Q098_061726 Rom. 6:5,6 Faith Speaks Life Into The SoulQ098_061726 Rom. 6:5,6 Faith Speaks Life Into The Soul
How it Happens with Colin Cook
Colin Cook reflects on how talking openly with God, rather than sinking into silence and self-punishment, can support those struggling with addiction. He links scripture, spoken prayer and faith in Christ’s work on the cross to a renewed sense of identity and hope.
14:22•17 Jun 2026
Faith That Talks Back: Speaking Life to the Soul in Addiction Recovery
Episode Overview
- Keeping a running conversation with God is presented as crucial to freedom from sin and addiction.
- Staying silent and cut off from God is described as leading to deep trouble, depression and a sense of inner death.
- Speaking thoughts out loud, including to God, is linked with lowered stress and a calmer body.
- Colin contrasts self-punishment and humiliation with genuine repentance based on God’s love and mercy.
- Prayer is framed as affirming what God has already said in scripture, including that the "old man" was crucified with Christ.
“"When the soul goes quiet, when the soul goes silent and cuts itself off from God by not speaking to him, then we get into real trouble."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of "How it Happens with Colin Cook" leans straight into that question from a deeply Christian angle, focusing on faith, honest prayer, and talking out loud to God as practical tools in the fight against addiction. Speaking to those wrestling with alcohol, drugs, food, sex, or obsessive worry, Colin reflects on what he calls "this conversation in the soul".
He warns that when the soul goes silent and cuts itself off from God, "we get into real trouble." Drawing on research into people who rarely get ill, he shares that speaking inner thoughts out loud seems to lower stress hormones and calm the body, then connects this to the practice of speaking truth and scripture back to God.
Colin unpacks how learning the gospel changed his own inner dialogue: that in Christ "we are no longer counted as sinners" and that "God justifies the wicked" who keep opening their hearts in faith. He’s honest about his own past: seasons of addiction, long stretches of silence, and feeling almost "catatonic" under the weight of guilt and depression. His turning point comes through daring to talk to God right in the middle of failure, rather than disappearing into shame.
The episode keeps circling back to one simple but challenging habit: refusing self-punishment and humiliation, and instead speaking to God about what God has already said in scripture. From Psalm 113 to Romans 6 and Isaiah 53, Colin shows how prayer becomes affirming, "telling God what he has told us," especially that the "old man" was crucified with Christ.
Anyone looking for a faith-based approach to recovery, who wants language for talking to God when they feel least worthy, will find a raw and gentle companion here. Could giving voice to faith, even when you feel broken, be a new way to breathe life into your soul?
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