If you have a loved one who is controlled by alcohol, prescription drugs, or illegal drugs, you are aware of the ways addiction destroys an individual’s life and causes untold grief among family and friends.
God wants to bring hope and healing into your loved one’s life, and He is able to provide true freedom and peace. Remember that God is bigger than any addiction.
Take Care of Yourself
You must have a solid, healthy base to stand on before you can provide adequate help to your loved one. Do not underestimate the impact of a loved one’s addiction on your own spiritual life. Some of Satan’s favorite tools are isolation, exhaustion, discouragement, and fear. Therefore, it is important that you deepen your own relationship with Jesus while also reaching out to your loved one.
Make sure that you set aside a time each day when you can study the Word of God, spend time in prayer, and praise the Lord for what He is doing and what He will do in the future. This time with the Lord will help to sustain and encourage you.
The First Step
Addicts may feel confident or “at peace” when they are under the influence. However, they typically struggle with self-esteem, relationship issues, and the illegal and immoral consequences of their addiction. Blame is often placed on family members, parents, work supervisors, or the “bad breaks” of life.
This can place a heavy burden on you and your family. It’s important to create a support system of friends and professionals who can provide help when circumstances feel overwhelming.
How You Can Help
People who are addicted have a difficult time admitting their need for help. Instead, they often surround themselves with people who will enable them to continue in their dependency. Therefore, you must practice “tough love.”
In taking a tough stance, avoid being judgmental. Instead, speak the truth in love (see Ephesians 4:15) by honestly sharing your concerns. Use Scripture as support, and focus on the possibilities for change.
Emphasize to the abuser that he or she cannot cope with the problem alone and must be willing to make a commitment to quit for good. Nothing short of this will do. He or she must admit to being personally responsible for the condition and the problem.
Depend on the Holy Spirit to give you the wisdom and words that you need.
Point to Jesus
While it can be tempting to just fix the behaviors and stop the abuse, it is important that you direct your loved one to the only source of true help for their addiction—Jesus Christ. He will give them a new purpose and meaning in life, and He will begin to truly change them.
The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God will surround them with His love and show them that they are very valuable in His eyes—far too valuable to destroy themselves with drugs or alcohol.
Christ may give them new friends—Christians who really care and want to help. He may even direct them to other believers who have been held by the grip of substance abuse and have conquered their addiction.
Most importantly, God will help your loved one resist temptation through the power of His Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
Moving Forward
A relationship with Christ is the most important element for you and your loved. If you have never explored what it means to find the deep satisfaction and purpose in a relationship with Jesus, do so now. If you have already turned your life over to Jesus Christ, make your relationship with Him primary in your life (see Matthew 6:33).
Prayer is the most powerful tool that you have. Pray privately and with your loved one for courage, commitment, and the power of the Holy Spirit to be released. All of these are necessary in the redemptive process: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Listen to your loved one and offer plenty of opportunities for them to share their feelings and concerns. Reassure them of God’s love (see Psalm 62:5–8).
You may need to take the initiative in finding a treatment center and admit your loved one. Let him or her know that you intend to do this.
Do not moralize about the evils of drugs or alcohol. Help the individual spiritually by focusing on his or her commitment to Christ.
God’s Word is powerful. Encourage your loved one to establish a daily routine of reading God’s Word and praying. Read to them if it’s tough for them. Also, help them to become involved in a caring, Bible-teaching church.
Recommend a professional Christian counselor or support group experienced in walking people through the healing process.
Scripture for Meditation
“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).
“Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
