Praying For The Addicted

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Now with extremely limited availability, contact your local retailer for inventory information. This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Personal to you, isn't it, Jay?

Yes, it is, Robbie. Many of our listeners know that a big part of my ministry has been working with families who have loved ones who struggle with addiction. We went through that in our own family when our son was wrestling so hard with heroin addiction for so many years. And today, I'd like to just talk to our audience who have someone like that in their lives, especially about how they can pray for them.

It can be so hard when you're praying and praying and nothing seems to change. And sometimes they even seem to get worse. And if it's someone who is close to you, you may remember who they once were and still see that person now and then, you know, you catch a glimpse. But what makes it so sad is they're not like that so much anymore. And so you kind of hold both pictures in your mind and maybe they're hurting themselves or they're hurting others.

And part of the challenge is that they aren't as easy to love as they once were. But this is, I think, the best kind of prayer really starts with a heart of love. We need to see that praying for others is a way of loving them and a way of letting God into their lives.

So we literally make that choice, I'm going to love him with my prayers today. You know, let's face it, the world gives up on addicts. Sometimes we hear about how judgmental the church is, you know, but have you ever thought about how judgmental the world is? I mean, they're absolutely merciless.

Just spend a little time on social media and you find that out. You know, I mean, talk about cancel culture. But as people who have been loved at our worst, Christians need to be the kind of people who love when it isn't easy. And Jesus can help us with that.

Oh yeah, he can because, you know, that is how he loves. So what do you say to the person who's trying so hard to pray but they're getting discouraged because nothing seems to change? Well, first I want to talk to them with a lot of love as well. Because I've been there and I know that is so hard because we can pray and pray for years and it doesn't seem like we're making any progress. But the truth is, what I would tell them is that God can break in at any moment. So don't give up, keep going, keep loving. That's why we have to persevere because he has solutions that we have never even considered. You know, what you said about God having solutions that we've never even considered because I've seen that in my own life as well. And one of the other things I think is so important is the difference it makes for us to just go to God and really just lay it all out before him.

Yeah, like we were talking about before we went on the air. You know, you said it's kind of a way of getting back to Eden where we can just, you know, walk with Abba Father and tell him what's going on. And hey, I think if we didn't do that with our son, we would have been absolutely hopeless because that's the beautiful thing that God does, especially when nothing seems to be changing. He has ways of speaking to us in our spirit, just speaking strength and needing us and helping us through. And that wouldn't happen if we didn't seek him out.

We would just be alone and discouraged and feeling like, you know, it was all up to us and we had to fix it. So it's so important for us to do this. And it's also so practical because he can give us the flashes of insight that we need in the moment that really make a difference. You know, we might see where he is leading us to do something in particular for that person to make a choice about maybe a rehab that that they're open to considering or to just love them in a practical way.

That, again, we never even thought of. So we have to get our love and our insight from him. This is how we cope.

This is how we get through. Yeah, it's amazing how God works. He can also lead us to others who have loved ones who are struggling in the same way. And we can encourage each other, right, as we pray for each other and walk the road together. Yeah, it's like Pilgrim's Progress, you know.

I mean, we're on that same road. You know, I can tell you the difference it makes to know that that someone who understands this is lifting up your loved one from the heart because they get it, you know, they've been right there. And this is really part of what keeps us going as well, because we're stronger together and we gain insights from each other that that are God given as we pray. Yeah, it makes me think of something else we talked about before when praying for prodigals in our lives. No one can pray for your own like someone else who's really been there.

Yeah, exactly. It's so true. And that's why it's so important for us to go ahead and just be open, but with discretion. But, you know, go ahead and share some of the struggles you've had with us. Because so many families in silence and they have this sense of shame about them and they need to know that they are not alone and that there are others who really do understand, who really will pray.

It's like the proverb says, a cord of three strands is not easily broken. There's power in that. And if we don't pray for our loved ones, if we don't press in on that and ask others to join us, then who will? You know, no one knows them like we do.

No one loves them like we do, except for God, who loves them even more. And he will show us the way forward. Oh, yes, he will. You know, there is hope with him, James. As we conclude today, would you take a moment to pray for those who are either struggling themselves or have someone that they love that is?

I mean, I think that would really be helpful for our listeners. Absolutely. Let's do it, Robbie. Let's pray together. Father, you know the hearts of those who are just thinking, oh, Lord, how can I make it through another day? And, Father, I pray that you would lift up that person who is struggling to show them the hope that only you can give, whether they're struggling with an addiction themselves or whether it's just someone they love that they're continuing to pray for. Lord, would you give them strength on this road?

Would you give them a sense of your presence to know that you've been in this? Lord, you are so good, and we praise you that you are our healer and our helper and that you have plans for us. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.