Month: September 2015

Living Life Recovery–STEP SIX

25th September 2015 aeboyle Recovery, Step 6 Comments Off on Living Life Recovery–STEP SIX

After discovering my sinful habits and attitudes and confessing them, I am now willing to let God change me.

Get down on your knees before the Master;
it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.
James 4:10

I knew God was the only one who could help me change and I was prepared to do whatever i had to do to regain control of my life and circumstances. I knew this meant a change of my attitudes and actions, surrender of my style of living to live according to God’s will for my life.

This wasn’t easy, some of my bad habits I was comfortable with but I knew living according to God’s will meant spiritual change in every area of my life.  All this step required of me was to be willing to let God how I needed to change in each area of my life.

“In spite of the way many people are turning away from God, not for other gods, but for no god; in spite of the mess we are making of this beautiful Planet Earth which God has given us, God still loves the world.” Eva Burrows

Living Life Recovery – STEP FIVE

23rd September 2015 aeboyle Recovery, Step 5 Comments Off on Living Life Recovery – STEP FIVE

On completion of my list of sinful habits, I will confess
them to God and to someone that I trust.

Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.
 James 5:16

Now in possession of  a list all the things about my character I needed to change and bring into line with God, His Word and His purpose I had to share it with someone else. An opportunity to unload the negative, release the guilt and shame that had troubles me for so long. Things I had never shared with anyone else.

For me he was a Salvation Army Officer, my counsellor on the Bridge Programme, the person who I did the ‘Navigators Bible Studies’ with. I trusted him more than I had trusted anyone else, ever in my life. We arranged to meet, I gave him the list of things I had written down and we went through them one by one, investigating resolution and solution for each one. The reason I gave him the list is because I am human, and if I hadn’t I may have been tempted to leave things out.

This step for me, got rid of the feelings of isolation the barriers and secrets my addiction had created in my life. Helped me to understand I was not unforgiveable. Helped me to accept that recovery requires rigorous honesty and if I was going to move forward from this point I needed to be honest about the things I had done, how that made me feel and I needed to find a way to fix the mistakes of my past.

1 John 1:8-9 “If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he [God] won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.”

Living Life Recovery–Step Four

22nd September 2015 aeboyle Recovery, Step 4 Comments Off on Living Life Recovery–Step Four

In order to help me change, I will investigate and record with God’s help
– my sinful habits and attitudes.

Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living and reorder our lives under God. Lamentations 3:40

As a result of admitting my life was out of control, I needed help from God to fix it and deciding I was going to let Him help I had to workout what I needed to change. During my drinking days I had created many faces and worn many masks to fit in and belong in the circles I mixed in. This meant I had to take time to look at my character and the things about it I needed to change.

2 Corinthians 7:1 says Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness

This meant for me looking at the life I was living openly and honestly and looking at areas where it had become misdirected in accordance with God’s Word and God’s values, and writing it down so as I would have a list to work from. It also meant creating a plan from that list to change my values in order to bring them into line with God’s will for me.

Isaiah 64:6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind

Step Four for me was about looking where I had dropped my guard and permitted my life to become infected by my own selfish desires and attitudes and how I needed to change them with God’s help.

Living Life Recovery–Step Three

20th September 2015 aeboyle Step 3 Comments Off on Living Life Recovery–Step Three

12 STEPS

I am making a decision to let God help me change and commit to
working with Him to do so.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because
of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice
– the kind he will find acceptable”
Romans 12:1

Knowing that I had to change, was unable to change by myself I decide to start learning how God wanted me to live. Prayer became a regular part of my life. I joined a local Bible Study Group (Studying ‘THE NAVIGATORS’ Bible Study Series)

Whilst still on The Salvation Army Bridge Programme in South Australia I started attending every Church Service and Christian Fellowship group I could in order to discover how His people lived different to me.

Luke 9:23-24 says “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”

Knowing that God was God and I wasn’t and I was making a conscious decision to let Him control every area of my life led me to trying to find out and understand everything about Him I could. That decision included, for me, writing a five year plan for my life, making changes that would better equip me to live my life for Jesus. it also included me taking risks, outside of my comfort zone and seeking advice from others when I felt God was instructing me in a certain direction,

The decision included 100% commitment to doing whatever I had to do to stay  sober, live better and include God in my plans, attitudes and actions.

Living Life Recovery–Step 2

19th September 2015 aeboyle Devotions, Step 2 Comments Off on Living Life Recovery–Step 2

I believe God exists, that he cares about me and He can
help me to regain control of my life.

“God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” Philippians 2:13

Belief in God, the Bible and Jesus Christ has always existed in my life. I attended The Salvation Army Sunday School as a child at the Paisley Corps. I belonged to The Boys Brigade in Pailsley where we learned about God how He cares for us.

James 1:19-21 says “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls”

I knew that I needed to change. I knew I had tried to change, unsuccessfully. I knew that without help I could not change. I had investigated and initiated numerous different things to attempt to reduce my alcohol use and it’s control on my life.

Step 2 of A.A. says ‘WE CAME TO BELIEVE THAT A POWER GREATER THAN OURSELVES COULD RESTORE US TO SANITY.’ 

For me I recognised crazy things I did as a result of my addiction by I never believed I was insane. Because I believed in God and because I believed He created everything and controlled everything, I also believed He could help me regain control of my out of control life.

