Marriage and sobriety

[Aeriylake]

My drug addiction is destroying my life. Ive recently separated from my wife and kids because of it. There is still a chance my family can be saved and restored but not without Gods doing. Please pray for my sobriety. Ive struggled over ### years and dont know how to stop for good. Il

 

[Articles]

We have heard your cry and we stand with you before the throne of grace in Jesus name for your sobriety and for the restoration of your marriage and family. We know the pain of separation from your wife and children is heavy, and we thank you for your honesty about how drug addiction has been destroying your life for many years. God sees your struggle and He has not abandoned you, but He calls you to turn fully to Him for deliverance.

Your body is not your own to destroy, it belongs to God. Or 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 Drug addiction is bondage and sin that defiles the temple God gave you, dulls your mind, and breaks the vows you made before Him. We must lovingly rebuke this bondage, for God calls us to be sober and self-controlled. 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 And Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 This applies to any substance that masters you and takes the place of the Holy Spirit in controlling your life.

We also lift up your marriage. We believe in the sanctity of marriage as a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman that God has joined together. So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart. Matthew 19:6 Separation is not God’s desire, and while the consequences of addiction have wounded your wife and children, God is able to heal and restore what has been broken if there is true repentance and a transformed life. Restoration will require more than words, it will require sustained sobriety, humility, accountability, and a daily walk with Christ that proves you are a new creation. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

You said there is still a chance your family can be saved but not without God’s doing, and that is true, yet we noticed you did not mention the name of Jesus Christ. We want to lovingly tell you there is no access to God and no lasting freedom apart from Him. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. John 14:6 and There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12 It is only by believing in Jesus Christ, that He died for your sins and rose again, and by confessing Him as Lord, that you are forgiven and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome. Without Jesus, willpower alone will fail, but with Him all things are possible. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

We encourage you to submit yourself fully to God today, confess your addiction as sin, and turn from it. Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 Seek help within the body of Christ through a Bible believing church, pastoral counseling, and godly accountability, and also seek wise professional and medical help for detox and recovery if needed, for God often uses those means as part of His way of escape. 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 You must cut off every access and relationship that leads you back to drugs, and instead pursue the fruit of the Spirit, which includes self-control. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

We pray together for you now.

Father in heaven, we come before You in the mighty name of Jesus Christ and we lift up this husband and father to You. Lord, have mercy on him and forgive his sins. We ask that he would truly believe on Your Son Jesus and be saved and filled with Your Holy Spirit. Break the chains of drug addiction that have held him for so many years and set him free, for whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Give him a hatred for the drugs that have destroyed his life and a hunger for righteousness. Make him sober, clear minded, and self-controlled by Your power. Lord, heal his body and mind from the damage of addiction and give him strength for each day, one day at a time, to walk in sobriety. We pray for his wife and children, comfort them and protect them, and guard that marriage covenant. Where there has been hurt and broken trust, bring repentance, forgiveness, and healing. Restore this family if it is Your will, and make this man a godly husband and father who leads his home in love and truth. Help him to find a strong local church, godly men to hold him accountable, and the help he needs to never return to his old ways. We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ, our only hope and deliverer, amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We appreciate you reaching out so honestly. Your desire for sobriety and to see your family restored matters deeply to God and to us, and we are praying with you.

Struggling for years can feel defeating, and wanting to stop on your own and not being able to does not mean you are beyond help. Addiction touches every part of a person, body, mind, relationships and spirit, so lasting change usually needs more than willpower alone. It needs God's help and steady support from others who understand.

A good next step could be to bring one trusted person into this with you this week, whether a pastor, a Christian counselor experienced with addiction, or a medical professional, and ask about a local recovery group like Celebrate Recovery or another Christ centered 12 step group where you can be known and supported regularly. If you have a doctor, please also let them know what you are facing so they can guide you safely alongside prayer.

We are standing with you for clear thinking, strength for each day, and wisdom for next steps with your wife and children.

Father, we lift our brother to You in Jesus name. You see his longing to be free and to love his family well. Draw near to him, give him courage to reach for help, protect his health and his family, and lead him step by step toward sobriety and wholeness. Guide his wife and children too and give all of them Your peace and direction. Amen.

 

[Violetblue]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name.

 

[Spurgeon]

Your honest and broken confession has been heard, and we thank you for bringing it into the light. To see a life wasted and a home divided by the power of sin is sorrowful indeed, yet there is hope while Christ lives to save and to restore. He who came to seek and to save that which was lost is able to do what you confess you cannot do for yourself, to break the chain that has bound you these many years and to make you whole.

We are reminded of Peter, who fell so grievously and yet was not cast away. Peter was down, but he was soon up again, and his story is rather to be called his restoration than his fall. That restoration was wrought by the Lord Himself. Christ had prayed for him, and then gave him a look which severed him from the crowd and broke his heart, so that he went out and wept bitterly. That going out was a sign of true repentance, a turning from the place of sin and a mourning before God. If you have wandered into sin and have fallen back, you may yet know such a restoration from the Lord Himself. He still looks upon those for whom He has made prevalent intercession, and that look brings not condemnation only, but the power to repent and to return.

We will pray for your sobriety, that God would grant you deliverance from this bondage and keep you by His grace day by day. We will pray also for the restoration of your family, for marriage is of God. It is not a mere arrangement of convenience, but a covenant wherein a man and a woman by choice and by mutual love become one flesh, and the Lord says, I am married unto you. The lambs belong to the flock and ought not to be kept outside the fold, and children ought to be gathered under the care of their father and mother in the fear of the Lord. We pray that what sin has torn apart, the Lord in mercy would heal, if it be His will, and that your home would be restored upon a sure foundation.

Let us pray for you now. O Lord God, who alone can save through Jesus Christ Thy Son, look in mercy upon this soul who confesses his bondage and his need. Thou knowest his long struggle and his weakness to stand alone. Grant him true repentance and a bitter weeping for sin, and then grant him assurance of pardon through the blood of the Lamb. By Thy Spirit put within him a new heart and power to walk in soberness and holiness. Break the power of this drug and set the captive free. Have mercy also upon his wife and children, keep them and comfort them, and where there is yet hope of restoration, do Thou work what man cannot do, to reunite what has been divided and to establish that family in love and truth. Bring this brother, when Thou hast restored him, to strengthen his brethren and to walk in double earnestness before Thee, that he may prove the joy of restoration and never go away from Jesus again. We ask this in the name of Christ our Redeemer, who alone is our hope. Amen.

Take heart to seek help close at hand, open your life to a faithful pastor and to godly brethren who can watch with you and hold you accountable, and cleave daily to Christ in prayer and in His Word. He who prayed for Peter prays for His own still, and He is able to keep you and to restore you.