Disclaimer: This is a part of my personal walk and conviction. I still enjoy a drink or two, occasionally. My heart is not to offend or condemn anyone, so please read this through the lens of love!
As many of you know, last month in Vietnam was ATL (Ask The Lord) month for my team and I. This means that we didn’t have any previously set up ministry partner to serve with. Instead, our mission was to pray to see where God was leading us and also to potentially find ministries that Adventures in Missions could send World Race teams to in the future.
During the month, one of my teammates felt called to visit the red light district, a place where prostitutes are bought and sold. She has a heart for the victims of sex trafficking, so she was interested to see what this experience would bring. One night, I decided to go with her and another one of my teammates to this area. It is a couple of streets filled with bars and a few sketchy hotels. We prayed first and then headed there. We ran into some women that my teammates had met some previous nights and chatted with them. We talked to a few more people over the span of around 45 minutes, but nothing too significant seemed to happen.
Since not much seemed to be happening while talking with the people, we decided we would go to the end of the street and pray over the area and for the people out and about in the bars. There were people all around me drunk and partying; something I used to do all the time in college. Before I became a Christian, I never saw anything really wrong with it. Drinking with friends was just a way to have fun. When you become a Christian, you’re then filled with the Holy Spirit. God showed me that I shouldn’t be getting drunk anymore because the alcohol affects how I can discern the Holy Spirit in me. Part of the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to guide me in life. If I am drunk, then I’m not able to follow His leading and He only wants good for me.
Up until this point, I understood that and decided to stay away from drinking to the point of getting drunk. I still didn’t think getting drunk occasionally was the worst thing in life, but I knew it was wrong and wanted to follow God’s plan for my life.
Fast forward back to me praying for all the people… So I began praying and was praying for the Holy Spirit to fill that place, to convict the men and women engaging in prostitution. I then felt God nudging me to pray for all the people and tourists out in the bars drinking. I was immediately overcome with surprising emotion that I began tearing up. I began to understand on a deeper level why God calls us not to get drunk. My heart was breaking for these people. I felt such an emptiness for all of them. It was an emptiness that I knew the people didn’t even realize they had. People seek to get drunk to escape the stress and pains of life, but Jesus never intended for us to seek that refuge from alcohol. HE provides that refuge! I’ve experienced the most amazing fulfillment in my life from now putting God as #1 in my life, something one trillion times better than the freedom you feel when you’re drunk. My heart was hurting for these people because I felt their emptiness. There’s something so much greater out there than partying on the weekends. Jesus wants to give you a life that is so incredibly better than finding freedom in getting drunk. With God, you can be living in that freedom everyday, not only on the weekends! It breaks my heart when people don’t realize this. There’s SO MUCH more out there. Jesus is right there. He just wants for you to give Him a chance. He’s so awesome that you wouldn’t even desire drinking anymore.
