Prayers In 12 Steps Drug Treatment Programs
Although no one can deny the effectiveness of secular techniques in rehab, we exist as spiritual beings, and an addiction is an ailment of the spirit as much as a disease of the body. We need tools such as those offered through private therapy and cognitive peer groups to combat temptation when it arises, but for those lucky enough to posses a strong belief in God, through prayer and faith; temptation is avoided, resolve strengthen, and sobriety enhanced.
- Index
-
-
Turning Your Live Over to God's Guidance
Recovery prayers begin with an acceptance of our imperfections and a desire to enact change with the assistance and guidance of God. -
Using Prayer in Drug Treatment Heals the Spirit
The faithful have always prayed to God for assistance in times of crisis and personal despair. With addiction comes a renewed need to restore our working relationship with God, and to better understand His will for our lives. We pray to God to better our ability to resist temptation by removing our shortcomings, and we pray to Him to guide us through recovery and to strengthen us in our battle against relapse.
-
Turning Your Live Over to God's Guidance
Synopsis
Prayer has a place in drug treatment. Although very tough to quantify, the use of a higher power in recovery is an established and effective technique in the battle against addiction. Prayer and Faith have been used for thousands of years against the temptations of the flesh, and even the oldest modern addiction healing techniques incorporate prayer in drug treatment as an important facet of recovery.
Although prayer may not be scientific or numerically measurable, prayer offers strength and continuing solace against the pains of recovery and hope for a better future using the strength of God as our strength.
Prayer need be nothing but a very personal and honest relationship between a person in recovery and God; and as such the personal prayers used need reflect the realities of the individual addict; but as a method of recovery, in addition to personal healing prayers, 12 steps programs use prayer to assist in three important stages to recovery and better physical and spiritual health.
We use prayer in drug treatment to turn our will and our lives over to god. We use prayer in drug treatment to ask God to remove our weaknesses and shortcomings, and we use prayer to seek guidance on the will of God, and on how to better live our lives in service of Him and of others. These are the three prayer focuses of AA and other 12 steps addictions recovery groups, and these prayers in drug treatment have given strength to millions who have bettered their lives and conquered devastating addictions using prayer and the strength of God.
Turning Your Live Over to God's Guidance
Recovery prayers begin with an acceptance of our imperfections and a desire to enact change with the assistance and guidance of God.
Prayer in drug treatment to remove our shortcomings
We pray to renew our relationship with our Lord and to better understand His will for our lives. Accepting God into our lives and into our recoveries begins the spiritual process of healing, and praying in drug treatment begins with prayers to the Lord for guidance.
Spiritual conceit leads to unhappiness, and for too many, to addiction and substance abuse. We are imperfect beings and we remain flawed regardless of what we do; but we can improve our lives and improve our actions through an honest and faithful prayer to God to remove out weaknesses and shortcomings. A belief in our personal strength of will and the inherent rightness of our actions gets us into difficulty and into spiritual despair. Only after we recognize our faults and our need for spiritual and moral guidance can we begin to improve ourselves and live a better life for self, for family, for community and for God. Prayer in drug treatment begins with a request to God to assist us in recognizing and removing our shortcomings, so we may have the strength to live better lives of sobriety.
Prayer in drug treatment to seek the guidance of God
Because we have honestly admitted to ourselves and to God that we are powerless over our addictions and the behaviors of substance abuse, and we have requested that God better our lives by removing some of our shortcomings that may lead us to abuse; we also use prayer in drug treatment to better understand God's will. We pray to better understand how we can use the strength of the Lord to better our lives, and use His guidance to lead us away from temptation in all forms.
Using Prayer in Drug Treatment Heals the Spirit
The faithful have always prayed to God for assistance in times of crisis and personal despair. With addiction comes a renewed need to restore our working relationship with God, and to better understand His will for our lives. We pray to God to better our ability to resist temptation by removing our shortcomings, and we pray to Him to guide us through recovery and to strengthen us in our battle against relapse.
Prayer heals the soul and gives us resolve and guidance
Although our prayers to God are personal in nature, using prayer in this structured way has proven very effective for almost 100 years through AA and other 12 steps programs, and a basic tenet of the 12 steps philosophy is that human frailty will always lead back to abuse, and that only through prayer with God can we better our lives with His help.
The level of Prayer inclusion in drug treatments will vary with the treatment philosophy as employed, and prayer encouragement is not limited to Christian or other organized religious frameworks. We pray to our "God" as we understand and believe in Him, and we pray that He give us strength and guidance, and allow us to live better lives in service of him.
Christian rehab environments will increase the use of prayer in drug treatment, and will incorporate additional scripture study and prayer sessions for better spiritual strength and understanding; and Christian rehabs using prayer in drug treatment have proven very effective. Because we exist in mind and body, but as well in spirit, a failure to treat the symptoms of any part of our whole can lead us back to abuse. Prayer in drug treatment heals the soul and gives us the resolve and guidance we need to stay away from drug or alcohol abuse.
