A Prayer for Strength to Overcome Temptation

Father, the pull is back again, the familiar voice that promises relief and only ever leaves me emptier. I can feel myself reaching for the thing I swore I was done with, and my own resolve feels paper-thin.

I confess I have lost this fight before, more times than I want to admit, and part of me is tired of trying. I come to You in the middle of the wanting, not after I have already fallen.

So I run to You now, before the next step, while there is still a choice in front of me. I cannot white-knuckle my way out of this. I need a strength that is not my own.

Show me the way out You promised. Put steel in my will and people in my path. Make the thing I crave less appealing than the freedom I would lose.

You said You would not let me be tempted beyond what I can bear, but would always provide a way of escape. Help me take that way instead of the one that costs me.

Walk me through this hour, and the next, and let me wake tomorrow still standing, still free. Amen.