Prayer for Addiction

These prayers are for the person in it: the one counting hours, or trying again after a bad week, or sitting in a car park at seven in the morning not wanting to go in. They are grouped by the moment you are in rather than by what you are addicted to, because the moment is what changes the words you need.

If you are here praying for someone else (a son, a husband, a friend), the prayers you want are further down, and there are pages written for you.

A word of care: prayer is real strength in recovery, and it is not a substitute for treatment. Addiction is an illness, and it responds to care: a doctor, a counsellor, a group of people who already know what this is. In the United States, SAMHSA’s National Helpline is free, confidential and open every hour of every day: 1-800-662-HELP (4357). If you are in crisis, call or text 988. Anywhere else, your own doctor is a good first call. Asking for that help is not a failure of faith. It is one of the ways God answers.

A Craving Right Now A Prayer for Addiction Short Prayers The First Day Morning and Night One Day at a Time After a Relapse Going Into Treatment The Long Middle Shame and Forgiveness Alcohol Drugs Other Addictions Praying for Someone Else Bible Verses Questions

If You Are Fighting a Craving Right Now

Short, because that is all you can hold right now. Say one out loud. Say it again. The point is not to finish the prayer. The point is to still be praying in ten minutes.

• Jesus, not this hour. Just get me through this hour.
• Lord, I want it and I am asking You instead.
• God, stay with me until this passes. It passes.
• Jesus, mercy. Jesus, mercy. Jesus, mercy.
• Father, I cannot do this on my own. That is why I am here.
• Lord, ten more minutes. Then I will ask again.

A Prayer to Say Before You Pick Up the Phone

Lord, I know who I need to call and I do not want to call them. Take my pride out of the way. Let me be honest for sixty seconds. Amen.

Then call them. The prayer and the phone call are the same act.

A Prayer for Addiction

The longer prayer, for a quiet moment when you can bring the whole of it rather than only the sharp edge.

Prayer for Addiction

Heavenly Father,
I am not going to pretend with You. You have watched all of it: the promises I made to myself and broke by lunchtime, the money, the lying, the mornings.
I am tired in a way sleep does not fix.
You do not look at me the way I look at me. You made me, and what has hold of me is not what You made. It is an illness that has learned my name, and I have been fighting it alone as though needing help were a shame.
So I am asking. Take the craving when it comes. Put people in my way who will tell me the truth. Give me the humility to walk into the room, take the appointment, say the sentence out loud.
Give me today. Not the rest of my life, because I cannot carry that. Today.
And when I fail, come and find me, the way You have always come and found Your people.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

A Prayer of Surrender

God, I have tried to manage this and I cannot. That sentence has taken me years to say and it is the truest thing I have said in a long time. I am handing it over. Not because I am strong but because I have run out of strong. Do what I could not. Amen.

A Prayer for Strength to Stop

Lord, I want to stop and I am frightened of what I am like without it. Be there in the gap it leaves. Fill what it was filling. Give me something to walk toward and not only something to run from. Amen.

Short Prayers for Sobriety

Keep two or three of these where you will actually see them: a phone screen, a wallet, the inside of a cupboard door.

• Lord, keep me sober today. That is the whole prayer.
• Jesus, be nearer than the craving.
• God, thank You for this day clean. Give me another.
• Father, when I want to hide, help me tell someone.
• Lord, guard me from the first one.
• Holy Spirit, steady my hands and my head.
• God, I am still here. Thank You.

A Prayer for the First Day

Prayer for Day One

Lord,
Today is the first day and I have had first days before.
I am not going to promise You anything, because my promises have not been worth much. I am only going to ask You to be here for this one.
Get me to tonight. Then help me get up and do it again.
Let me not despise how small this is. You built the world out of days.
Amen.

A Prayer for the First Night

God, the house is quiet and everything in me is loud. I do not know how to be still without it. Sit with me. Let the night be shorter than it feels. Let me wake up and still want this. Amen.

Morning and Night Prayers for Sobriety

A Morning Prayer

Father,
Before anything else today, I am putting this in Your hands.
Keep me sober. Keep me honest. Keep me from thinking I have this beaten.
Show me one person I can be useful to, so that today is not only about me and my trouble.
And if it gets hard, remind me early, not at the last moment, that I can ask for help.
Amen.

A Night Prayer

Lord,
I got through today. Thank You. That is not a small thing and I am not going to treat it like one.
Where I was dishonest, forgive me. Where I was hard to live with, forgive me that too, and give me the courage to say so tomorrow.
Let me sleep. Let me wake without dread.
Into Your hands, Amen.

A Prayer for a Day That Was Hard

God, that was a long one and I nearly did not make it. I did. Take the shaking out of me. Thank You for holding the part of me I could not hold. Amen.

One Day at a Time

The oldest practical wisdom in recovery is also the oldest instruction in the Gospels: do not carry tomorrow. Jesus put it plainly: each day has enough trouble of its own. You are not being asked to be sober for the rest of your life. You are being asked to be sober today.

