According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency, over 17.7 million people in the
USA or 1 in 12 adults suffer from addiction to alcoholism or participate regularly in binge drinking.
That’s a staggering sum and it means that you must know someone who suffers from Alcoholism. These figures are in the USA and we know that there are many suffering alcoholics all over the world.
There are 12 steps program established to assist people in how to stop drinking. While these programs have some success the programs show only a 3% success rate. Then there are those known as the dry drunks who have not had a drink in years but still suffer from the effects of alcoholism even after they’ve discovered how to successfully quit drinking.
Why is this? Well, as Christians we know that we cannot do ANYTHING successfully without the help of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who is our helper. He is the only one that can truly heal us from disease. His name is Jehovah Rophe the God who heals. And, given these statistics we know that there must be Christian alcoholics.
The tenets, the 12 steps of alcoholics anonymous and 12 traditions, are good and do have a focus in ‘spirituality’ but usually people just focus on who they want to be their spiritual leader so it could be anyone and not necessarily Jesus.
Here are the steps taken from Wikipedia and edited to make Jesus Christ the main focus since He is our Savior as Christians and the one we look to for help and wholeness
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a Jesus Christ can restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care Jesus Christ.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to Jesus Christ, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have Jesus Christ remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our relationship with Jesus Christ, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the Holy Spirit’s power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
When we understand who Jesus Christ is and why He came to earth we can have a better understanding of how His power is all we need to be successful in overcoming alcoholism and any other type of addiction. To learn more about having a relationship with Jesus Christ, click here
In AA, they use a big book which is used to help their member through the recovery process. In Christianity, we too have our Big Book which is the Bible. Alcoholics need this to help with their recovery. Reading the bible is important in the meditation process
When we believe and we have a full understanding that God’s word is truly medicine for our soul and has the power to heal us then we can take this medicine in daily and receive the healing, freedom and recovery that we need on a daily basis.
If you presently struggling with alcoholism or know someone who is, we would like to share some scriptures with you. These are not to beat you over the head to tell you how bad alcoholism is (we’re sure you already know that) but to help you in your recovery and restoration process. God is a God of restoration. He wants you to be restored. To be healed 100% so that you can live the life that He purposed in you BEFORE you were even born.
Here are some scriptures that will help those who are suffering from Alcoholism:
(Ephesians 5:18) “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit
(Romans 12:1-2) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Surrender your life to God. Read the Bible daily and His word will transform your mind which will in turn transform your life! He will make known to you the purpose and will that He has for your life. Yes, God has a purpose for you!
(Galatians 5:13) “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” Serve Others. Stop focusing on yourself and look for others that you can help.
(Ephesians 5:18-20) “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” When you feel weak, Praise God! Sing and worship Him. In the midst of your struggle He will show up and deliver you.
(1 John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When you commit a sin, ask God to forgive you. Accept that He has forgiven you, if you truly meant it when you asked, and move on. Self loathing, shame and guilt is not from God so REJECT those thoughts because that would be the devil talking to you!
(James 4:7) “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” When you feel weak, fall on your knees and cry out to God and He will save you from these temptations. Submit to God first and then this evil will be removed from you.
(2 Samuel 22:2, 20) “And he said: “The Lordis my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.” Make the Lord Jesus your main focus. He is your deliverer and He want to bring you into a greater life which He has planned for you, because He LOVES you.
(Matthew 17:20-21) “I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” God wants you to know that will just a little faith if you rebuke that demon of addiction you can remove it. You may need to fast along with praying to be free of this. Ask other Christians to pray and fast for you as well.
(2 Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”When you become a Christian, God made you a new creation so everything that was broken in your life before is now made whole. All you need to do is access the wholeness that is already yours through prayer and meditation on the scriptures.
(1 John 5:4) “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” Jesus overcame the world so that you, because of your belief in Him, will also overcome this addiction.
For those of you who came from parents who were also alcoholics or perhaps while you were in the whom your mother was abusing alcohol, you may have an issue with a generational curse that needs to be broken. Here is some information on
breaking generational curses
.
