By Beverly Lomosad
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. – Zechariah 4:6
Zach Rocke was introduced to drugs at about eight years old at home by his own parents no less, who gave him marijuana. Growing up, Zach had no qualms about using drugs, thinking it was normal. When deep-seated effects of a sexual abuse he endured at the hands of his babysitter bubbled up to the surface, he coped the same way his parents had modeled for him: he turned to drugs as a form of escape. Before long, Zach was embracing a lifestyle of drugs, always seeking for that next high. Drugs were so normal in his environment they became part of him. At 14, he was using cocaine and getting locked up in juvenile detention centers. In a Christian Broadcasting Network feature, he describes his life of drugs as like an unstoppable freight train. For years, he said, he resigned to the thought that he was always going to do drugs.
The path of destruction he had taken led him to become homeless at aged 27 in 2012. But, thank God for a local church that helped him to find work and housing. At one Sunday service he attended, Zach answered the altar call and gave his life to Christ. With tears in his eyes, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, make me the man You want me to be. I give my life to You.”
He managed to stop using drugs for the next two years while working as a ranch hand. However, after he discovered a meth house nearby, he couldn’t resist the temptation. One bad decision led to another, and he found himself hooked on methamphetamine, a drug he described as “straight from the devil and demonic.”
“I think a part of me wasn’t ready to give it all up. I didn’t fully surrender,” he said. When a former drug-addict told him about how Teen Challenge had helped him to overcome his drug addiction, Zach, now 30, decided to also go and give it a try. There, he began to read the Bible, pray, and seek the Lord again.
One night, in a dream, he had an encounter with God. In the dream, God called his name and, when he replied, “Yes, Lord,” said, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Zach then awoke from sleep, weeping. Right then, he got down on his knees and told God, “I’m all Yours, Lord. I’m all Yours. I don’t want to grow cold.” And he continued to grow in his relationship with God.
Through Teen Challenge, Zach was able to break his dependency on drugs. While there, he also met Andrea, a pastor’s kid whom he married in 2017. They both worked on staff at a church as youth associate pastors before he went into business. At his local church, and where there’s an opportunity, Zach continues to share his testimony of overcoming years of drug addiction through faith (Philippians 4:13).
Zach said: “All my shame had been taken away. And all my desire for drugs had been completely taken away, replaced with the love, the power, the grace, and the mercy of God.”
CALL TO ACTION
A life with God starts with a relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
- PRAY OUT LOUD: “Father in heaven, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that he died on the cross for my sins. I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins. I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess with my mouth that Jesus is my Savior and Lord. Amen.”
- WHAT’S NEXT: Be part of a good, Bible-based church.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the New International Version of the Bible.