Christian Pure

Prayers to Overcome Addiction: For Cravings, Relapse and Someone You Love

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Short prayers cover a craving, admitting powerlessness, asking for help, relapse, shame, one day at a time, avoiding old triggers, dependence on a person, quitting smoking and thanks for another clean day.
  • Three prayers are for a family member or friend who is addicted, including one for when the person refuses help.
  • Alcoholics Anonymous adopted the Serenity Prayer in 1941; the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers has a prayer against gluttony and drunkenness.
  • Russian Orthodox Christians pray before the “Inexhaustible Cup” icon, revealed in Serpukhov in 1878 by Orthodox accounts, and ask the martyr Boniface of Tarsus to pray for deliverance from drunkenness.
  • Augustine’s Confessions describes habit becoming “necessity”; Proverbs 23:35 describes the drinker who says, “I will seek it yet again.”
  • SAMHSA’s National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) in the US and FRANK (0300 123 6600) in the UK give free, confidential help at any hour.

A prayer against addiction can start by admitting that willpower has run out: “Lord, I cannot beat this on my own. Get me through the next hour without it, and lead me to the help I need. Amen.” Paul promised a “way to escape” with every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). Prayer goes alongside treatment and support, not instead of them. In the US, SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357, is free, confidential and open 24 hours a day, every day, in English…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 40:2; Proverbs 23:35; Lamentations 3:23; Matthew 6:34; 18:12; John 8:36; Romans 7:19; 13:13–14; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 10:13; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 12:9; Galatians 5:1; James 5:16; 1 John 1:9). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “SAMHSA’s National Helpline.” https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/helplines/national-helpline
  • FRANK. “Contact Frank.” https://www.talktofrank.com/contact-frank
  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
  • Samaritans. “Contact a Samaritan.” https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
  • Alcoholics Anonymous, General Service Office. “Origin of the Serenity Prayer: A Historical Paper” (SMF-129), by Nell Wing, 1981. https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/smf-129_en.pdf
  • A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Prayers against the Seven Deadly Sins, “Against Gluttony,” p. 297. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
  • “The Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, ‘The Inexhaustible Cup.’” OrthoChristian.com. https://orthochristian.com/93802.html ; “Inexhaustible Chalice.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inexhaustible_Chalice
  • Orthodox Church in America. “Martyr Boniface at Tarsus in Cilicia, and Righteous Aglaïa of Rome.” https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2016/12/19/103583-martyr-boniface-at-tarsus-in-cilicia-and-righteous-aglaa-of-rome
  • Augustine of Hippo. The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book 8. Translated by E. B. Pusey. Project Gutenberg eBook no. 3296. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3296

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