Jesus Christ please help me

[Chrysostom]

Your honest prayer has been heard, and I thank God for the humility and clarity with which you have spoken. To see the harm that alcohol brings, to dislike what it does during and after, and to desire to let it go and to be a better husband, father, and worker is itself a work of God's grace drawing you toward what is good.

True courage, as Scripture shows, is not simply speaking boldly or feeling strong for a moment. True courage is turning away from what harms the soul and standing firm in what is right, even when it is difficult. John the Baptist showed such courage when he spoke the truth at great cost, and Christ shows us that real strength is joined with meekness and gentleness. The strength you are asking for will not come from your own resolve alone, but from Christ who is able to help you when you labor and strive to do what pleases Him. If He was willing to save you by grace when you could do nothing, how much more will He help you now as you seek to walk faithfully.

I join you in prayer to our Father through Jesus Christ alone, for there is no other name by which we are saved and heard.

Father in heaven, have mercy on this man who comes to You in honesty. Forgive his sins through the blood of Jesus Christ and give him a new heart and a sober mind. Take away the desire for alcohol and break its hold. Fill him with Your Holy Spirit so that he may find courage and strength not in himself but in You. Help him to walk in self control day by day, to be faithful in his home as a loving husband and father, and faithful in his work. Give him wisdom and diligence to complete his projects and proposals correctly and on time, for Your glory.

Lord, have mercy also on his wife and his son. Deliver them from dependence on alcohol and cigarettes, and deliver his son from marijuana. Show them the harm of these things and draw them to seek You with a sincere heart. Bring healing to their bodies and peace to their home. Remember also his adult daughter and supply what she needs. Provide for her, guide her, and keep her in Your care. Lead this whole family to encourage one another toward what is good and to turn from what harms.

Continue to bring this desire before the Lord each day, and do not walk alone. Confess your need to God, stay in His Word, pray continually, and seek the help of faithful believers and a pastor who can walk with you, hold you accountable, and encourage you. Turn away from places and habits that lead back to drinking, and give your time and strength to loving your wife, your children, and doing your work well as service to Christ.

God is near to those who call on Him with a humble heart. Keep asking, keep trusting, and keep taking the next faithful step. He is able to keep you and to make you more like Christ.

 

[Silas]

Your honesty in bringing this before the Lord is itself a step of faith, and God hears the cry for deliverance when it comes from the heart. You have said plainly that you do not like what alcohol does to you while you are drinking and even more after, and that you want to be free from it. That desire to let it go, and to be a more faithful husband and father and worker, is something God honors.

Scripture is very honest about what alcohol does to a person. It must be processed by the liver and can overwork it, and it works against the nervous system, harming the body and the mind and bringing a person under its influence. It dulls judgment and steals strength, and that is why the longing you have expressed, to be clear minded and dependable for your family and for your work, is right and good. God made your body to serve Him, and He wants you to be sober and alert.

The word that Jesus often spoke to fearful and discouraged hearts was to be of good courage, to be of good cheer. He said it to His disciples when they were afraid, and He said it to Paul when Paul was discouraged and felt he had failed and that it was the end. The Lord did not condemn Paul. He acknowledged that Paul had been faithful to testify for Him where he was, and then He gave him courage by setting a new destination before him, that he must also bear witness in Rome. When God sets a purpose before us, we can take new hope and new courage knowing He will keep us until we reach what He has appointed. In that same way, the Lord says to you now, be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The cure for fear and anxiety is the constant awareness of His presence. As David said, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. You are not alone in this struggle.

Deliverance comes when we stop looking to our own willpower and cry out to look outside ourselves to God. It is there that He begins His work of victory. The old nature that craves what harms us is to be counted as dead through the cross of Jesus Christ, and we are to walk in the Spirit day by day. God knows how to deliver those who are His, as He delivered Lot when he was distressed by the life around him, and as He delivered His people from Egypt when there was no way out. He can make a way where there is no way, so that He may show His power to free those who are trapped. What feels impossible to you is not impossible to Him. His purposes will stand, and He is able to set you free.

I join you in praying for your family. I pray that God will give your wife and your son a desire to drink less and to turn from cigarettes, and that your son will turn away from marijuana completely. These things also bring the body under a harmful power and cloud the mind, and God wants them free as well. I pray for your adult daughter, that God will meet her needs according to His wisdom and kindness and draw her closer to Himself. And I pray for you in your work, that God will help you to be diligent and faithful to complete your projects and proposals correctly and on time, as a testimony of His grace in your life.

When God delivered His people from bondage in Egypt, it was such a great act that they were to remember it always. They passed through the sea as through a baptism, a picture of being brought out of the bondage of sin through the Lamb of God, and then Moses and Miriam and all the people sang a song of praise because God had triumphed gloriously and given them victory. God wants to give you a song of deliverance as well, a testimony you will remember, that He brought you out of what once held you.

So keep crying out to Jesus Christ alone for salvation and strength. Ask Him each day for courage, reckon yourself dead to the old life, and walk in the Spirit step by step. Seek fellowship with faithful believers who will encourage you, and if needed seek wise and practical help to support your body as you turn from alcohol. God is with you, He has heard your prayer, and He is able to deliver you and to make you the husband, father, and worker you long to be for His glory.