Hi there brothers and sisters

I've re-established my faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and pray for all of you who are struggling with your faith, or to be close with God. I found a great church by the grace of God I am still growing into the Christian I envision myself. I'm also a recovering addict, and alcoholic. I recently found Jesus, and almost certainly came to be closer with him through another recovering addict and alcoholic who attends the same church, and who also attends AA meetings. His name is Stephen. I ask you all to pray he finds peace in the Lord, and is able to recover from his addictions.

Personally, I feel a need to avoid contact with him to some extent because our paths are so different and I'm vulnerable at the moment. The temptations I get while spending time around him are powerful and somewhat self defeating, however my motivation is strong, and I'm doing an amazing job avoiding those - I suppose I want to reach out to him and share the Lord with him (and my heart), but at the same time, his views aren't in accordance with the Christian faith.

If you don't mind could pray for all those who are conflicted with addiction of any nature, that they might improve their futures, and live a life we were intended? My own Dad, Ray was sober for many years (he is born-again), but following a rough divorce and a sort of falling out with myself, as one of the consequences of this, he has become a heavy drinker. Please pray that he finds renewed strength in the Lord to stop drinking again. God bless you all.

Dave.

Hi! Welcome Brother Nice to meet you

Lord I ask you to remove in their thoughts and actions all forms of addictions in Dave's father Ray,Stephen and Dave that they will come out clean and free from alcohol and drug abuse in the name of Jesus! amen! and amen!


God bless you ❤ see you around 😊

Welcome Dave. Glad to have you here and thank you for sharing.

See you around the forums!

Blessings ❤️

Sweetmorningdew78,
Bless you, and thanks so much! I'll be around the forums.

Mel85,
You're welcome, see you on the boards

welcome Jedi, I think you are wise to keep your distance form things from your past, it is a slippery slope. We cannot be a part of the world to make a change. you don't have totally ignore your friends and family but do it on your ground so to speak. invite them to join you in Christian events, Prayer, bible study for example. I applaud you for making the change in your life. the closer that you grow the more satan will attack. you need to keep your feet firmly planted in the word and prayer. Again, welcome and prayers for you and your family, Stay strong my friend, Jesus said we would face trials and temptations. we should come away from these with a closer relationship with Jesus. hope to see you around. This is a great place for encouragement.

I will say a prayer for those that you have mentioned suffering from addictions. I'm an addict too and nicotine is my drug of choice. I agree with the wise counsel that MrH59 has provided to you. Hopefully, you will find comfort, support, and understanding from the members of this site. Glad to have you as part of our family. Welcome to CC.

Thank you very muchly MrH59, I needed to hear your words of wisdom. I've been tempted so many times over, and in my closeness with Jesus, it seems satan has pressured me as hard as he ever has. I feel like I can't escape his clutches at times, and today has been rough for me. I want to thank you again for offering so much helpful, and useful understanding of what it means to walk with the Lord. I need to shun satan's attacks so that I can live more fully in the Lord's ways. God bless.

tourist,
Thanks for your welcoming, you helped me feel at home here. I'll be posting to the boards in short time, but for now, I'm connecting with Christians, and attending NA/AA meetings, all of which are some way from where I'm living. It just happened that way. I have a sponsor, too btw. He's also Christian. God bless.

Hi jedicounsellor, welcome to CC! It's wonderful to hear how the Lord is working in your life by bringing you back into the fold and continuing to grow you up in Christlikeness, by helping you discover a great church to be a part of, by helping you walk away from your addiction and healing you of it, and by giving you a heart for the good of others (something the addicts I know never have, sadly).

Praying for your friend Stephen!
Having recently returned to full fellowship in the faith, I believe your main ministry should be sitting at the Lord's feet and learning from/growing in Him, and to take all the time you need to do so w/o hesitation As the Lord said to Martha in her busyness, "your sister/Mary has chosen the good part, and it will not be taken away from her" .. Luke 10:38-42. There is this admonishment from St. Paul about new believers getting too involved in high-level ministry too quickly to consider as well .. 1 Timothy 3:6. (This does not mean that you should not minister to others as you sense the Lord leading you to however)

Since you have already discerned it to be problematic for you, I think you are quite right to be concerned about the level of direct involvement you have with Stephen these days. Generally speaking, the Lord does not expect us to minister to others out of our weaknesses (like addiction) and/or that which we do not possess, so I believe you should continue to ask others in the body to come alongside of you and be the ones who minister directly to Stephen for the time being (though praying for him is something you should continue to do).

Of course, I say this from a distance. It's your walk before the Lord, so you'll need to trust and follow His lead, as He is the One you are to please, honor and obey .. Proverbs 3:5-6. This includes looking to your pastor whenever you have questions or problems and/or are looking for spiritual counsel/directions, because he is the Lord's underservant to you, the one the Lord entrusted to keep close watch over your soul on this side of Glory .. Hebrews 13:17.
I'm sorry to hear that about your dad. Praying for him, and for all others with the horrible disease of addition too. My 19 yr old son is a drug/alcohol addict, and he is in BIG trouble right now (his started about a year after Lyme Disease literally stole his wonderful life away from him about 5 years ago now). Please pray for him as well, both for his Lyme Disease to be gone, for his addictions, and for his mind to clear so he can, once again, begin to make rational/reasonable choices again about his future. He is a young man w/o goals, hopes or dreams, and is in much trouble with the law right now too. And saddest of all, he is not a believer. Thank you for praying for him!

God bless you!

~Deut

.........1 Thessalonians 5
.........16 ..Rejoice always;
.........17 ..pray without ceasing;
.........18 ..in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
.........23 ..Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete,
.........without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
.........24 ..Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
.........

Just FYI, my son's name is "Jonathan" (sorry about that, I didn't catch that I forgot to include his name until after the 5 minute editing time had expired).

Welcome to CC Dave. I hope you'll enjoy your stay here.

Hi Dave, may God help you. Jesus is fighting with you, you are not alone.

Thank you for your prayers for Stephen. It means a lot to me. I have just arrived home from my first bible study group meeting with my new Christian friends. We were studying the book of Romans. Quite compelling. I was in the local area, where the bible study group is, getting to know a little about the voluntary position I've been invited to fill. It will be a good thing for me to get back into working, as I haven't worked properly for a long time.

I've come to understand that addiction is something which never leaves but can only be controlled. I'm trusting of God's will, however, and optimistic of what future God has in store for me. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Bless you, Deuteronomy.


Thanks again, for your contribution in this matter. The passages you provided have given me a good foundational understanding to follow.

May God bless you and your Son Jonathan. You have my most sincere prayers for Jonathan, may God bless you both and keep you safe. Amen.

Hi Deade, thank you for your friendly welcoming. God bless you.
I've come to recognize His helping hand in my life, during times I was lacking faith. He truly is amazing to be there for me and keeping me safe when all else was failing around me. God bless you.
Hi von1, thanks for your welcome. Much appreciation for your well wishes/prayer. May God bless you and keep you safe.