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You are not alone.
Prayer for addiction is the best way to a Christ-centered journey of spiritual healing, and deliverance is one that many people have traveled before you, but it does not need to be lonely or fruitless for any individual who seeking help in this pursuit! There can truly exist hope if we choose correctly; however, the choice must come from within – trusting God’s grace towards our lives instead of trying to decide what path will work best based on human wisdom, which may, at times, lead us astray.
Devoting a few minutes each day to prayer can help you feel closer to God and His guidance.
It can be hard to stay motivated when you’re struggling with an addiction, but don’t give up hope! You will get through this with God as your refuge and strength.
God’s love for you is stronger than any addiction.
What Is an Addiction?
The line between “needs” and harmful activities can be blurry, as many people find themselves in damaging patterns. Compulsions are very real things that we all have to some extent; however, an addiction is when these needs take over your life completely until it damages you physically or emotionally (or both).
It’s not uncommon to feel like your addiction is the only thing that makes sense in life. The more you indulge, the less able or willing it seems like anything else can really satisfy – even if they are good things!
Your addiction is a disease that will only hurt you in the end. It leads us away from our only true source of fulfillment, God himself!
The root of addiction can often be traced back to stress, as it has a numbing effect on emotions.
Numbing ourselves is a way of managing stress in our society.
The most common types of addictions are those that silence our feelings and prevent us from noticing the wonder happening all around us.
Those addictions include alcohol, drugs (including tobacco, opioids, or other substances), gambling, excessive shopping or spending, pornography, over or unhealthy eating, watching excessive TV or spending too much time on screens, in general, and constant busyness.
God designed us with a natural instinct to feel our emotions, including those that are difficult or painful. These feelings help guide us through important lessons on and help shape our lives.
The more we try to escape our feelings through numbing methods, the less alive and present in life become.
Closing ourselves off from God’s amazing work in our lives is a choice we sometimes make. When numbness sets in, it means that much of what He has done goes unnoticed.
God wants to give you a better way – turning towards him, rather than toward addictions when life gets tough. He is the only source of lasting satisfaction. Jesus promises us in John 14:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27 (ESV)
God offers us peace and guidance to help us break free from addictions. It’s never too late to seek deliverance from addiction. We can pray about everything we need with confidence that God will help us through any type of addiction, and He always does exactly as promised!
Here are 10 powerful prayers for addiction deliverance that you can use or adjust to your own circumstance as you need them.
Prayer for Addiction Rescue from Alcoholism
Dear Father God:
I feel like I can’t stop drinking even when it’s hurting me. Sometimes the cravings are so strong that all I want to do is drink until they go away.
I am heartbroken by how much my drinking has hurt me and those I love.
Please help me stop buying alcohol from stores and restaurants and drinking at social gatherings. I don’t want to be a part of this anymore!
The commitment I make today is to heal from my addiction. Whether it takes going to rehab, joining a support group, or working with medical professionals and counselors- I will seek help.
Lord, please guide me to the best resources to help me heal this addiction. I need you, Holy Spirit. Renew my mind and make it a place where healthy thoughts flow like water from a faucet! Help me healthily deal with anything that previously triggered me.
Jesus, please help give me peace. Give me the strength to believe in your hope for a better future that you have promised us all. Thank you for your grace, mercy, and peace. I can’t wait to celebrate sobriety with you. Amen.
Prayer for Addiction Deliverance from Drugs
Dear God,
My drug addiction is taking a terrible toll on both my body and soul.
I am struggling with drugs and want to get clean. I know that you care about me, so please help make this change happen for me, which only you can do.
Please show me how to take away my pain without numbing it using a substance.
The commitment I make today is to heal from my addiction. Whether it takes going to rehab, joining a support group, or working with medical professionals and counselors- I will seek help.
I no longer want to put harmful chemicals into my body. By going through withdrawal, I will be able to heal my body and my cells and eliminate the harmful chemicals that are inside of me.
I have chosen to replace my drug habit with healthy ones like prayer and meditation. Heal the physical craving for any substance and fill my soul with peace that transcends cravings. Thank you for helping me each minute and every day; amen.
Prayer for Addiction Deliverance from Unhealthy Eating
Lord Jesus,
Please teach me how to control my appetite.
My diet is out of control. I eat when my stomach’s already full, and what I crave are unhealthy foods like junk food or take-out that don’t satisfy me at all! Eating becomes a way to feel better emotionally because it makes the pain go away temporarily.
When I’m feeling the urge to pick up another cookie or serve myself an additional helping of mashed potatoes, please stop me in my tracks. Redirecting my mind toward something healthy.
Please change my thoughts about my relationship with food so I can recover from this addiction to overeating.
