Lovefast 16: Addiction

Image: aljazeeraenglish, Flickr

Lovefast 16: Addiction

By Phil from Mahabba Woking
Inspired by 'Bakar's story' in the 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World booklet

Daily verse

“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit”

— Ephesians 5:17-18, NIVUK

Thought for the day

Addiction

We used to work in Pakistan among heroin addicts in Karachi.

Pakistan is still one of the most addicted countries on the planet.

In the project we were involved in IBTIDA (Urdu for beginning) addicts were supported off drugs through prayer and support whist they went through cold turkey.

Christians Muslims and Hindus would all come for prayer for their addiction since they were all in the same boat.

One rickshaw driver, Yousef described how he had been filling the ‘tank’ of his life with heroin and all the problems that caused.

And his struggle to leave his addiction.

He came off drugs with the help of IBTIDA ‘brothers’ who prayed for him and he was then filled up with the Spirit.

I used to fill up with Heroin and now I fill up with the holy spirit,

he said,

and the Holy Spirit is much better than heroin, with no bad after-effects.

Today's entry in 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World booklet

Inspiration for today's entry - click to open

Prayer for the day

Sami Yousef’s song supplication could so easily be the prayer of an addict. It expresses the desire of many Muslims during Ramadan for forgiveness. It also appeared in the movie ‘the kite runner’. Pray for those addicted to substances that God would hear their cry.  

Daily action

The focus of 30 Days of Prayer is an addict in Malaysia. Malaysian Care based in Kuala Lumpur describes its prisons drugs and Aids initiative (currently they are not allowed to work with Muslims). Find out more about drug programmes in your area. If you are interested you can read about the work or IBTIDA in an old edition of Footsteps magazine from the mid-90s.

Your turn

Let us know how it went! Leave a comment below, or tag us on social media with #lovefast or #30dop hashtags on social media. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter!