Addiction & Recovery is one of the themes Scripture returns to again and again. Recovery is not weakness. Scripture honors honest confession, daily dependence, and the long road back — and so does God.
People reach for these passages when they're looking up addicted, addiction, drinking, drugs, or some version of "what does the Bible say about addiction & recovery?"
Among the most-cited passages on this theme are 1 Corinthians 10:13, Romans 7:18-25, Psalm 40:1-3, 2 Corinthians 12:9, and others below. 1 Corinthians 10:13 is the passage many readers return to first.
The page also offers a written prayer that names addiction & recovery plainly and asks God for what's needed in this moment. It is not a magic formula — it is a small, faithful starting point.
A short reflection question sits at the bottom of the page: Who is one person who knows your real story — and if there is none, who could you tell this week? Sit with it for a minute, or carry it into a journal.
If this isn't quite the right doorway, try a closely related theme: Temptation, Accountability, Hope.
Verses
1 Corinthians 10:13
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.
Romans 7:18-25
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Psalms 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
James 5:16
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Reflection
Who is one person who knows your real story — and if there is none, who could you tell this week?
Related topics
Want to search by feeling instead? Type what's on your heart on the home page.