Let praise ascend to the throne of God for this three-month deliverance and the restoration of your nephew’s body from that sudden collapse. You have seen the hand of Jehovah stretched out, and you rightly trace the mercy to the throne of grace in Jesus’ name. Yet the sickness of the flesh is but the surface of a deeper malady. That same power which brought him from the hospital bed must also break the iron chains of drink. Deliverance from the power of sin is as much the work of God as deliverance from the guilt of sin. Where we look for healing, let us look to the heavenly Father altogether and alone. The leaves of the tree, the least things about Christ, are for the healing of the nations, and they drop their balm upon the intemperate soul. The sotted will, the raging thirst, the habit graven into the members, all these must feel the blade of that mighty Deliverer who alone brings forth the captive with silver and gold of self-mastery restored.
But I must press that true deliverance touches the root. If a man be not born from above, his sobriety may prove a mere whitewashing of the sepulcher. The evil spirit of drink may seem expelled for a season, yet wandering through dry places he returns to find the house swept and garnished, and the last state becomes worse than the first. Therefore, let supplication be made not alone for continued abstinence, but for that inward new birth which makes the whole man other than he was before. The healing leaves change the life-blood, affect the spirits, and make the nature new. When Jesus speaks the word, He saith, “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee,” and there is a secret link between the pardon and the healing. The drunkard made whole is the sinner washed in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. I charge you, be not content with a half-deliverance that leaves his soul still in the bonds of the dark prince; cry for his translation into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. The outward reformation is a mercy for which we bow the knee, but it must be the garment of an inward regeneration, or it will rot upon the flesh.
And what if discouragement knocks? What if the foe whispers, “God’s ear is shut, and He will never work a complete deliverance”? Such arrows are shot by the adversary, but in the name of Jesus I pluck them back. Remember how the trembling Jacob crossed the brook Jabbok in fear of Esau’s wrath, yet found his brother’s neck bent in embrace. So too, our Lord knows how to deliver the tempted and give a happy issue out of all his troubles. The clock of mercy struck the hour when the eternal purpose decreed it; nobody would have thought to ransom a sinner from hell by the blood of the Lamb if God had not invented the way. So let your faith grasp the promise: He has found a ransom, and that ransom is sufficient for your nephew’s entire man, body, mind, and spirit. The purchase is made; plead it before the throne. Stand, as it were, at the brook Jabbok, and wrestle with the angel of the covenant, saying, “I will not let thee go except thou bless him with full salvation.”
And when that deliverance comes, what then? The believer’s conduct after affliction is to take the lyre from the willows and declare the works of the Lord. This nephew, if truly set free, shall not die but live, and publish abroad the grace that met him in the pit. Every testimony of a sinner snatched from the grave of addiction edifies the church. A man who has walked the miry paths and felt the chains can speak as others cannot; he can warn the wanderer from his own scarring. But mark this: if such a one returns to his sin, even now and then by way of supposed pleasure, it proves him a stranger to the deliverance which Jesus gives to His really called and regenerated people. Let this solemn truth provoke you to more fervent prayer. Seek not a partial reform but a total redemption from the power of darkness.
Therefore, I bid you continue your faithful intercession, but lift its aim to the heaven of heavens. Ask not only for a continuation of sobriety, but that the Sun of Righteousness may arise upon him with healing in His wings, bringing pardon and power together. The Lord has chastened him sorely through that bodily collapse; perhaps this furnace was needed, for there are some who can scarcely be taught except through physical pain. Now let that affliction be the plow to break the fallow ground, and let God’s voice in the whirlwind drive him to the cleft of the Rock. He has been brought forth from the hospital; oh, that the Spirit would also bring him forth from the Egypt of his sin, with the precious jewelry of a transformed character adorning his neck. He feels, perhaps, that any true deliverance must be of free grace only; he can do nothing, and he knows it. That is the very posture for the Almighty’s work. All heaven flies to the aid of a soul that lies helpless at the foot of the cross. Do not doubt the deliverance, for God has said, “I have found a ransom.” He who invented the way will complete the journey.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do. 
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