I bought early in my recovery a devotional book called ‘God’s Calling.’ and everyday I began the day reading the Alcoholics Anonymous ‘Twenty Four Hours a Day’ and ‘God’s Calling’ and I believe it was the God began in me the process of spiritual awakening. I started investigating God and how He could help me regain control of my out of control life,

September 19, 2015

19th September 2015 aeboyle Obedience 1 Comment

Self-Control

People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.
—D.A. Carson

Self-control is about paying attention to you attitudes and actions, how the line up against God’s Word and doing something about changing the bad ones: I watch my step, avoiding the ditches and ruts of evil so I can spend all my time keeping your Word. Psalm 119:101

Self-control is about paying attention to what you say or are about to say and making sure it’s true and helpful: The more talk, the less truth; the wise measure their words. Proverbs 10:19

Self-control is about making sure you plan what you do and where you go and prepare for any problems that may arise: A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out. Proverbs 25:28

Self-control is about taking inventory on you character, looking at where you are failing or can do better and making life growth corrections: Don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, 2 Peter 1:5-6

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2 Timothy 2:15: Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.

Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Hebrews 12:14

1 Peter 3:11: Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you’re worth.

September 18, 2015

18th September 2015 aeboyle Recovery, Step 1 Comments Off on September 18, 2015

12 STEPS

The Twelve Steps of Living Life Recovery came to me via the Holy Spirit a number of years ago as I focused on my recovery journey, the steps I took to achieve recovery and talked to Him about it.

Over the next Twelve days I want to share with you a step a day and some of my experience of it and how arrived at it. As they say in A.A. ‘TAKE WHAT YOU WANT AND LEAVE THE REST.’ It worked for me…..

STEP 1. I admit that my life is a mess and I am out of control.
“I know that nothing good lives in me…I want to do what is right, but can’t”
Romans 7:18

When I first arrived in an alcohol recovery rehabilitation centre in Rockingham, Western Australia in 1987 I was ashamed of the mess my life had become through allowing my drug of choice (alcohol) to control my life. I was embarrassed by the hurt and pain I had caused others, and, I really wanted to achieve recovery, For them, if not for myself. But I was also afraid of letting go of the one thing that had helped me to cope with the feelings of brokenness and incompleteness that had existed within me for so long.

I need to say, I never really felt that my life was unmanageable. I had always gone where I wanted to, done what I wanted to do, had always maintained some stability in employment. So in the first step of A.A. ‘Admitted we were powerless over alcohol and our life had become unmanageable.’ I had a problem with the unmanageable part as I felt regardless of what went on in my life “I ALWAYS MANAGED.” But I could see clearly, when i stopped long enough to analyse my life from an addiction point of view “I WAS OUT OF CONTROL.”

For me this was eye opening and I can relate to the story of Paul in Acts 1:1-9 when he was challenged by Jesus to look at his own blindness about the perfection of his life under his own control. For me the first step of Living Life Recovery was simple. My life was a mess, I was out of control and if I wanted to seriously get recovery I had to investigate different ways of conducting my life.

Any fool can criticise, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving. Dale Carnegie

Welcome to Living Life Recovery

September 17, 2015

17th September 2015 aeboyle 2015, Devotions Comments Off on September 17, 2015

God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. Psalm 46:1

If you are going through a tough time right now, do not despair and do not retreat. Talk to your sponsor, or another trusted friend. A shared problem is a problem halved, but you have to be willing to seek help.

A friend is not only someone who you can confide
in, it is someone who can mirror the trust you
shown by confiding in you as well.”
Ashley Young

September 15, 2015

15th September 2015 aeboyle Recovery Comments Off on September 15, 2015

2 Peter 2.1

There were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They’ll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other-biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong.
They give the way of truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won’t, of course, get by with it. They’ll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on. God didn’t let the rebel angels off the hook, but jailed them in hell till Judgment Day. Neither did he let the ancient ungodly world off. He wiped it out with a flood, rescuing only eight people-Noah, the sole voice of righteousness, was one of them. 2 Peter 2:1-5

 

This passage reminds us of the consequences of rejecting God’s will and leading others away from the truth. A recovery led life always includes scoffers, people who believe they know better. people that want us to live by their agenda. God promises He will supply all we need to live according to His purpose and His plan. He will help us to start again and rebuild our lives is we put our trust in Him amd not lying prophets and religious leaders. The consequences of self-centred pleasure and power are certain destruction.

In Strategy  it is important to see distant things as if they were close and take a distance view of close things.

PRAYER

Lord help me today to tell know the truth, to tell the truth and to know when others are not being truthful with me.

September 14, 2015

14th September 2015 aeboyle Devotions, Recovery, Relationship Comments Off on September 14, 2015

llr_blue.jpgELIMINATING IDLENESS
Jesus knew their thoughts …… Matthew 12:25

The saying ‘the thought is father to the act.’ is worth repeating.  Proverbs 23:7 says   …. as a man thinks in his heart, so is he…

THOUGHT

It is impossible to read unwholesome literature without it leaving an imprint on your mind. DVD’s and television can feed us rubbish and rottenness. In turning aside from addiction we must take strides towards reaching new standards of decency, conduct and thinking. Part of our downfall can be attributed to unwise thinking and becoming victim to lowering standards.

MEDITATION

Exposure to something better is now a requirement if we want recovery to be effective. We have plenty of good influences available to us. We need to learn to have open, honest conversations with those able to speak sensibly about addiction. We need to refuse to make fun of negative talk about moral issues or spiritual things. To be driven to the gutter language by foolish talk. To be strong in resisting temptation towards indecency.

Choose the movies you watch carefully, select only helpful books to read. Start reading Christian recovery focused literature. Start associating with good people. Work the steps and recovery principles into your daily living. Learn to use your leisure hours constructively. The Genesis record of the Bible shows us a God who created, communicated, rested and related. These are our guidelines for living today. Give your life to living God’s way, build it on Bible foundations; learn creativity, become communicative, observe proper rest periods and be selective about relationships.

PRAYER

Introduce me Lord to better and beautiful things that You want me to enjoy. Wean me from the sinister, sticky and sinful in Jesus name.

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