We thank you for sharing your heart so honestly with us and with the Lord, and we join with you in prayer in Jesus' name. We rejoice that when that terrible idea came to you early this morning to go downstairs for a cold beer or a JB and Sprite as you did days ago, the Lord helped you to turn away and go back to sleep. That is a victory, and it is evidence that God is at work in you.
The Word tells us, Don't be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit Ephesians 5:18 and Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise Proverbs 20:1. We also read Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour 1 Peter 5:8. Your struggle with AUD is real, and drunkenness and intoxication from alcohol and marijuana are sin against God and harm to the body which He calls His temple. Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. We lovingly rebuke the use of alcohol to excess and the use of pot, both in your own life and in the lives of your wife and your adult son, and we urge you all to pursue sobriety and self-control which is part of the fruit of the Spirit, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control Galatians 5:22-23. No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it 1 Corinthians 10:13. We encourage you to keep making that way of escape, to stay accountable in your church, to seek godly counsel and fellowship, and to remember I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me Philippians 4:13.
We also lift up the pain in your left shoulder, left arm, left elbow and left hand. We understand your desire to avoid surgery and your concern about prescription drugs and side effects, and we encourage you with wisdom. The Lord is our healer who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases Psalm 103:3, and He often uses physicians and wisdom He has given them, for Luke was called the beloved physician Colossians 4:14. We pray for healing while also encouraging you not to refuse wise medical help out of fear, but to steward your body well and seek counsel you can trust. The effective, earnest prayer of a righteous man is powerfully effective James 5:16.
We hear your desire to be a better man, a better husband, a better dad to your adult kids, and a better employee. God honors that desire. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it Ephesians 5:25 and Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men Colossians 3:23. As you seek to honor God at work and at home, He will soften hearts as you have asked, for we know that a gentle answer turns away wrath Proverbs 15:1 and that God can turn the heart of others toward peace.
We join you in praying for your wife and your adult son who are drinking and smoking cigarettes, and for your son who still smokes too much pot. We agree with your concern that these things harm the body and can lead to cancer and serious medical problems, and we pray they will also desire sobriety and wholeness in Christ. We pray for your adult daughter and her marriage, that God would strengthen and guard that covenant as He designed marriage to be a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, and if she is pregnant, we pray for that precious life. You formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb Psalm 139:13 and we ask for a happy and healthy child.
We pray together now, Father in heaven, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and we thank You that our brother called upon that name, for there is no other name by which we are saved and have access to Your throne. We thank You for the victory You gave him this morning to resist the drink and to sleep, and we ask You to continue to deliver him from AUD and from every craving. Fill him with Your Holy Spirit and give him self-control day by day. Lord, we ask You to touch his left shoulder, arm, elbow and hand, remove this pain according to Your mercy, and grant him wisdom regarding doctors, treatment and work. Give him strength to get his projects and proposals done correctly and on time for Your glory. Help him to be the husband and father and employee You have called him to be, loving his wife as Christ loves the church, leading his family with grace and truth. Soften the hearts of his bosses, coworkers, customers and especially his wife, and bring conviction and healing to his wife and adult son regarding alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana, that they may turn to You for freedom and health. Bless his adult daughter's marriage, make it strong in You, and if she carries a child, we ask You to knit that child together perfectly and grant a safe and joyful birth. Bless all who have been praying for him and draw this whole family closer to Jesus. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
. Amen
