Whether you are aware of it or not, God’s love is the meaning of life. God’s love is a gift to us that blesses and enriches our lives, changing and molding our lives from the inside out. The gift of God’s love is powerful beyond all measure and capable of affecting us in ways we would not think possible. For example, God’s love is so powerful that it is capable of defeating substance abuse through the gifts it gives a person.

Purpose is a central gift that is given to us through God’s love. Those who have felt just how amazing God’s love is know that it is so profound that it fills us with a sense of purpose. We feel that it is our purpose to share God’s love with others by telling them about our God experiences and giving to them selflessly. We feel the desire to incorporate this practice into our talents, our jobs and our vocations. This marriage of our worldly purpose and our divine purpose is a major part of our identity, and reward us so fully that we do not feel the need for substance abuse.

God’s love benefits our mental health immensely. No matter what a person’s mental health problems are, God’s love is the answer. God’s love tells us that we are beautiful and precious and worthy of love. God’s love promises us an identity in Him and a life of adventure and passion, as well as never-ending provision and fortitude. A person’s mental health depends on feeling secure in these things, and all needs are met through God’s love. When these needs are met, substance abuse does not interest a person.

Every person has spiritual needs, whether they know it or not. Mislead spiritual and emotional needs are actually what get a person mixed up in substance abuse in the first place. Seeking down the wrong road for fulfillment in these areas can lead to trouble in your life. God’s love obviously provides spiritual fulfillment in that it enables a person to recognize God as creator and have their spiritual needs met.

And lastly, God’s love meets our need for relationships on many levels. He becomes the most important relationship we have in our lives through how he provides for us, and he blesses and enables our relationships with fellow believers, who we share an incredible bond with.

God is capable of anything, even things that we think are impossible. Those who battle substance abuse and addiction may very well believe that it is impossible for God to inspire their sobriety, but they would be wrong. It is common of those who do not know God to doubt his power. God is God because he does supernatural things. They play out through natural circumstances of course, but those who have tried to quit addiction and substance abuse on their own know how pathetic our human efforts really are. And those who have invited God into the situation know how miraculously he works to defeat the things we could not manage on our own.

People abuse substances to fill a hole in their hearts that only God can fill. Perhaps the substance provides dopamine to someone who does not know how to generate feelings of comfort and happiness on their own. Perhaps it opens up their minds to metaphysical possibilities. Whatever it may be, people use substances to essentially transcend into a plane of existence that they could not achieve on their own. Every truly spiritual theologian will tell you that this is the purpose God serves in their life. They will also tell you that everything else we try to use in place of God has very watered down and dysfunctional affects in comparison to God.

When you discover God, He completes you on a level you did not think possible. You interact with His spirit and receive His word, which leaves you feeling fully alive and in sheer amazement. Many people, in dreams and in near death experiences, have even been in God’s presence or walked with Jesus and their lives are never the same again upon return to consciousness. This incredible new way of living and loving completely negates the need to abuse substances. Abusing substances removes you from your immediate consciousness, but if you are actively conscious of God, you crave only Him, not the substances you abuse. This is not to say that you are incapable of losing sight of God. There will be times you are less able to sense him, and there will be times you are lured back into your old ways. Remember to seek His face and you will find your way back to His perfect love and provision.