Article November 11, 1996 Issue

Freedom from alcoholism

Margaret N. Simons

You may deeply long to be free from an addiction. A beginning in your search for healing is found in the Bible, where Christ Jesus says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). And in another place he declared, "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him" (Matt. 6:8).

How could Jesus make such promises? Because he knew that God, good, creates everyone in His own image and likeness. God loves each one of us with a deep and everlasting love, and that includes you. God would never place His child in the clutches of something that would ultimately be harmful as well as addictive.

How can we understand more about these Biblical promises? Science and Health explains, "Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds" (p. 1).

Send a comment to the editors