Hangover cure

Ever had a hangover?

Or worse ever had a hangover and you didn’t even have a drink the night before? You know what I mean, your mouth is like the bottom of a budgie’s cage, your head hurts, you have that horrible queasy feeling. When you get up it feels like you got up too fast, something is out of sync with your body. You crave a coffee maybe, a slap up fried breakfast perhaps. One person I knew said they always had a craving for a drink of Lucozade and a bag of crisps and would walk miles to get some. And of course we vow never to drink or drink that much again . .

Now then, that devil, he sometimes tries to give us hangover. How does he do that? The bible says he prowls around like a lion waiting to devour someone[1], 1 Peter 5:8 One of the ways is this, he comes and whispers in our ear, ‘now then your name here let’s just have a think, let’s just have a ponder what it used to be like before you became a Christian (insert your own, ‘before’ here, could be before you started out doing that ministry for church, that work, that new level The Lord has taken you too). So you wander back in your mind to those halcyon days, the devil suggests, ‘those were good days weren’t they?’ Well yes, you have to agree they were good days. ‘In those days you had plenty of money, foreign holidays,a nice car’. Or maybe on those days you woke up without a care, without much worry or much of a conscience, and you weren’t such a bad person really were you? ‘And all the freedom to do what you wanted! And above all wasn’t it just nice and comfy?’ Mmm, . . . . watch out! That old devil is trying to give us a hangover! his ultimate aim is to get us to indulge, the oldest lie, ‘God didn’t really say you couldn’t have that apple’, is in play. It’s often more subtle, ‘God didn’t really mean for things to be this hard did He? After all he desires you prosper in all things and well let’s face it, all this doesn’t really feel like that, does it?’ Can you feel a headache coming? What’s the tempatation here for you, let’s be honest with ourselves, is it a bit of real wallowing in the mud? Let a bit of grumpiness and ungratefulness settle in? And where does that lead, have a think. . or may be it’s indulge in a bit of pornography? Just for comfort you know, doesn’t harm anyone does it? Mmm where does that lead, what’s that really all about? Or maybe for you it’s to take comfort by having a good gossip and a moan with a best friend, you know, just between the two of you, get it all off your chest sort of thing, where does that lead? (usually to your bestie having a similar one to one with someone else and so on, till someone get’s hurt), maybe it’s an actual drink too many so your’re not at your best the next day for work and any divine opportunities Father has lined up for you to bless somebody are going to be difficult or not happen . . . . yes you’ve got it, we got a hangover!

So what can we do to avoid a hangover ?

1.  Father God understands if we slip up ( if like me you’re suddenly feeling bad :-( ) He’s kind, gracious, forgiving, the best Dad in the world!
2. Recognise the thought, hit the pause button and let the Holy Spirit nudge you, ask yourself, what’s really going on here?
3. Don’t rebel, you realise something not good is going on here, instead capture the thought, (repent, see below) and like a plane asking permission to land, refuse that permission, ’resist the devil and he will flee from you’. James 4:7 Don’t let those thoughts land and take up residence! You know how to do that, or you could just laugh and say ‘do one, take a flying leap, I shake you off, in the name of Jesus’. The Holy Spirit will give you the words . . shout out loud if you can!
4. Repent if necessary, I say if necessary as it depends how far you indulged yourself, although to be honest this process does demand some kind of turning anyway
5. Pray and/or worship, do the good thing you normally do even if you don’t feel like it, be determined! And don’t give yourself any excuses! Sometimes I’m so grumpy and out of sorts in the car I just can’t put on the CD player with that favourite Christian worship live set . . and yet I’m beginning to learn, just put it on and after a while, depending on the depth of my bad mood, or grief or whatever it is, I begin to worship, maybe cry or groan or whatever, a smile eventually comes and sure enough I’m back in His presence again and there it is . . . JOY  . . .  and PEACE. It’s just like my daughter who gets in a mood sometimes and is really stubborn about coming out of it, nothing it seems can divert her. And yet if Daddy spends time with her, encouraging her and starts to tickle her, the mood lifts. Think about it and get spending time with Father God! He’s good (ps often a sign of these situations is that you suddenly don’t want to go to church or other Christian activity or meet with that Christian friend . . just do it!)
6. Another thing to try is declare some favourite truths, here’s one or two to try God is good or God keeps his promises

And always remember there is a hangover cure available from Father God. It’s this, ‘if any of does sin we have a friend in heaven, who is on our side and who has already arranged forgiveness and restoration of our relationship with Father God’, yes that’s right, His name is Jesus! 1 John 2:1-2