A Prayer for Today Only

Lord, I am not going to think about a year from now. I am going to think about tonight. Give me grace the size of one day, which is the only size You have ever given it. Amen.

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Written by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1940s, which is why most people meet it in a church hall rather than a church. Its longer form continues “living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time.” We have the full text and its history on our Serenity Prayer page.

Prayers After a Relapse

If you have relapsed, read this part first: it is not the end of your recovery and it is not evidence about your soul. Relapse is a feature of this illness, not a verdict on your character. The dangerous thing is not the slip. It is the shame afterwards that tells you to hide, stop going, stop praying and stop answering the phone.

A Prayer the Morning After

Lord,
I did it again, and I cannot stand myself this morning.
I am not going to explain it or dress it up. You saw.
I am asking You for the one thing I do not deserve and have always been given: mercy. Not later, when I have earned it. Now, while I am still like this.
Do not let me use this as a reason to stop. Get me back to the meeting, back to the phone, back to the person I am afraid to tell.
Your mercies are new every morning. I need a new one.
Amen.

A Prayer Against Shame

God, the voice telling me I am beyond help is not Yours. You have never once spoken to me like that. Quiet it. Let me hear what You actually say: that nothing I have done puts me outside Your reach. Amen.

A Prayer to Start Again Today

Father, I am beginning again. Not from the top. The days before still count, and You have not thrown them away. From here. Walk with me from here. Amen.

A Prayer Before Treatment or Rehab

A Prayer the Night Before You Go In

Lord,
Tomorrow I go, and I am frightened and relieved in the same breath.
Go in ahead of me. Give me staff who are kind and honest. Give me one person in there who makes it bearable.
Take my pride at the door. Let me be teachable. Let me not spend the whole time working out how to seem fine.
Look after the people I am leaving behind.
Amen.

A Prayer for Someone Waiting for a Place

God, I have asked for help and now I am waiting, and waiting is its own danger. Hold me steady until the door opens. Send me something to do with my hands in the meantime. Amen.

A Prayer Before Your First Meeting

Lord, I do not want to walk into a room and say what I am. Take the size of it down. Let me get through the door, and let me hear one thing I need. Amen.

Prayers for the Long Middle of Recovery

Almost everything written about addiction is about the crisis or the deliverance. Very little is written about year three, when the drama is over, nobody is congratulating you any more, and sobriety has become an ordinary weekday you have to keep choosing.

A Prayer When It Has Stopped Feeling Dramatic

Lord,
Nobody is watching now. The people who were worried have relaxed and I am still doing this every day.
Some of it is dull. I did not expect dull.
Keep me from mistaking quiet for safe. Keep me going to the meeting I no longer think I need. Keep me grateful, because gratitude is the first thing I lose.
And give me a life, not just an absence. Something to build.
Amen.

A Prayer for What Was Lost

God, I am sober and I am counting the cost. Years, people, things I cannot get back. Do not let me drink at the grief. Help me grieve it properly, with You, and then help me live. Amen.

A Prayer of Thanks for Time Sober

Father, I did not think I would get here. Thank You for every day of it, including the ones I hated. Keep me humble about it. This is a gift I am carrying, not a trophy I won. Amen.

Prayers for Shame and Forgiveness

Two different things get called guilt. One is the honest recognition that you have hurt people, and it belongs in prayer and in amends. The other is the flat conviction that you are worthless, which is not from God and does not make anybody better. This section is for both.

A Prayer of Repentance

Lord,
I have hurt people I love. Some of them know and some do not.
I am not asking You to make me feel better about it. I am asking You to forgive me, and then to show me what I can actually put right, and to give me the sense to know where saying sorry would help and where it would only be for me.
Make me safe to be around again.
Amen.

A Prayer for Someone I Hurt

God, bless them. Heal what I did. If they never want to speak to me again, let them still be well. Take my need to be forgiven out of the way so I can want good things for them without wanting anything back. Amen.

A Prayer to Believe You Are Forgiven

Father, I can say the words about forgiveness and I do not feel them. Give me the grace to accept what You have already given. Let me stop paying for something Christ has paid for. Amen.

Prayers for Alcohol Addiction

A Prayer to Stop Drinking

Lord,
Drink has taken more from me than it ever gave and I still want it, which is the part I cannot explain to anyone.
Loosen its hold. Not just tonight, but tonight first.
Give me a way through the evening. Give me somewhere to be. Give me a friend who will pick up.
Amen.

A Prayer for the Hour You Usually Drink

God, it is that time and my whole body knows it. Change what I do next. Put something in my hands. Stay close for the next hour. Amen.

If you have been drinking heavily every day, do not stop suddenly without medical advice, because alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous. Talk to a doctor first. That is wisdom, not weak faith.