Help me figure out the root cause of my food addiction and why I do it. Do I overeat or eat unhealthy things to mask the pain? Because I’m lonely, stressed, or even bored?
Come to me, oh Lord of Healing and Strength. Send your healing touch through my body as I turn away from food for emotional well-being and turn to you.
I commit myself today not only to refusing to purchase any addictive foods from this point on- instead, I will replace them with healthier options to fuel my body.
When I’m by myself, it’s hard not to overeat. So from now on, if possible, try eating snacks and meals with other people so that way the temptation isn’t there!
When I am faced with difficult emotions, rather than trying to eat them away through food addiction or any other method of self-medicating my pain and stress, then it is best for me to not only acknowledge these feelings but also pray about them and lay my heart at your feet.
Thank you, Father, for helping me to enjoy food as you designed it, as nutrition, and to fill a hole that only you can fill.
Amen.
Prayer for Addiction Deliverance from Gambling
Holy Spirit, please help me to release the hold that gambling has on me.
I confess that I have been addicted to games of chance, and wasting your money which you trust me to be a better steward of.
Father, point out to me why I’ve been compulsively gambling, and work in me to heal those issues in my life.
Guide me to the people who can make a difference in my life, including financial advisors and friends who will pray for healing from this addiction.
From now on, I will look to you for guidance and protection rather than relying upon luck. Only you, Jesus, can provide for my every need.
Thank you for providing all I need and drawing me closer to you.
Amen.
Prayer for Addiction Deliverance from Pornography
Lord Jesus, I’ve been stuck in a cycle of desire, shame, and guilt, but I know, Lord, that you can help me break the chains of it.
The intimacy you create through sex is blocked by pornography, which distances us from the real relationships we want and need.
Please forgive me for looking at your loved ones as objects rather than people. They are your children, as well, and deserve love and respect, not the lust I demonstrate.
I am asking you, please heal my mind from the unhealthy neural pathways that have been wired into my brain because of watching pornography and lustful media.
Father, help me to identify the triggers that cause me to watch pornography and help me to heal them through your love and guidance.
Help me break free from the grip of lust and turn to you – the source of true love – rather than toward pornography.
God, help me turn away from lustful thoughts and toward You. Teach my mind to focus on what is important in life.
I am hurting, and I need help. Please repair the sexual brokenness in my life, through counseling or with my spouse; Jehovah Rapha, you can heal every area of my life, and I need you.
Please heal my marriage and my connection with my spouse to one that is healthy and is centered around you.
The most intimate and sacred act in life should be experienced with love and in the covenant of marriage. Please help us to enjoy the beauty of sex together – just as you intended it to be!
God, thank you for healing me from this addiction and filling me with your real love so that I never feel the urge to settle for substituting porn instead.
In your Son’s Holy Name, Amen.
General Addiction Prayers
My Father, please be with me and help my broken heart heal. I am struggling to overcome addiction on my own but need your guidance so that it will not consume all of who I am left inside
I am ready to go out of this prison, I want you to help heal my mind and body. My heart yearns for freedom, yet I am still so trapped by my thoughts and fears.
With your love and grace, let me walk in freedom. With your help, I can break out of my chains to live again.
O Lord, I trust that you understand me. You have carried me through the hardest times. When I am at my lowest, you were always there for me. You saw every single one of my secret tears and wiped them away with your loving embrace. With the power of your hands, I ask that you would lead me away from my addiction. As I face the withdrawal and fill my heart with songs of hope, protect me from all angles. Help me see what you already do. You are restoring my life, one step at a time! Amen.
Remove This Evil Desire Prayer
The Lord is my king, I sing in his honor and proclaim his constant love towards us. Lord, I entrust every person that is struggling with addiction into your hands. You are the one who will set them free and make everything right again! Heed my cry for help, O mighty God! Free these people from their addictions and possession. Deliver them to freedom where they can be at peace. God, don’t leave them in their distress. Be a hiding place for those who fear you and trust in your protection
Lord, do not desert these people! May they find comfort in knowing that You are always there to guide them through life’s difficult times
Lord, please remove the evil desire for drugs and alcohol from their heart and mind. Give them a new sense of fulfillment in You instead! In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
When addiction is controlling you or a loved one, it may seem like there’s no way out. But God’s power is far stronger than any addiction. Choose hope by praying for the help you need to break free of your addiction. You’ll see God respond in wondrous ways to lead you into a better future.
You may enjoy one of these recommended resources for you or a loved one.
The One Year Recovery Prayer Devotional: 365 Daily Meditations toward Discovering Your True Purpose by Katie Brazelton
Conscious Contact with God: The Psalms for Addiction and Recovery by Kenneth W. Schmidt
ESV – “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”