In AA they have different prayers through each step, 3rd step prayer, fourth step prayer, 7th step prayer, etc. We feel that this one will encompass all the steps. Here is a prayer against alcoholism
Father God, I humbly come before you crying out for help from this addiction to alcohol. I’ve seen so many lives ruined by this disease. I too have hurt others in going through this process. First I ask you to forgive me. I also ask you for the grace and strength to ask others to forgive me. Reveal to me all the people that I need to ask for forgiveness and I pray that you will work on their hearts so that they will accept my apology. Please don’t let me be a part of the statistics that have tried and failed. Weed out the root of unbelief from my heart and give me that grain of mustard seed faith that will believe that if I say to this mountain of addiction be cast into the sea, it will be removed from me. I speak to this demon of addiction and I say be removed from me. I have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus. I bow my knees, my spirit, my will to Jehovah Rophe my healer and my God of miracles. Just as Jesus overcame the world and the things of this world, I too will overcome this illness. Jesus , intercede on my behalf in heaven in the areas of my life where I don’t know how to pray. You have given me authority to trample upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm me, including alcohol, so I trample upon it. I will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony which I will have as a result of this great miraculous deliverance! I thank you for being my deliverer. I submit and surrender my life to you. I ask you God to renew my mind with Your Word. Restore me to the joy of your salvation. Holy Spirit direct my steps. Show me the people and places in my life where I need to stay away from while you are healing me and restoring me. Lead me to the right church and Christian friends who can support me in this journey, in Jesus Name, Amen
We know that you will need to have some support as you are going through this process so you will need to
find a church
where you can be accountable to other believers in Christ and a pastor. Also, getting in an
AA group
or calling one of the
AA numbers
for guidance will help you through the process. Just remember that your focus is Jesus Christ, prayer and His word. This is what will keep you on the road to recovery.
We hope these tips for alcoholism helped you in some way and if you want to include your name in the comment section below we would be happy to pray for you.
A word to Christians who don’t suffer from alcoholism but have friends who are in recovery. Do not drink alcohol around them. It’s just disrespectful and it does not honor God. And, it doesn’t matter if they have been clean and sober for 20 years! Show your support and refrain from drinking alcohol in their presence. (1 Corinthians 8:9) “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.”
Here are some other articles which you may find useful for this topic:
Bible Verses About Hope
A Prayer for your Future
Praying against Depression and how to cope
www.missionariesofprayer.org
The simple AA Prayer of Serenity helps recovering alcoholics find courage, stay sober & support fellow alcoholics in their struggle against alcohol.
The Serenity Prayer has been part of regular AA meetings for many years, and is a great help for many alcoholics. Some people might say, ‘Why pray?’ The answer is simple – it’s a good prayer – it’s a prayer that works: a belief in the power of prayer to God or Jesus for healing and recovery, has been one of ways that AA and NA have inspired thousands of desperate people to restore hope in their ability to withstand the cravings of their addiction. Alcoholics around the world need a prayer for help when they are fighting against temptation. The Serenity Prayer is the short prayer that they frequently turn to. For many recovering alcoholics, the Serenity Prayer is a daily prayer – because cravings and temptation have to be faced and overcome, every day of an alcoholic’s life. There are no ‘days off’ for an alcoholic.
God, give us grace to accept with serenity
The things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
The version above, is a translation of the original untitled prayer, written down by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in 1943, although there were oral versions of the Serenity Prayer in circulation, before that time.
There are several different variations of the Prayer of Serenity, but they are all based on the above text.
Table of contents
Alternative Versions of the Serenity Prayer
There is a popular shorter version of this powerful prayer of healing:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
Some version of the AA Prayer of Serenity has become a regular part of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, as well as NA meetings and other Addict Support groups. It forms part of 12 Step Programs in most places around the world. It is sometimes known as The Meeting Prayer.
Most of the variations of this alcoholic prayer have a similar structure: firstly, it’s a prayer asking for strength – a prayer to God or Jesus, or any higher power outside ourselves, asking for the courage to change.
