I saw this amazing prayer on Facebook labeled “the addict’s prayer.” I was immediately stunned.
“God, kill anything in me that is killing the You in me.”
Wow. What a prayer. Not just for those we ordinarily call addicts, but for all of us seemingly “free” people, supposedly healthy people, who are caught in webs of our own. This prayer calls on the addict to recognize that he or she is so made in the image of God, so valued and called by Him, that He has invested Himself in us. He wants to be close to us, working in us, for us, and through us. But addicts have no hope at all until they realize there is something in them that is killing the GOD-gift in them. The addict has to choose to cooperate with God to eradicate what that force is.
What kills the God in you?
What are you addicted to that kills the God in you?
It could be something that is ordinarily labeled addiction, like drugs or alcohol or porn. Most of us have addictions that are not readily identified or labeled in that way, but they will just as surely kill the God in us.
Are you a rage-a-holic? A criticism addict? That kills the God in you, without a doubt.
How about are you addicted to your own opinion? Addicted to being right? Addicted to procrastination or laziness? God will not live in that atmosphere.
Some are addicted to exercise or to food or to work. Some are addicted to money and possessions. Some are addicted to praise and approval. You can be addicted to very, very good things. We don’t just get addicted to evil things. We can be addicted to saving money, to protecting and satisfying our partner or family. We can be addicted to…well, to anything or anyone.
How do we know that we are addicted and killing the God in us? Anything that consumes our thoughts, eats up our energies, or directs our choices out of proportion or in place of God is an addiction. Anything that gets our focus more than God is an idol, and an idol is addictive. It demands our first place.
And that kills the God in you.
God has such plans to fill your life and use your life. But whatever it is that kills the God in you has to go. You know what it is, and He will not kill it without your cooperation.
Can you pray it? Will you pray it? Will you cooperate with Him and live free?
“God, kill anything in me that is killing the You in me.”