing for all of you, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
He was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.
I am the more eager to send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
Welcome him then in the Lord with all joy, and honor such people,
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for those services that you could not give me.
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.
So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, and manage their households, so as to give the adversary no occasion to revile us.
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.
The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions,
and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife,
and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.
I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry.
But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, he will do well.
So then, he who marries his fiancée does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.
A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.
For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’
and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
To the married I give this command—not I but the Lord—that the wife should not separate from her husband
(but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’
But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.