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, Perseverance, Hope.
Verses
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.
Romans 7:18-25
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Psalms 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
2 Corinthians 12:9
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
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.