Jesus, help me understand that not all addictions involve extreme pleasure; sometimes I am suffereing so much that I become dependent on drugs, alcohol, gambling, video games, television, and other things as a way of escape. Sometimes my body or my emotions are in so much pain that I just want relief from the agony. So, I find something that takes my mind off of the issues of life or the pain in my body. Teach me that the problem is, these “solutions” have side effects that cause difficulties and pain of their own. Help me see that You offer cures that help me get rid of my pain without side effects.

Jesus, teach me that typically human plans don’t take everything into consideration. As I try to navigate through life, I come up with what I think would solve a problem. But, I don’t have the ability to look at what the long term results will be to my solution to the problem. With my limited mind, I can’t consider every possible contengency. Help me see that my solutions not only don’t create permanent answers, they frequently produce problems that can be worse than the problem I was trying to solve. You, however, can consider all the issues I will ever face and come up with a solution that addresses all my problems.

Jesus, my physical and emotional pain can be excruciating; if I have to get professional help in dealing with a physical or emotional pain, help me follow Your direction. Help me stay under Your supervision as to what advice, medication, and treatments I expose myself to. There are a lot of professionals who do not believe in You and the Bible. Keep their procedures and advice from leading me away from You; You alone can give me solutions that don’t create new problems and new pain to my life. Teach me that true science doesn’t try to decide on moral, attitude, character, and right and wrong issues. Teach me that Yoga, types of meditation, accupunture, and many other fake religions and their procedures will try to lead me away from truth and healing. Empower me to not replace one pain with a “solution” that causes emptiness, fake peace, and dead end streets of disappointment.

Jesus, if I ever have to be prescribed mood altering medications, help me not allow myself to be over medicated. Help me just accept the very minimul amounts of assistance and relief. Help me take the same approach to pain relievers; let me take just enough to manage the pain. Empower me to not allow drugs to be my permanent and complete solution to pain. Give me Your healing power that doesn’t give me new problems that add to my old ones. Help me see that mood altering drugs take away aspects of my ability to address and react to the people and circumstances around me. They are designed to give me a middle of the road emotional approach. If I need to get very excited, angery, appreciative, or loving, they will tend to keep me from responding normally. I will just be calm and uneffected by some of the important moments in my life.

Jesus, make it clear to me that there are people who have spent their entire lives interviewing, studying, documenting, and developing characteristics of the various problems that people go through. They specialize in being able to label various types of addictions, they can sit down with me and describle my life as if they know me on a personal level. They can impress me with their incredible knowledge of all the aspects of my issues. As I sit and listen to them tell me what I am going through, it is easy for me to assume that they know what the solution is. But, help me see that they aren’t experts in solutions; they are experts in identifying, breaking into small parts, and labeling every aspect of my problem. They have not only spent time with people like me themselves, they have studied large quantities of books written by other people who have spent their lives with people having problems like mine. Help me see that their expertise is in problems not solutions.

Jesus, “experts” who can give technical names to what kind of a problem I have aren’t necessarily people who know anything about solving it. You didn’t spend Your time going around proving to people that You understood the various aspects of their issues; You just went around healing and blessing them. You didn’t listen to people’s problems so You could help them help themselves; You listened and then worked a miracle in their life. Help me not allow people who have spent a lifetime being a professional who can DESCRIBE my problem down to its smallest detail. Help me let You HEAL my problem down to its smallest detail.

Jesus, I do not have a High Priest (You) who is unable to sympathize with my weaknesses, but I have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as I am--yet was without sin (Heb 4:15). I have friends that can sympathize with me, hurt with me, care about me, and stick with me thick and thin. They may the very best thing for my feelings being cared for and loved. But, make it clear to me that You don’t just offer me sympathy; You have deep sympathy, love, and concern for me; but, that isn’t all You have to offer. Heb 4:16 (NIV) Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, SO THAT we may RECEIVE mercy and find grace to HELP us in our time of need. Help me see that love, friendship, understanding, and faithfulness are vital characteristics from my relationships; but, I need healing!

Jesus, teach me that there types of help that mask my problem; it is like taking a pain killer. The pain may be indicating a serious problem; but, I may be able to take a pain killer that makes it feel like the problem was taken care of. Teach me that all I did was get rid of the warning pain that could have saved my life. Help me see that human cures are like pain killers; they may make me feel better; but, they don’t cure me. Help me see that healing from You doesn’t just get rid of my addiction. You deal with why I got addicted in the first place. Show me that it wouldn’t be a good solution for me to get set free from drugs so I could be addicted to alcohol. If I still have deep seated pain and the drugs are removed from my life that masked the pain, then I would turn to something else to try to get rid of the pain. If I need extreme pleasure to help me through my day, then it wouldn’t be helpful to get rid of the extreme pleasure without getting rid of the need for it.

Jesus, since You offer supernatural solutions to my addiction, then help me be aware of the fact that Your solutions are brought about by very different procedures. Show me that if I am impressed with any of the above solutions, I may not be willing to allow You to approach my problem by using Your techniques. Help me see that You won’t impress me with big terms and labels; You won’t come to me with great degrees and letters behind Your name; You won’t offer me a beautiful office that looks very business like; You won’t even mention that You are the Creator of the universe. Help me identify with Your approach to me and my addiction: Mat 11:28-29 (NIV) Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, FOR I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.