Opioid use in America is at epidemic levels, and the problem is hitting home. According to a recent Gallup poll, 30 percent of U.S. adults say drug abuse has caused trouble in their families. That is the largest share since Gallup first posed the question and a significant increase since the last poll in 2005, when the figure was 22 percent.

Gallup cites rising opioid use as the likely reason for the disturbing trend. The White House last year declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. From July 2016 to September 2017, the Midwest saw opioid overdoses increase 70 percent, while overdoses in large cities increased by 54 percent in 16 states across the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On average, 115 Americans die every day from opioid overdose.

On average, 115 Americans die every day from opioid overdose.

There is a thief among us seeking to “steal and kill and destroy,” but we serve a Savior who came that “they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of Teen Challenge. In 1958, a young Assemblies of God pastor in rural Pennsylvania saw a magazine story about teenage gang members on trial for murder in New York City. As David Wilkerson began to weep for people he had never met in a city he had never visited, he heard God say, “Go and help those boys.” The result was Teen Challenge, a ministry that has helped thousands of people find freedom from addiction and new hope in Jesus. It started with one man who listened to the voice of God.

Ask God to give you His heart for a lost and broken world. And then listen carefully, because making a difference isn’t about having the loudest voice. It’s about hearing and responding to a still, small voice. 

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2018 edition of Influence magazine.