What we've seen this week as we've looked at God's word and considered the challenges we face concerning the use of alcohol and other legal and illegal drugs is simple:  We can't "just say NO," because eliminating the negative in our lives is only a first step to God's plan for us.  God doesn't want us to live life just saying no.  He wants us to fill our lives with Himself!

When we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, He "takes up residence" in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  As we give more and more control of our lives to Him, instead of turning to alcohol and other drugs to ease our pain, overcome boredom or give us thrills, we start to turn to Jesus.  What that means will be different for each of us, but it will at least mean this:  our lives will reflect the desires of Jesus for us more and more.  When we stumble, as all of us do, we will turn to Jesus in repentance and receive forgiveness and restoration.  When we succeed, as we will more and more, we will give thanks to Jesus for the victories.

God intends our lives to be filled with meaning and purpose.  He calls us to love Him and others as a first order of life.  When faced with temptation, we can turn to Him for deliverance and as we commit ourselves to those priorities daily, we experience the life that is truly life.   As we pointed out at the beginning of the week, people take drugs because they work--temporarily.  Jesus' presence in our lives "works" 100% of the time.  The only challenge is for us to continue relying on Him.  As we head into another weekend, we find ourselves at a great place to trust God and live in the power of His Spirit!

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us victory in our lives when we turn to You!  Fill us anew with Your Holy Spirit that we may live the life You call us to live to Your glory and praise.  This we ask in Jesus' name.  Amen.