How to Pray for My Husband to Stop Drinking

Drinking is one of the vices and sins that some people can’t seem to give up. They always crave alcohol, and their day isn’t complete without it. However, it is important to note that drinking itself is not a sin. If a Christian drinks a bottle of beer, a shot of whiskey, or a glass of wine, the Christian is not sinning. However, the issue isn’t whether it is a sin but, rather, if it is wise to do it and if a Christian is being a stumbling block to other Christians. What the Bible labels as sin is being drunk with wine or alcohol. While drinking itself is not a sin, being drunk is. 

When a person drinks so much that he becomes an alcoholic and can’t live without drinking, that may be a form of addiction. In layman’s terms, addiction is being helplessly dependent on a thing or activity. That is why we have drug addictions, sexual addictions, and other forms of dependency. In this case, what the person is addicted to is alcohol. 

A drinking addiction is a sin not just because the Bible commands us not to be drunk with wine but also because addiction is a form of idolatry. An idol is someone or something that takes the place of God in our lives. That is why if you love money more than God, your idol is money. A person who is addicted to drinking and cannot stop means he loves alcohol more than God. Another reason it is idolatry is that the person seeks from alcohol what he or she should be seeking from God; this is another way that other things take God’s place in our lives. A person drinks alcohol for many reasons—to seek peace and calm himself down, to get comfortable, and many others. But those things should be sought not from alcohol but from God.

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

[Proverbs 20:1]

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.

[Proverbs 25:28]

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

[Ephesians 5:18]

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

[Galatians 5:21]

What is a good Bible verse concerning addiction?

There are several Bible verses regarding addiction that you can read and use to encourage your husband. Addiction is not just for the lost; there are Christians who are also struggling with drinking addiction. However, their struggle is born out of their desire for living a pure and holy life. No one becomes perfect overnight, but the direction of Christian lives is in the direction of holiness and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. They struggle because they don’t desire to drink anymore through the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives. For such believers, there are Bible verses that we can use as encouragement.

If your husband is already a Christian, you can encourage him using the verse 1 Corinthians 10:13, which teaches us the truth that whenever we encounter temptation, it is not a temptation beyond our ability to resist. No matter how much we feel that the temptation is so strong and impossible to resist, those are lies. The Bible says that God does not allow any temptation that is beyond our ability to resist.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

[1 Corinthians 10:13]

Another encouragement that you can give your Christian husband is the truth that he can exercise self-control. The Bible teaches us in Galatians 5:22-23 that self-control is part of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. The Spirit dwells in us, and that is why we are not of the flesh anymore. Whatever our flesh craves, we are not bound to it anymore because we have already been freed from the slavery of sin by what Christ has done for us on the cross.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

[Romans 8:9]

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

[Galatians 5:22-23]

How does God help with addiction?

God helps us with our drinking addiction by setting us free from sin. That is why, if your husband is not yet a Christian, the most important thing you can do for him is to pray regarding his drinking addiction and preach the Gospel to him. Only in Christ can he find forgiveness, eternal life, and freedom from his life of sin. Only in Christ and by the work of the Holy Spirit can he be a new creation.

With that said, God helps us by setting us free from the bondage of sin. No matter how much a person tries to become a good person, they still sin because they are in the shackles of sin and cannot get out of them. That is why he or she is driven by the passions of the flesh. However, because of what Christ has done for us on the cross, those who repent and believe His work are freed from the bondage of sin. A drinking addiction no longer has a hold on a person because its chains have already been broken.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

[John 8:36]

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[Romans 6:22-23]

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

[Galatians 5:1]

Because we have already been freed from sin, we are not bound by it anymore; we can now choose to say no to it and live a holy life. That is why Titus 2:11-12 tells us that the grace of God appeared to train us in renouncing ungodliness and its worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Not only are we freed from the slavery of sin, but we also have grace in Christ to help us say no to sin and pursue holiness. In Christ, we can now live a holy life.

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world

[Titus 2:11-12]

If a person is in Christ, he becomes a child of God. His relationship with the Father is restored because Christ has divided the wall of hostility that separates us from God because of sin. Because of Christ, we can now freely approach God’s throne of grace and converse with Him as our heavenly Father. Being in a relationship with God means we can seek from Him what we seek from alcohol. Because of Christ and in Christ, we are secured, loved, affirmed, and complete.

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

[Ephesians 2:14-16]

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

[Romans 8:15]

How do I pray for my husband to stop drinking?

If your husband is a Christian who is struggling as he gets rid of his habit of drinking, then what you can do is assure him that though by himself he cannot just say no to the temptation he encounters, he has already been freed from sin and, in Christ, he has the grace to say no and live a holy life.

Here is an example of how you can pray for your Christian husband who is struggling with drinking:

Holy Spirit, You are the One Who empowers us to live a holy life. I pray that You would always commit my husband to remember that whatever temptation he encounters, no matter how strong it seems, he can say no to it. Remind him of the truth that in Christ he has the grace to say no to drinking, and he can live a godly and holy life. Give him the grace to always crucify the flesh and exercise self-control. Thank You because You are at work in his life, sanctifying him and making him more like Jesus. In Christ, he is victorious over drinking. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

If your husband is not yet a Christian, then it is his salvation that you should first pray for because the things that we talked about before – freedom from sin, grace to live a holy life, etc. – can only be found if one is in Christ. Here is how you can pray for your husband’s salvation from drinking:

Holy Spirit, You work in the hearts of the people. I pray that You would soften my husband’s heart so that he may be the recipient as I preach the Gospel to him. Turn his heart of stone into a heart of flesh so he may repent and believe the Gospel. Open his spiritually-blinded eyes so he may see Christ and his need for Him. Open his eyes to the truth. I pray that he will surrender his life to Christ, leave the life of sin and drinking, and pursue a holy life in Christ, where he is free from the bondage of sin. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Getting over bad drinking habits or addiction is not something that happens instantly. While some may get over it quickly, most don’t. Even if the pace is slow, there is progress. It is not about perfection but the direction of their lives. Are their lives the same as before they became Christians, or are they moving in the direction of Christlikeness? If indeed we are in Christ and the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we shall move in the direction of Christlikeness.