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
by JN (Michigan)
Father, I don’t know how to pray about this. My sister & her family are in anquish. Hate seems to rule them. I know they love each other but they can’t seem to find their way out of this downward spiral of drunkeness, lies, anger, hurtfulness. I am afraid for my sister’s life. I know you can heal them & return them to your path, but I don’t know if they can hear you or understand how to get back there. Please Holy Lord, heal your children, let them know light, love & joy with each other again. Let others see them & know of your love for us & see the miracle of faith. My sister is trying to “hear” you, I pray you open her to your word. Thanks you for the countless blessings I have experienced, I pray for this for these people that I love so much.
Amen
Return to Prayers for Healing
www.praywithme.com
Russian vodka – is more than 510 years. According to the records of the Kremlin archives, only monks managed to get “vodovka” – a concentrated alcohol. Other historians dispute this date, arguing that in the Russian birch bark this alcohol drink was mentioned earlier.
However, it does not matter when the birthday of the “mash follower”. There is interesting another thing.
What church thinks about the creation of “its brothers”?
It is important to mention that the original “vodovka” was found by monks, being good resolves. The main purpose was – to find a remedy to cure human, to save him from illness. Taking to consideration that the basis of many infusions and drugs, being used today, is vodka, it is safe to say that priests have taken the first step to rescuing the man. And it is true.
Table of contents
And where is the truth?
While the production of intoxicating beverages was under the roof of the church, they, at a minimum, were qualitative. When the state laid its hands on strong drinks own hands, and began to increase “sales targets”, a society has got a serious problem. The state was replenishing treasury with one hand while the other one killed human health.
During all this time, the Church has hallowed all holy ones and miracle-working icons. Clergymen collected “the community of sobriety”. There are similar projects in our days.
Many people were surprised, but Orthodox prayers, and later the prayer for healing from alcoholism and drug addiction, really helped to save the health of relatives, and alcohol dependency, and drug addiction “went away”. Then monasteries and their special centers left the former patients, not in order to extend the treatment, but that they could help others. Very often people apply for prayers of deliverance from alcoholism when the human has passed “coding” or after failed experiments by “conspiracies” charlatans.
Different prayers can help. Very strong among them is Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer to Holy Spirit. There are special prayers to help to get rid of alcoholism and other sinful passions. For example, the Prayer to Savior, the prayer of St. John of Kronstadt from alcoholism, the prayers of St. Moses the Black, prayer from drinking and dope potion to healer Rev. Hypatia Pechersky and others.
In the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery at the end of the Divine Liturgy, every Sunday people pray with akafast, remembering suffering from an addiction to drinking of wine. Some pray for yourself and others – for their loved ones: someone has a husband abusing alcohol, someone’s son, someone’s sister.
All of them come and pray to the Mother of God “The Inexhaustible Cup”. According to legend, it was like an inexhaustible source of help for people suffering from addiction to drinking wine. This happened in 1878. Retired soldier was so addicted to alcohol that has lost his wealth and health. Elder after repeated phenomena made a warrior, having no money and the opportunity to walk, to go the monastery on his fours. Here the traveler has told all that had happened to him. But nobody knew about that icon. And suddenly she was found in one of the aisles.
The retired soldier returned home in the church good health. The news about the miraculous icon has spread quickly. Since then, all the monasteries accept the suffering and help them to get though the illness with the help of this icon.
ROC against alcoholism and drug addiction
The Church believes that alcoholism and drug addiction destroys not only the body but also the soul. The worst thing is that this person loses – hope and faith in the healing and a normal life. Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is humane to people who have got under the dependence of bad habits. Orthodoxy helps with the Word of God, talking with the priests, and of course, prayers of faith reviving, fight against the disease. Especially for these people – alcoholics and drug addicts, as well as their relatives -there is special group for anonymous treatment in churches. The combined methods of healing are used there. It uses the combined methods of healing. Spending time at work and prayers, patients are gradually getting rid of bad habits and at the same time get the bodily and so the spiritual help.
Many people after that come to the church, not only to read the prayer to the Savior, and to thank him for healing and returning to the natural world for a human.
The history of the transformation of “vodovka”, as a remedy, into the vodka, as addiction, proves that any, even a harmless thing, being exalted to the rank of an idol, can cause harm. Church teaches “don’t make an idol for you.” But not everybody understands that and admits into the soul “treacherous guest,” which overshadows both God and His love.
Therefore, the Church believes that only the grace of God is able to get rid of passion.
Christianity believes that one of the main virtues – is the golden mean. If you observe it, then any toast during the feast, even at a birthday will be with a kind smile, not with fear of threat to health and life.
stop-alcoholism.com
O Glorious Saint Matthias, in God’s design it fell upon you to take the place of the unfortunate Judas who betrayed his Master.
You were selected by the twofold sign of the uprightness of your life and the call of the Holy Spirit.
Obtain for us the grace to practice the same uprightness of life and to be called by that same Spirit to wholehearted service of the Church.
Help us remember that Jesus chose you, like us, not for what you were but because of what you would become through His grace.
Please help all who struggle with the addiction of alcoholism to experience this same grace and come to live in the serenity and joy of a life surrendered to God.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
www.yourcatholicguide.com
