Deliverance Without Withdrawals
Steve Hicks
(9/11/01)
I began drinking socially for relaxation. Over time I drank more and more and eventually didn’t care about socialising, just drinking.Nick-named “the drunk”, I thought, “If I don’t drink, what else would I do.” So I drank. Why shouldn’t I?
I knew that I drank a lot, but never considered myself an alcoholic. Until I tried to stop.
I began suffering intense withdrawals. I was sick, unable to keep down food or fluids, any noise became extremely painful and I started to get jumpy at objects appearing in my vicinity. I couldn’t walk unaided, having lost my sense of balance.
The pain was intense — I imagined what it must be like for someone with D.T.’s.
I only lasted two weeks and I started drinking again, just as heavily as ever. Apart from rent and subsistence, all my money went on beer. Breakfast was now 2 or 3 cans of beer to stop my hands shaking. I carried a mouthwash to cover my lunchtime drinking. My life had been taken over by my craving for alcohol.
A workmate told me that if I was prepared to be baptised by full immersion in water, as it was done in the Bible, then God would prove himself to me. Nobody had ever told me about a God who was proveable.
I prayed and received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues. Immediately, I felt a calmness that I had never experienced before.
I never had another drop of alcohol. The desire for alcohol left me completely, no withdrawal pains, not even a headache