Praying for serenity follows this, but it’s a specific sort of serenity – serenity in the face of accepting things as they really are – life and reality as it really is, not as we would like it to be – or how we kid ourselves that it is. Failure to accept ‘real’ reality about ourselves, and what we do, is really a demonstration of our ability to use denial to avoid making difficult decisions to change.
Denial vs Acceptance of Reality
Everybody uses denial to some degree – it’s normal. Denial protects our inner selves from facts that we feel we cannot accept…or cannot accept, yet. It’s a defence mechanism that can be useful in some circumstances. For example, it can be useful if we are not yet ‘ready’ to face some ‘awful truth’ – whatever it is that we feel is an ‘awful truth’.
Denial allows us time to adjust to the new reality. It could be an unexpected diagnosis of cancer, or it could be the fact that our drinking, or drug taking, has taken over our lives, and we have become powerless to control our cravings.
The value of denial in some circumstances is that it buys us time to adjust to new, and difficult information. But difficult facts are still facts. They are not going to go away, even if we deny them. We all have to face the truth in the end, no matter how difficult that might be.
If we continue to ‘protect’ ourselves through using denial of reality, it becomes counter-productive, because it is not a useful coping mechanism any longer – it is only delaying the inevitable. If it continues too long, denial becomes only ‘wishful thinking’.
For someone with an addiction, it is always better to stop using that safety net of denial sooner, rather than later – before lasting damage is done
Denial of reality is one of the major barriers to recovery. This Alcoholic’s Prayer strikes at the places where addicts of all types like to hide – where they feel ‘comfortable’ – where life seems to be easier. That is an illusion. That ‘more comfortable’ place is also the place that is destroying their lives, and the lives of their families.
It’s a tough prayer!
The Serenity Prayer is very effective for AA and NA members, exactly because it speaks the ‘truth’ about what needs to be done – and alcoholics and addicts all know this, deep down. William Shakespeare understood the importance of being truly honest with yourself:
“To thine own self be true”
That’s always a tough thing to do, but being true to yourself, and refusing to accept who and what you have become, is even harder for anyone with an addiction. Being totally honest with yourself, takes a huge amount of courage, and this Serenity Prayer has helped many alcoholics to admit to things as they really are – even when those things are not easy to admit, accept or live with.
Along with serenity and acceptance, alcoholics and addicts then need to find the courage to stay strong and resist the temptation to fall back into addiction. The Serenity Prayer has saved many people from relapsing when some extra crisis hits, and they want to return to the ‘comfort’ of their addiction.
The strength and courage that is given and received from fellow members at A A is one of the most important factors that help members of Alcoholics Anonymous to stay strong during a crisis. If you have an addiction, every day can be a day of crisis. The practice of including the Serenity Prayer as a regular part of AA meetings, reinforces the courage and determination of addicts to stay strong, whenever they need it. It’s a prayer that can ‘be there’ for recovering addicts – or anyone – whenever they need it.
Here is another Alcoholic’s Prayer written by Irene Palmer Costigan, in 1976. It expresses similar thoughts to the original AA Serenity Prayer:
Alcoholic Prayer
Oh Lord, Watch over this Alcoholic.
Be Thou my Higher Power as I strive toward recovery.
Permit me to lean on You for strength and guidance.
Grant that I may become totally honest about my problem.
Touch my soul and spark my spirit into awareness, Lord,
That I may see the value of a sober life.
Show me the glory of the Dawn and a new day
And the reward of a Sunset and a day well lived.
Help me to deal with resentments, Lord, the real curse of the Alcoholic.
Take from me all hatred, anger and willfulness
And persuade me to work toward emotional health and maturity.
In Thy mercy, Lord, see fit to remove my cravings
For that which will destroy me – alcohol.
Keep me ever mindful that alone,
I am unable to maintain a happy sobriety.
Bring me ever closer to You,
And those who will help me along the way.
Most of all, prompt me to extend my hand
To the Alcoholic who still suffers,
So that through him or her,
I may find You, and continue sobriety.
AMEN
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