Prayers for Drug Addiction

A Prayer for Freedom From Drugs

Father,
This has cost me almost everything and it still calls me by name.
Break its hold. Take the phone number out of my hand. Take the road out of my feet.
Send me help I will actually accept, and if I have refused it before, give me the grace to accept it this time.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Let that be true of me.
Amen.

A Prayer Through Withdrawal

Lord, my body is in revolt and every hour is long. Be in the hours. This ends. Get me to the other side of it, and let me not be alone while it happens. Amen.

Withdrawal from some drugs is medically serious. Please do this with a doctor or a treatment service rather than alone.

Prayers for Other Addictions

Not everything that has hold of a person comes in a bottle. The same prayers work; only the noun changes.

A Prayer for Freedom From Pornography

Lord, this one is secret and the secrecy is half its power. Bring it into the light with someone safe. Give me back a clean way of seeing people. Rebuild what this has worn down in me. Amen.

A Prayer for Gambling

God, I have chased losses until there was nothing left to chase them with. Take the certainty that the next one will fix it. Give me the courage to tell someone the real number. Amen.

A Prayer for Any Habit That Has You

Father, You know what it is. I do not have to name it out loud for You to see it. Loosen it. Give me one honest step today, and someone to take it with. Amen.

If You Are Praying for Someone Else

Loving someone in addiction is its own exhaustion, and it needs its own prayers, not the ones above. Two things are worth saying plainly. You did not cause it and you cannot cure it. And you need support of your own: Al‑Anon exists for exactly this, and going is not disloyalty.

A Prayer for Someone You Love

Lord,
Someone I love is in this and I cannot reach them.
Go where I cannot. Put the right person in front of them at the right moment: a doctor, a stranger, an old friend.
Keep them alive while they find their way back.
And hold me. I am frightened all the time, and I have started confusing loving them with rescuing them. Show me the difference.
Amen.

We have written fuller pages for this: prayer for a son or daughter with addiction.

Bible Verses About Addiction

Scripture speaks to people in this the way it speaks to the sick and the trapped, not as criminals to be sentenced, but as people to be rescued. These are the passages worth keeping close.

Psalm 107:19–20: “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.”

1 Corinthians 10:13: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Galatians 5:1: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Lamentations 3:22–23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Isaiah 41:10: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Psalm 34:17–18: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

James 4:10: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

Romans 8:38–39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life … nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Questions People Ask

What is a good prayer for addiction?

The one you can say when it is bad. In a craving that usually means something under ten words, such as “Jesus, not this hour”, repeated until the craving turns. For a calmer moment, the prayer for addiction above is written to be prayed slowly and honestly. What makes a prayer good here is not its wording but whether you will still be praying it in ten minutes.

Is addiction a sin?

Addiction is an illness, and the Christian tradition has treated it that way for a long time now. Catholic recovery writing routinely calls it “the disease of addiction.” That does not mean nothing is anybody’s fault: people in addiction do real harm and repentance and amends are part of getting well. But the illness itself is not a moral verdict on you, and treating it as one reliably makes people hide, which is the single most dangerous thing an addicted person can do.

Can prayer cure addiction?

Prayer changes what you are carrying and who is carrying it with you, and for a great many people in recovery it is the difference between doing this and not doing this. But it is not a treatment plan. Addiction responds to medical care, counselling and community, and praying instead of getting those things is not faith. It is a way of staying hidden. Pray, and go. They belong together.

What does the Bible say about addiction?

The Bible does not use the word, but it speaks constantly to being enslaved by something and set free from it. Galatians 5:1 is the sentence most people in recovery hold on to: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises a way out of what tempts you. Psalm 107:19–20 describes people crying out in trouble and being healed and rescued, which is what recovery actually feels like from the inside.

What prayer do I say after a relapse?

Something short and unashamed, before the shame has time to talk you out of going back. “Lord, I did it again. Mercy. Get me back to the meeting.” The prayers in the after a relapse section are written for the specific morning after. The theology that matters most here is Lamentations 3:23. God’s mercies are new every morning, which means today gets a new one and yesterday did not use it up.

Is the Serenity Prayer a Christian prayer?

Yes. It was written by the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and later adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous, which is why most people first hear it in a recovery meeting. It is Christian in origin and is prayed by Catholics and Protestants alike. Our Serenity Prayer page has the full long version and its history.

How do I pray for someone with an addiction?

Pray for specific, ordinary things rather than for a breakthrough: that they are alive tomorrow, that the right person crosses their path, that a door opens they will actually walk through. Then get support for yourself. Al‑Anon exists for the family, and going to it is not giving up on them. The section above has prayers written for this, and there is a fuller page for parents of a son or daughter in addiction.

Is there a Catholic prayer for addiction?

Several, and a set of patron saints who are asked for help with it: St. Jude for cases that feel hopeless, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Venerable Matt Talbot, who was himself a recovered alcoholic, and St. Monica for parents. We have gathered them, with a novena, on our Catholic prayers for addiction page.

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