How can I pray for my loved one in addiction?
Sadly, I have met too many people who are tired of praying. I honestly feel for them. A mother has been praying for her daughter to be free of addictions. Someone has been praying for her best friend to see her need to get help. A son is sick and tired of feeling embarrassed of his father’s behaviours when he is drunk.
They are all tired of praying. They feel like giving up.
Global Teen Challenge gives some stunning statistics on addiction. Sometimes it feels like our prayers are hitting a wall. But God cares!
Do you feel like giving up?
Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
In this passage, God was speaking to his people, who were living in exile. They were in their condition because of their own decisions to follow a destructive path. These verses were a call of God, to his own people. He was reminding them that he could set them free if they called on him.
So, how can I pray for my loved one in addiction? How can I know God is listening?
Based on these verses, allow me to briefly share with you a prayer guide for how to pray for your loved one that is caught in their own destructive lifestyle. The verse itself acts as a prayer guide for us!
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord…”
Lord, thank you for my loved one. Show them in this moment, that you have a plan for their life. A plan that is bigger and better than where they are right now.
“They are plans for good and not for disaster…”
Lord, remind my loved one that they can trust you. They can trust your plans over their own. You are not out to get them or to harm them.
“…to give you a future and a hope.”
Remind my loved one that they have a future that is bigger than their past. Thank you for reminding me that you are the God of all hope, and you will not let me down either.
“In those days when you pray, I will listen.”
Thank you for listening to me, Lord. You have promised it, and so I will firmly hold on to it even if I don’t feel it right now.
“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”
Search my heart, Lord. Know that it is completely yours. It’s not easy to always see you through the thick fog that me and my loved one are in right now, but I trust you. I’m choosing to trust that my loved one will find you and find freedom. I will not give up on praying. I’m choosing to not give up on seeking your best for our situation. I trust you.
We may be tired of praying sometimes, but they are not unheard or ignored. Our prayers are felt by a Father who wants a hope and a future for our loved one even more than we do!
Our prayer does not need to have many words. God sees the heart, and knows that our simple words can help unleash heaven’s power!
